May 12 - 14 2006 - Dublin
Winner Rob Akroyd at Deer Park Golf Course, Dublin
Friday 12th May
It was a very early start this year to catch flights to Dublin with some getting up as early as 4:15am! Gary had done a good job organising two 8-seater minibuses to taxi us round during our stay, and also to meet us at the airport. Roger was planning on travelling Thursday evening but sadly missed his flight and so had to get a flight the next day, and missed the golf on Friday. The taxis took us to the hotel where we quickly left our cases and set off for the golf course, arriving with about 15 minutes to spare.
Dublin City Golf Club was very nice, but very hilly. After such an early start, and a lack of food before we played, it was a very tiring round, but enjoyable nevertheless. Those that had golf carts probably enjoyed it more than those that did not, especially after being made fun of beforehand for taking a golf cart out on the first day! The weather was pretty good, being sunny most of the day, when the forecast had said that it was probably going to be cloudy with showers. A thunderstorm loomed over the hill, but luckily passed by.
See Friday's scores:
Hitesh, Hitan, Nitin, Darren
Dave, Mick, Rob, Dinesh
Bipin, Andy, Ian
Gary, Tim, Greg
After the golf we all had something to eat in the clubhouse as we were all very hungry and weary, and also sampled our first pint of Guinness. The taxis turned up and took us back to the hotel. It was a struggle to get changed and make it back out for the evening for some, but the promise of a curry and a few pints of Guinness proved enough incentive. All the pubs in Ireland are no-smoking which make a nice change to the usual smoke filled places we end up in, and after a couple of local pubs, and few pints of Guinness later, we went to a curry house for the traditional Friday night curry. The usual Friday night betting was very subdued with only 10 bets being placed. The draw for the competition was in dispute as Mick, Dave and Bipin wanted to go out in the first group to try to make sure they got back in time to watch the FA Cup Final between West Ham and Liverpool, espcially as Darren had previously been out in the last group a couple of years before when Man Utd were in the cup final and missed all the 1st half. After that we'd had enough and went back to the hotel to get some sleep after a very long day.
Saturday 13th May
Breakfast at the Harcourt hotel was very good, although not included in the price. The taxis turned up at 10am to take us to the course. On arriving we were told that there were no golf-carts or trolleys available, but we managed to get them to lend us their trolleys they had reserved for hire clubs. The course was in good condition but very long, and the distances were in metres, which was slightly confusing. With the wind against on some of the longer holes, and also the wet ground preventing the ball from running very far, it was very difficult to score points on many holes. Greg was new to golf, having only started to play about 6 weeks before coming away to Dublin, so found it difficult, especially on such a long course.
The results of the main competition can be seen below.
The winners of the prizes were as follows:
See Saturday's scores:
Mick, Dave, Bipin, Dinesh
Rob, Gary, Tim, Roger
Hitesh, Darren, Ian, Andy
Hitan, Nitin, Ken, Greg
Mick, Dave and Bipin made it back to the clubhouse, but missed most of the first half of the final. West Ham were 2-1 up so Mick and Dave were very pleased. As the rest of us trickled in, we watched the 2nd half which was pretty exciting, and ended up 3-3 after extra time, and went to penalties, with Liverpool eventually winning, much to Mick's displeasure.
After that we went back to the hotel and then later went out in the Temple Bar region of Dublin. This is generally where all the tourists go, and was fairly lively. Towards the end of the evening the group split up and some carried on, and some went for a quick bit of food before returning to the hotel about 1pm. there were still people queuing to get into places at that time as well!
Sunday 14th May
Another early start on the Sunday was needed to make sure we all got finished in time to catch our flights back home, so the taxis picked us up from the hotel at 8am with all our gear. The course at Hollystown was quite nice, but the weather wasn't very good. It rained pretty much all the way round.
See Sunday's scores:
Rob, Gary, Bipin, Ian
Hitan, Nitin, Hitesh, Darren
Dave (Didn't finish), Dinesh, Tim
Mick, Andy, Roger
