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| Approach to Cork GC's 2nd hole. |
Star
of the Year: Rory McIlroy
Rory got a huge amount of bad press over
the Wozniacki affair and then the Horizon court case. Yet, considering those
burdens and the new (ish) golf clubs he put on a spurt of golfing brilliance
that saw him collect back-to-back Majors. But perhaps the classiest moment of
all was after the Australian Open, when he and the field were thrashed by
Jordan Spieth. His 63 on the final day drew the following (Twitter) praise from
McIlroy:
“You could give me another 100 rounds today at The Australian and I wouldn't sniff 63.... Well done @JordanSpieth very impressive!”
That’s the sort of attitude that gives golf
a good name.
Clearly, Rory would be most people’s pick,
but a special mention for Stephanie Meadow and her amazing 3rd place
performance at the 2014 Women’s US Open. It was her professional debut.
Tool
of the Year: Greg Chalmers
At the same Australian Open… the Australian
professional Greg Chalmers highlighted everything that’s wrong with the professional
game when it comes to player/spectator safety. Take a look and see if you agree.
That’s the sort of attitude that gives golf
a bad name.
Farce of the Year: Ted Bishop/Ian Poulter
The whole Ted Bishop/Ian Poulter fiasco was just daft. Sexism has no place in golf, or in any walk of life, but for the PGA of America President to resign over calling Ian Poulter a ‘Lil Girl’ on Twitter just takes ‘Political Correctness’ to the extremes. Clearly it was time for Bishop to go and this was the last straw.
Yes, the two categories above are hardly 'Irish', but as the sport tries to attract more people to the game (kids and women especially) it is moments like these that prove we can take one step forward, quickly followed by two steps back.
Irish Amateur
of the Year: Paul Dunne
A little subjective, given that Paul is a
member of my home club, but the University of Alabama student qualified for the
Open Championship at Hoylake and delivered an impressive performance…
especially as he was on the tougher side of the draw (weather-wise). He missed
the cut by two, but delivered a four under back nine on the Friday to show
exactly what he is capable of.
Same
Old Story: Padraig Harrington
Yes, Padraig Harrington did win… and
Ireland rejoiced… but he continues to frustrate us all by belting out the same
old mantra that he is almost there,
that his game is almost back to where
he wants it to be. One win in Indonesia, against a limited field, is a step in
the right direction… but making the leap to winning a Major is massive. Every
year I hope Padraig proves me wrong… maybe 2015 will be that year. We’d all love to see him winning something
big.
Disaster
of the Year: February Storms
The February storms were a disaster bigger
than anything to hit Irish golf in the past 50 years… probably ever. Coastal
erosion saw Mulranny decimated, Co Sligo losing metres of its shoreline,
Doonbeg’s iconic 14th being badly damaged and Lahinch being swamped.
But the worst of it was the winds that tore
several courses to shreds. During late summer I visited Fermoy, Charleville and
Limerick, which, between them, lost well over 1,000 trees in February. Fermoy
and Charleville have shrugged off the losses, with both courses appearing
airier but no less structured – Fermoy has actually been enhanced – but
Limerick suffered badly with many holes on the opening nine now a mere shadow
of their former selves. Elsewhere, Kilkenny, Gowran Park, Dundrum House and
Thurles were also badly hit, with dozens of others suffering to some degree.
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| The 15th hole at Limerick GC. The top photo is from 2008 - the bottom one is summer 2014. The trees around the green have been wiped out. |
Courses have recovered but it has been a
costly and time-consuming disaster that will affect a lot of our courses for
years to come.
Irish
Golf Course of the Year: Cork Golf Club
It is difficult to place one club above
another when so many courses have made changes, but I saw the upgraded Cork Golf
Club, in May, and was mightily impressed. Unsurprisingly, not everybody likes the
new bunkering but it makes an enormous difference to the appeal of the holes,
bringing shape to fairways and adding tremendous perspective to the green
complexes. As an acclaimed Alister MacKenzie design, getting the new bunkering right
was critical to the course’s reputation. I played it with an English golf
writer who is a MacKenzie aficionado and he described the bunkers as ‘mini-MacKenzies’.
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| Approach to Cork's 5th green from the left hand side. |
Irish Golf Course Selection of the Year: Royal Portrush
Yes, we knew it was coming, but Royal Portrush getting the official nod to host the Open Championship was a huge boost for Irish golf. It has been a long wait, since 1951, and 2019 - the anticipated year - can't come soon enough.
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| Admiring the views at Royal Portrush |
Given its 2,500 km length along Ireland's western seaboard, this new tourism route has a rich vein of golf. From Ballyliffin to the north, to Old Head of Kinsale to the south, there are some 38 golf courses along the route - many of them ranked among the best in the world.
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| Old Head of Kinsale's 18th hole |
Resurrection
of the Year: Ballyneety Golf Club
Ballyneety… and no other club comes close.
From a course that closed in 2010 and was left to Mother Nature for two years, Ballyneety
has delivered a remarkable turnaround. It
won the 2014 GUI Munster Golf Club of the Year, and is it any wonder?
Congratulations to all involved in getting a sparkling parkland back on its
feet.
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| Here's Ballyneety's 1st hole... before and after. |
You can read more about the club’s changes here.
Sale
of the Year: Doonbeg
In what proved to be a very busy year,
Adare, Mount Juliet, Mount Wolseley, Lough Erne, Dundrum House, New Forest,
Moyvalley, Rathsallagh exchanged hands. Not all had been in the grip of
NAMA.
The highest profile sale of all was Doonbeg
which fell under Donald Trump’s umbrella, for an estimated €15 million. As
such, it had to be renamed with the catchy title of Trump International Golf Links Ireland. It also appears that the
€15 million fee required Trump to be greeted at the airport by a red carpet, a violinist, harpist
and a singer… oh, and a Minister from the Government.
And a final non-Irish moment:
Rip Off of the Year: Ryder Cup
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