I probably played it twice a year for six years like and it’s a fun
distraction but I first heard of it because guys from senior top team Jeff and James and would go and practice
their shipping there and Bernard Langer used to practice his part in there because the greens were so good he used
to warm up there if the Irish opened it that’s exactly it he would go there and Chip and put and hit wedges into the
greens um well-known story like he wouldn’t be seen in Port Martin from Monday to
Wednesday many tournament I mean it’s how I tuned up for my time at portmarnock
um so Dara a massive welcome to the cookie jar podcast I think friends before
guests yeah which is a rarity and a small view there of the actual friends
of mine before they’ve joined the podcast usually I try and befriend them afterwards so um a massive welcome to you uh I’m
trying to think when we first hooked up we’re probably looking back in what September last year we’ll play together
at Blackwell September September 2020 um I believe two years magical weekend
at Blackwell that was brilliant I was just reflecting on it recently you guys were very kind to invite me over and I
kind of tacked on another trip a couple of games I went to little Aston Holland luck um so I had magnificent time but I was
in little Aston with Ian Burns who’s a regular big-time listener of the this
part he’s the general manager did last man it was completely overserved with too much Hospitality there
um and I jumped in an Uber certain navigated around Birmingham and ended up with you guys a little late
um and we kept the golf Nursery party going at that end but that was the first time we met and then as we said we had a
wonderful weekend there Simon Haynes Sam as well and there was a watershed moment in my my golf career I felt like we’d
reached real golf Nursery when we were trying to pick apart which architect from the Golden Age would you go for
breakfast lunch and dinner I think we landed on if I’m right breakfast would be cold because it would just be more of
a sort of a pedestrian conversation something quite safe and steady whereas Simpson would probably lunch quite hard
I think those were the that was the General takeaway what wasn’t said at the time was any architect who would have
accounted for breakfast lunch or dinner with us that weekend wouldn’t have fared well I think like we spent most of the the
weekend get rid of that race sitting with your shoulder blades into an armchair because they’re so stuck into this
just couldn’t get out there was just no exit at Blackwell and I think that’s a to be fair every time I go to Blackwell
it’s always the same there um a bit of an introduction for our listeners if you would Dara so uh Dublin
born and bred or no limericks Southwest of Ireland limerick about two hours from Dublin so I grew up there there was a
golf course across the road from my house which I grew up playing in and then I joined another Golf Club in Limerick as well
um an older Parkland called Limerick golf club and the first one across my house being Balinese he got over
Limerick County um so then I went to University in Dublin in Trinity and kind of was
afforded and it was complete by chance to have you often look back on things and wonder how things would have panned out if you went to went somewhere else
or didn’t meet the guys you met on the golf team and Trinity um because at that age I feel golf can
come or go you know um so met great guys there I didn’t know the link between Trinity and Port Marina
when I went to Trinity it was magnificent and was called up for a game in my first year
never really looked back but prior to that I would have been when I was 14 or 15 I can still remember like perusing
govwrx.com and or like getting getting into Matrix ozick shafts and we were
just talking before we came out about fcm and frequencies of shafts um yeah can we just break this down quickly
because I’m not going to allow you to skip past any jargon here we are going to get to corporates but can you know what we are indeed fcms because I still
don’t understand this project X 7.0 Dynamic gold 7.0 whatever this means
yeah just please just just the listeners before before we got on we were chatting about I just switched to x100s from
Project X 7.0 and I was explaining how the numbers are really irrelevant there’s like the overall frequency is
the stiffness of the shaft and for example 7.0 is not a 7.0 frequency
um it’s probably like a 7.5 fcm whereas a project x 6.5 I think fcm’s out at 7.1
or so I know you’re more of a ball hitter and you’re not interested in these these technicalities I’m amazed at
the board text you go down but I think it peaked when you told me that you keep a matrix of all the different shaft profiles and yeah the various fcms just
so you know what you’re dealing with if you don’t have that you’re really you don’t know her
so you were kind of a bit of a Gearhead and then kind of the the architecture came a little bit more late would you
say okay yeah yeah I was a Gearhead Sam but I remember then I remember emailing Rand
morissette.com which is obviously where where people find their architecture interests at about 16 or 17 wouldn’t
have post on it and that’s a pretty heavy place to kind of read about golf courses but that’s where that picked up
and I would say that when I got to portmarnock theory is one thing in reading book of course is one thing but
I wouldn’t have played much link scarf as a 12 to 18 year old um besides Lynch
maybe but getting up to portmarnock um getting exposed to all that I remember meeting Club historian at the
time we passed 35 years ago um Tim Healey who wrote the the Centenary book in Port Marina and that
stuff you talked about watershed moments earlier before we were just there when we were chatting but that was probably a big moment for me I kind of realized it
was probably more to God than the parking Garth by growing up playing links was completely new to me the history of the game was completely new
to me and so I took on a different meaning than I’d say and when you combine that with all the great guys I met in Trinity and continues to play
golf with and it’s kind of become multi-layered and more enjoyable all the time I’d say and then meeting guys like
you um lots of good friends and spin-off groups and everything it’s been fantastic so it just gives and gives
doesn’t it the game it’s just back to Links Golf there you touched on it obviously we’re not going to talk too much about Port Monica this podcast but
you know we were over for a few days and we’d we enjoyed playing portmarnock you know an incredible level I um I love the
place you’d always begged up the turf there and the and the impact of you know
Fescue and the fact that it was such firm ground you know possible comparison with East Lothian
but you know the ground even in May when we went which was not a particularly sort of baked out time of the year this
year when I was over it’s really really firm like it’s so fast it’s so fiery I remember playing the 10th there and
being on the right side of the Fairway and you said to me yeah you’ve just literally got no shot now like you’re not gonna hold the Green from here and
you were right but you know how much do you think that plays a part in then all of a sudden appreciating architecture
because all of a sudden you see how Contours behave rather than just you know aerial attack on every single green
yeah now you’ve said it like for example when I first joined Port America’s University member like I
like I didn’t even understand what the bounce was or how to how to interact with the turf it took me literally about
three years to get caught I remember in a competition when I joined as a full member then it was like a different type of God it didn’t actually feel like the
golf I played before were taking beaver tail divots on a product and golf course
but but like I think then this when you when you marry it with as you
said what becomes angles and strategy it takes on a completely different meaning um well I think it’s almost a separate
game I’ve often discussed this with people compared to Parkland golf I know we’re going to talk about Corpus a lot
um but you said about fescues and things like that like Port Mark is built on an aquapur so it’s got a layer of
basically semi-permanent Rock underneath so it rains completely um when you were over in May
that that March in April really bad weather there was no growth there was no rain so it wasn’t even it wasn’t even
playing particularly firm which is interesting and now it’s it’s kind of blossomed because Fescue obviously grows so late in the year so it’s absolutely
Blossom now blossoms pretty much every September October um but like it’s built on aquifer if
there’s only two types of grasses you want growing in a golf course in the UK now and that’s that’s basically any type
of pescue and then brown type bent and we have that in abundance under Peninsula we’re really lucky with that
and we don’t have anything else out competing it we just have to deal with a little bit of whatever we get robe bents
or creeping bents um so it’s it’s a natural environment for Fescue
um probably at like 95 on the greens which is magnificent um so that’s as you said it is a great
environment develop it’s completely different and it makes angles as you said like the tent green
important is just a hole that gets me every time I get to it you know it’s it’s just sucking you down the right and
there’s just no future because everything’s sort of stacked against you at that point but you know when you know
we I mean look we were joking earlier about going for lunch with Colt or Simpson or whatever but the early guys
when when they were laying courses out you know even before the area you know pre-1900s somehow just knew where where
good golfing land was you know it was clearly understood about having good Turf which is a brilliant segue I think
into cordless because corbless is great golfing land still it’s nowhere near as firm as as you know some of the some of
the best links courses You’ll Play but there’s there’s undeniably great golfing land there the greens are rich they roll
great the dunes are magnificent you know I get the sense I’ve only played it once that it drains particularly well and it
offers golf all year round and yeah it’s kind of a funny story and so much as you
know the the people that have used the links over time have seen me just abandoned it over and over again like I
you know in a little bit of research for this podcast I think golf’s been played there for sort of 100 years plus now I
think two or three clubs had kind of established a routing and a course and then sort of moved on to a bigger site
further Inland and chosen to play Parkland golf instead but the land at cordless is absolutely ideal for golf
right yeah so I was actually I was going to give you a little bit of History right golf hasn’t played there for I
think it was 1907 or something like that but it kind of the
municipality of Dublin right here the the County Council took it over in the 70s I believe and it was a when I was
doing a little bit of research on it as well there was a great like a clip on Vimeo of one of the obviously a local politicians kind of opening it and it
looks exactly the same the same same Dune system that we looked at when you came over in May but it’s this Municipal
Golf Course on a stretch of land which is pretty much the same as the Island golf course it’s well known neighbor and
but it’s cordless is 25 Euro to play I think we paid 21 when you boys were over
because it was post 5 p.m it’s it’s so hard to describe how good it is and if you want to show someone how chaotic in
a way but how brilliant it is you could start by saying it opens with part three or you are ping a ball across the 12th
Fairway in doing so in the beginning the second is player for 240 yards where and
usually this wouldn’t be a good look but you’re pigeonholed into hitting an iron and then a sandwich join the giant crater between where your
nine iron drops and your sandwich is going to go over and then the stretch from three to seven is and these were
the re-rooted holes I think when Ron Kirby came in in 2007. um so that’s what I forgot to mention
that was it was reopened in 2007 with substantial work along the third to the seventh holes which are really the
jaw-dropping holes that people kind of talk about you’re looking at out across the Irish sea along this same business
as the island and portmarnock and that’s stretch from three to seven is as
interesting as you’ll see anywhere the land the holes move along is thrilling and the fun we had when you were over
the reveals at Each corner the drop shot part three’s Sam the fourth and the
sixth and they’re just 100 yard downhillers to crowned greens um there’s death if you miss like it’s
it’s death like you know you’re in the boat okay you’re short-sided there’s no room they’re cramped aren’t they everything’s tight and more intimate
feels like you’re playing a you know I don’t know if it’s a dreadful example but it’s like it’s almost like someone’s
just really shrunk down Trump Aberdeen into like a sort of a factor of 25 so
everything’s crammed those two par threes are like I remember playing the first seven and thinking right I think
I’ve more than had my 21 Euros worth at this point it’s right now that you mention about the side of the greens
like the size of the greens there’s obviously a bit of a kind of evolve at the moment for a large underlying greens even on some of the shorter courses that
are being built for example I don’t know what’s Brandon Brandon preserve is 13 holes
um some of those kind of new courses that don’t have classical 18 or routings but cordless has really actually used
very small greens quite successfully like they don’t look at a place
um it’s probably a little bit unique in that regards I still remember like Cooper how much he enjoyed the stretch
report five and six each reveal each little bunker he was looking at yeah I
think that’s as good as anything it’s certainly we’re going to get onto this in a while about maybe how you could
um improve on what comes afterward with the shaping of a rooting or that but it’s utterly magnificent as you said you
felt you had your value at three to seven alone and the third hole obviously is a wonderful part four as well
um yeah it’s a tough one as well I mean the second that short path path forwards I mean it’s classic stuff you look at it
it’s about 250 yards I seem to remember we had so much hyperbole about cordless on the WhatsApp before we got over there
that I even took to the Aerials and said oh this will be a straightforward just three would just knock it down it’s like
no you hit three went on to the second you’re never gonna find that ball again you’ve got to just hit the layup and
then take the safe shot onto the green haven’t you but it even stood there I was like ah you’re only here once you
might as well just shall a pill on this one yeah I’d like to think what I’d like to know what your first impressions of it were when you got to the place
actually like I I like the feel of it the way it is and again we’re going to get after what it could be or what it
should be but what did you think initially of the impression of it as I said you start off heading across the 12 Fairway which is interesting again it’s
probably a pitching which but I want you to think when you got out you’ve done a little bit of research but what were your brothers I know look I so first
first impressions you walk into the clubhouse and there’s there’s almost no one there it’s quiet it doesn’t feel like it’s busy
um and this is in a time where clocks have gone you know clocks have moved into summertime now you know people
you’re thinking who work in Dublin why aren’t they going out and playing nine holes in the evening so it’s quiet there’s a few youngsters out there going
and playing a few loops and stuff which is great to see it’s super chilled the guy runs the Pro Shop there’s a TV on
the lounge everything’s just super chilled so you get there and you just feel immediately at ease it’s kind of
exactly what I thought it would be it’s a it’s a municipal municipal course relaxed you know you stand on you get
out the car and you think wow look at this land this is exactly where I want to be you almost can’t believe that I’d
only got off the plane 20 30 minutes earlier because it’s only about 15-20 minutes from the airport I think
um so you know anyone that’s flying out of Dublin and just thinks oh maybe we
could squeeze a few holes in before we get the flight back or do you know what there’s not quite enough time to play
golf on the day with arrive because we’re not going to land and you know I don’t want to play a 7 000 yard Golf Course when we get there it’s the
perfect warm-up like do the Langer thing like get there and just tune up a little
bit so I thought the vibe was absolutely on point you know as you say you go into
the most thrilling part of the course early doors don’t you you play that playing those opening holes and you’re just sort of like your jaws on the floor
you’re almost not ready for it yeah and there’s a certain um there’s a certain kind of a vibe to it
where sometimes you see with great golf courses like if you look across Hawaii like a mirrorfield you kind of feel
Iceland you can’t see much of a golf course you can see swathes of land and dunes yeah but it’s like a narrowest way
it’s a green surrounded by native grasses a couple of trees and bushes but for all intensive purposes it could be
anything and that’s what cordless looks like when you get out there it actually looks like it could be anything you have to pick out the golf course finish and
something good become kind of cognizant or recently like just how much it looks natural how natural it looked
um how brilliant it looks it’s like it’s far from a great big green blob you know it’s which a lot of Cheaper golf courses
can look like um so it’s brilliant from that perspective you did say this I agree
like there’s it’s got its charm it’s it doesn’t have too much immunity inside the the shop we had to go down the road
for a plant in bulgar Golf Club there’s no Guinness there’s another Golf Club literally over the road so in between
the island which you border on this on the back of the seventh day there’s another Golf Club literally 50 yards
down the road and there were great Guinness in there great pint in there but then he directed by the lack of
against tap ASAP but uh well they’re missing such an opportunity aren’t they I mean we’re going to come back to this
we’re going to come back because I think I think we can come up with three things that would just significantly transform cordless but you know the value the fact
that you get there it’s undeniable that you booked a tea time for 20 or 30 or 35 Euros it doesn’t matter like you know
you’re in for a good day the second you get out that car yeah just like it’s just for the listeners I don’t know if we said it it’s a power 66 5100 yards
it’s chaotically brilliant like it’s I often use the Expression you we often me
and you and we’re texting would say not playing Chester Checkers I don’t know what corbus is it’s more like smoke and
mirrors isn’t it it’s a different it’s a different Universe altogether and it’s absolutely
intoxicating in its own way um it’s magnificent uh you were asking me before we came on about what kind of exposure
I’ve had to it I probably probably play it twice a year and it’s since I came to Dublin many years ago and it’s the most
fun it can ever have and just for the listeners there as well Bernard Langer did come to it every single time the
Irish open was in Port Martin he used to tune up um for the short game purposes at
corbless now it used to be said that he used for potting because the greens were so good now when we played the greens as
you can understand it actually does get a lot of play it’s a huge amount of play so the greens were kind of lush and kept
a little bit more receptive because Garth would probably take forever there um when it gets so busy so it’s a little
bit different now than it was then when he was coming around but apparently the greens used to be tabletop
um like you’re rolling an egg across uh across a Mabel uh marble tabletop what
would that be because I had the same experience the other week at Alma Village and again that’s a sort of you
know incredibly low cost operation to run that and yet the surfaces were incredibly pure there is there must be
something that’s just part of that land in the same way that you know the land that portmarnock’s based on being rich
in Fescue and brown top brands there must be something in the DNA of the land that enables them to just have
carpet-like greens because they can’t have the infrastructure of the budget to be overseeding them all year round right
they definitely don’t but Sam this is cordless is the start of when you get
out of Dublin it’s like the the first train stop but there’s a train stop about 10 minutes in land of it um it’s
the first train stop in a series of where there’s actually really good links courses that tourists wouldn’t really know like later on about East Town and
then people know about Trey but it’s it’s a great spit of land the whole way up um like it’s not that far from
portmarnock and I just I just mentioned how lucky we are in portmarnock with our you know uh Fescue we have and the
aquifer there and how much sand natural sand we have and all these places have the same stuff
um so they’re blessed as well as we are so it probably goes a little bit of a way to explaining what they have there
you know um but like there’s not much unspoiled I
think in golf these days um and I’m not sure when I was thinking about how we were
going to approach this like corbus is 30 minutes from Dublin City and 20 or so minutes from the
airport so it’s not really unfound um it’s it is busy it’s it’s a members and
locals course and it is jammed I know it wasn’t busy when we were there in May at 5 PM but it can be jammed during the
summer um so what it is it is an Undiscovered gem probably not it’s probably more
complicated I think it’s a busy Locus course um we we’re probably going to talk about
what they could do with their routing um no but just just lingering on that like you say like that it’s busy you know
it’s busy you’ve got a good thing you know demand for golf in Ireland must be in the same same state that it is over
and huge England like it’s it’s there’s an insatiable demand for the goal and I
think you know I’ll probably put it on the pre-roll the Pod but you know when I flew over to Ireland to play with
you I meant to take the podcasting Gear with me because we I’ve flown if you remember from our spring meeting that
we’d had a few days before Thomas disappeared without the microphone so I had no assets to be able to pause and
then we just sort of kicked this down the road for ages and I thought well on the basis that Eric Anders Lang is going
to release a film about cordless it’d be neat to do a little pod to go alongside that you know for a bit more stuff on
cordless and a bit more kind of discussion around the course and you think well you know I suspect the the
cookie jar podcast is probably not going to blow demand for corbless out of the water but the film from Americans Lang
100 well like that’s going to be big so then what do you do with all that demand well you then bring in more investment
you start to bring in a professional architect you start to charge more for green fees it’s like you almost want to
try and keep the purity of the 21 Euro magic that’s going on there it’s like
you almost want a sort of cocoon it away from the rest of the Real World of Golf
you know so like you said there very few places and no longer kind of spoiled yeah and I was I was wondering if you
were if we’re going to have an argument of this because I was going to say you bring new problems with expansion don’t you like you become a prisoner of
expectations almost I was like because the potential for that land would obviously be to it could be anything it
wants to be Sam it could be a course where you bring Americans and add it on to the island or charge X Y and Z for it
but if you look at like a teleological explanation of it which is basically like what it exists to do and Look
Backwards at it it’s there to give locals magnificent gov cheap prices
um so you change the ethos of it if you if you if you go after that um you don’t it’s like it’s not in the
same basket as any of the places that were undiscovered and the outer corners of Scotland base and geography and
accessibility alone it is as I said 30 minutes from Dublin but it just happens to be this members course and local scores since
2004-ish decided Tech members um so it’s very different like it’s it’s
a affordable price cut off and a Melting Pot of very expensive world-class links that essentially surround it now those
links around that are anywhere from seven to ten times the cost of Coralville is probably in 10 to
15 times yeah like what’s the island next door like 250 euros to play something like that and like the oil in
the port manager all in those and north of that at this stage but the government class isn’t seven to ten times at all
that’s the thing you know like it offers insane value for money
um that’s why I was so Keen for us to go there when we were seeing portmarnock seeing baltree I said this is an
absolute must play and it really is now how they deal with that um demand which is brilliant
um is another thing and you know as you said pressure and golf is is going to be enormous so they can
only benefit from it but it’s just such an interesting slight problem to have yeah we’re seeing so much of it over
here now clubs have all of a sudden come through covid with you know really buoyant finances and you’ve seen a lot
of clubs with a lot of money out there and the danger is you can give clubs too much too much scope for investment and
you can take away from the Purity like I mean I could start reeling off examples but I’m you know it’s just you know it’s
almost like you say you want to kind of just protect it from the from the need to go and Chase and feel like they need
to do the right thing um I’m just going to say I think the cordless like courses like cordless have
really been very in favor in rankings of late and GB and I particularly
um but there’s probably a lot of courses that in the 75 to 100 pound range that I actually feel have been a letter not
because I found them poor golf courses in any way they’re all very very good but because they didn’t justify the price and I’d say corbless is literally
appear to many of them it’s Quirk but it’s quality you know um and I actually think it’s really is a
peer of all those courses so I think that they have something on their hands that is just utterly magnificent you
know you’re a great commentator on the game Darren so like I I’ve tried to pose this question a few times if you go out
for dinner with a real big wine buff the wine buff will not just go to the bottom of the menu they will hunt out what they
think is the best bottle of wine in relation to the price that it’s on the menu for if you look at the if you look
at the golfing tourist they will invariably just operate purely from a ranking basis why
well you see rankings we’ve often part of this like rankings are
I think that they’re they give cause to speculation if someone asks me about my and obviously I read rankings and I find
them interesting at times but I’m not going to speculate on whether I find core sex of course why
better than each other when I’ve played them both twice or both once and it was raining once and it was sunny once and I
was had a great day or two of my pals one day and I was rushing for work the next day um I prefer I much prefer and I didn’t
think we’re going to get into it but I much prefer thinking of a golf courses as five star four star or whatever um I
just think it’s um it doesn’t do anyone or golf courses any favor to be involved in something
like this but I started that by saying I just think that cordless is the pier at least of many golf
courses um which are in that bracket and above price package now
negatives I do think there are a few holes tacked on at the end that we discussed and some in the middle
that would make horrible is possibly favorable for a reduced whole
routing like a less than 18. yeah so like eight to ten is a little bit of a
weak stretch um then you come back to a magnificent drivable far forward the 11th I
absolutely love that golf course that’s the one that goes around to the right yeah cooper cooper we thought Cooper would pushed that but he actually drove
us remember that yeah yeah yeah it’s huge you play out onto that so that’s an incredible goal box you tee out and
there’s the fairway’s almost domed isn’t it at about 200 220. and if you go a
smidge long or smidge left you’ve put you like fall off down the left and you’re playing up into like a really
severe raised green I mean like you know the Topography of the land is extraordinarily severe throughout
cordless like you you’re constantly playing up and down levels it’s like sort of Super Mario with your golf ball
sort of thing you know it’s just like okay I’m gonna get 30 feet of elevation on this oh I’m coming down for it I
think now so that that 11th which hooks up to the right and I seem to remember I
sort of I did the thing of going long and left off the tee yeah to the Fairway and then left at the back of the green
down a treasure a slope it’s just like you know it’s a fast track to a bogey it’s a brilliant part four and then you
play 12 which is the long four or something or is it 11 Green is the place where you
um we’re looking at the holes that aren’t holes and we were kind of you’re kind of looking out along there yeah you’re looking over the whole property
basically well the northern stretch it abruptly there and there was he went down to one of the power four Greens in
the distance or positive about threes you put it up on Twitter anyway it was holes that aren’t holes and we we all
kind of unanimously agreed that was absolutely incredible from the 11th green so I think it might have been the
40. 13 the power three up the hill yeah that’s exactly it that’s it another
stunning little par three again 30 feet of an elevation the green on 13 I was
just not ready for how severe that was that was for a Cooper Mr legit one foot and it swung about a foot remember that
it’s incredibly severe I mean it’s like you say it’s so provocative yeah it’s
it’s not that it’s not somewhere you’d play card and pencil golf you know it is a match play course in its purest form
what did Freddie Tate say I was reading some uh history the other day I care not
for the score game I think that’s where you’d have to uh you’d have to you have to get on board with Mr Tate there but
um I just don’t think you have to be so prescriptive about rootings anymore somewhere like corbless is genuinely primed to take advantage of a shorter
routing mentioned brand abandoned preserve is 13 holes um I haven’t seen uh that course port
mahoma or whatever it is is that is that 10 holes up in Scotland um Iceland all there’s a there’s an
architect in Iceland um who does because they have a less of a history of golf obviously there so
they don’t really buy into the 18 whole thing they have loads of 12 and 14 whole golf course you could walk off at the 12th green and cordless beside the
clubhouse on a massive height and that might be this sweet spot for a
half day or whatever time spent at cordless you want to leave them wanting more don’t you it’s like it’s always
better to leave people wanting more and that the the wit that the second stretch
that kind of 13 to 18 is not poor golf by any stretch that’s certainly not what we’re saying but you reach the you reach
the 14th green which again sort of plays out now out towards would that be the north I’m trying to think yeah um so
kind of going the other way that you’ve moved from the first sort of few and then looped back around to the house you
then head back out and you reach the 14th green and then you can kind of see you visibly move into a different bit of
land you play 15 and 16 which I think are the are they the wrong Kirby holes
that just sort of go up and down on each other and it’s almost like it’s almost someone’s taking a very literal
definition of getting to 18 I’ve been like the exam question is I’ve got to get 18 holes into this because that’s
what golf courses do and it subsequently obviously throws a couple of sort of second rate holes into the mix and then
you place um 1718 home which again you know back into the kind of some of the land that you’ve
been playing through so there’s a hundred percent scope to reduce it well you see I suppose a lot of Architects
would look at something and say their mission statement is to get to 18 holes and then kind of figure a rest out but like and I suppose the land of cordless
is so good that a lot of people will be inclined to do as much as possible whether to expand this
put in maybe if you had a little bit more land part three courses and all this but I honestly think this
like shrinking corbless would be something that would genuinely be to its Advantage it’s and I think the character
of the place it’s almost relevant of a time before Taurus influx links courses like it’s a little Seaside town where
Irish people from Dublin in particular before air travel really became something where people used to go on
holidays so they drive an hour or 40 minutes outside of Dublin and go to all these Seaside towns and the simple Clubhouse the convenience of everything
to the first tea um I think there’s no doubting you could make the routing better and make it more
social um with some simple changes and you kind of have to be sympathetic to what purpose it serves in its character like
um it’s a first sort of a rural stop out of Metro land in Dublin you know so I think you have to bear all that in mind
so I’d be in favor of shrinking it keeping its character um rather than going their way I suppose
that’s what I’m trying to say but I think I think comparisons are hard to make with cordless
for example Karen obviously I don’t know if you’ve got to Karen I’ve never never been to
the West Coast of Ireland those new nine holes were built by a port member of paramine who uh doesn’t really
trumpeted too much he’s um great guy Ali Macintosh um but it’s like a fully grown corbless
and it’s got the land it’s got the size it’s a mix of tourists and locals which
is kind of harmonious um and it’s it’s wild um I think that’s what corbless could be
like harmonious maybe it’s always going to be busy with locals it can probably take in some other type of golfer
visitor tourist but it can never really be four balls of Americans going out you
know like today we were there Sam you mentioned this was so nice because you saw there was a there’s a guy going out
on his own who was kind of clearly a beginner is single and then there was a couple of mate seven three ball of piles
having nine holes a golf you know it it has to remain what it is to everyone you
know um so that’s the way I see it anyway um yeah I know I think you’re spot on
spot on it’s so it’s maybe a little bit more Nuvo this whole concept of like and
maybe it has taken a few places like preserve whatever to be like oh yeah do you know what because 12 12 holes is now
like the new cool thing isn’t it but you know it’s like there’s there’s got to be some truth in
that you know it’s yeah you know with you know time’s kind of getting less it’s getting more scarce you know the
the whole the whole course could just operate brilliantly it’s a 12-hole facility I
had a slight idea I think when we were there it’s like I think I think we were kind of getting a little bit carried
away with ourselves on about the 11th hole I was like God can you imagine we should we should try and get hold of this because it could be like a this
could be like this could be it for Ireland like we should we should 100 try and buy this you know I think I think we’re getting very slightly carried away
with ourselves um but I had this idea that the first hole could be a warm-up hole I quite
like that idea the fact that you could have I just take that concept out the out of the concept on out of the context
rather of corbless you know the idea that you could have
a completely pre-swing at a golf ball as a first
practice hole I quite like that idea yeah absolutely yeah yeah and I think I
think at the similar similar time I’d mentioned starting on the second I hadn’t come up with the idea of a practice all right
um just get you to the second T then doesn’t it it’s 150 yards there’s no need to walk it tier 99 RP shot
don’t even need to pass just walk to the second tee and you’re off the rooting rooting has to keep the 17th green you
remember the 17th green the the Wildest Dream you’ve ever seen in your whole life like that is pure magic that’s 21
Euros worth alone I think um yeah I was trying to think of negatives I’m going to ask you if you
inside the actual Golf Course like from a even a condition or an architecture
point of view my standout would be I think negatives would be it’s only a minor thing is the bunkers I thought
that they a lot of them probably aren’t particularly well positioned
um I think it’s a sort of course actually where they should probably be thinking in the other direction they
might be able to get rid of bunkers um like there aren’t many bunkers at cordless you’re entitled to carry or
entice to Gary and get a reward for it so I paired them down in number I think it’s scores that could actually benefit
from their spunkers in general um that was one thing I was thinking about but I I can get on board with that I
think we’ve played a lot of courses in England where bunkers are entirely secondary to the
holes and the makeup but they’ve but seemingly the club has just felt like kind of like the 18 hole thing it’s like
we need to have bunkers can’t seriously have golf holes that doesn’t have bunkers when you actually can you go and
play Battle tray up the road an hour and it’s like yeah they’re like three or four holes that don’t have bunkers are
probably the best golf balls on the course there like legitimately yeah and it’s I think they’re just there almost
by Legacy it’s back to that point of like probably why you’ve got 15 and 16 there because you know 18 is a better
number for a golf course to be than 16 holes and I think the bunkers are the same I personally I was totally in love
with it totally and utterly in love with it it was super magnificent isn’t it like I thought you’d it’s hard to convey
it I really think like I know we’ve been texting for a while and shooting messages back and forth about where we go and what we do but I was pretty
confident that you guys would really really liked but Cooper was like a child of Christmas really like when he was falling into that bunker at the back of
the sixth like whatever I have pictures of Cooper taking pictures of that bunker which is yeah yeah he’s in love he’s in
love but like there’s so much to fall in love with it there’s there’s lit you can’t lay a glove on it the one thing it
needs is a Guinness tap it’s like how can you not have a Guinness tap there I mean it’s it’s a no it’s a known goal
isn’t it surely like we can keep the cost of gold for 21 Euros I think if we put the Guinness tap in we could
probably get the golf down to 15 euros yeah and then shut it to anyone that’s a non Dublin residents and then it becomes
an exclusively local proposition yeah but it’s like how does that place not sell booze you know
so beginner’s tap is number one problems the lack of a wine list is number two um maybe some of the Blackwell Wine
Cellar can be loaned out to cordless maybe I don’t know remember I guess maybe
um so why would your best comparisons be this is not a tricky one I was thinking about I won’t put you on the spot but I
thought the only one I could think of is Gollum three which is 15 100 pirate 68
I know who played with hickories recently I think it was Andy Johnson maybe or someone like that but um Colin
3 is seen as it’s obviously on a property with three golf courses perhaps seen as a kids so much longer yeah it
feels like I mean obviously you’ve got to get up the hill at Gallant so that that takes like 2 000 calories out of
your system immediately but I don’t that’s what I’ve definitely not played a
course compared to it what I know of Khan I can totally get on board with that I think um
you know I think there’s elements to the way the course plays maybe there’s recency bias in here but I’m with Village it’s like yeah the the the
purity of the green surfaces and what you imagine to be a fairly similar operating budget and the along the
restraints around the holes and stuff is kind of there the Topography of the land is totally different
there really isn’t a comparison for me and I think that’s probably the biggest positive of all this is like if there
was another cordless like I definitely haven’t found it now you know Sam Cooper on links on the road he’s probably
played 250 links courses by now he may well have a few I can imagine you could go up to you know places like durness
and you could start to experience places that might but even then they wouldn’t have the dunes and stuff it’s a tough one it’s a tough they’re
not fitting between high level like they’re not sitting between Port my FBI and the battle train kind of have to
Grapple what they are as well you know um this is where you begin to pose questions about a place like
corporalists like should it be taking Americans should it be charging troubled Greenfield is
um but if you add in all these visitors and clobbered up the nines and on their trip you know the dichotomy becomes wrong
it’s it’s not one thing or another it’s neither fish nor a foul um as people would say so it’s a tricky
one I just think you have to just love it for what it is an absolutely chaotic brilliant Golf Course
um that is that the stretch from three to seven alone is worth it and I I’d implore people to come and see it for
that alone really um Sam and you can you can take a breeder on some of the other holes and you go back to the 11th and the 12th in
its own way is a cool hole as well dog leg right power five yeah it sounds good twelve’s good 13. I said great path
three quite enjoyed 14 and I think we pretty much wrapped it at 14 because I think yeah we just caught up with some
four balls so we we managed to skip 15-16 we kind of I think we might have hit some shots up 18 but it’s like if
you’ve got an hour and a half or two hours or whatever and you can just kind of squeeze away
slightly early you definitely do not need to budget three and a half or four hours in for a round of cordless if you
can get on the tee at the right time and you’re quite happy knowing that you know when your time’s done your time’s done
you just got to walk off the course you could even if you got five or six holes in you guarantee you now it’s a Sam
Williams guarantee you’ve had your value for money at that point yeah I could have quite happily walked off the fifth green and been like that was still
totally worth it because those five holes were insane there’s a few other golf courses actually along that same stretch of land that I haven’t played in
years but like there’s a rush and Lusk there’s all these Seaside Villages up there up the coast
um they probably have similar land and are really interesting as well but where else can you come 30 minutes outside of a major major city walk along Dunes line
like that look out to Lambe Island and Ireland’s I look down at portmarnock down at the island enjoy pretty much the
same Turf um and some insane shot quality and shock value so that’s I think that’s a
good place to Sean cordless probably chaotic Wilds beautiful really
um we’ll have to go next time you come back we’ll have to go again there’s a hundred there’s no chance I’m coming back to Dublin without playing God
blessings so then I succeeded so I take that as a given yeah just just bring it
back to the game in Ireland a little bit yeah sure there’s a there’s a lot more you know islands of things like pitch and putt’s quite popular I think versus
you know kind of you know maybe England and stuff um yeah I get the sense that Municipal
girls quite big you guys have I think take amateur sports way more seriously than we do over there and I think that’s
a great thing like there’s such a big thing I remember when we played in fact I might have even name checked you on a
recent pod um with Matt McLean actually the US men and women and um I was talking about it
and saying like this whole like seniors and juniors thing like there’s a really big thing around amateur golf Grassroots
Municipal Golf state of the game pretty healthy from that point of view do you think very healthy it’s actually an interesting
point um I suppose just thinking about it there like the two biggest Sports in Ireland that aside from would say soccer
and rugby or whatever the Irish Gaelic games football of hurling and they’re amateur games so
even at the highest level you watch them on Sky Sports their amateur games the Irish of all has been I suppose in love
with those and um a lot of people as well who play hurling will play golf um but kids growing up here will play
all sorts of golf there’s no or all sorts of sports and they’ll kick off a go um it’s available to most people it
doesn’t really have the same class distinction I would say that it has in other countries so we’re really really lucky and like I wandered across to a
golf course um across the road from me there’s no barriers to it um picked it up and it’s incredibly
healthy as you can gather from listening to me most days and um following the amateur game here is
just an absolute Delight following some of my Powers it just gives a lot of us so much pleasure you know like a lot of
the guys I went to Trinity with have actually doubled down on golf since they left got better much better even really
good competitors and I think that’s kind of unusual actually for a group of guys to leave College put more time into golf
get better at it uh like a lot of them were good at golf some of them they didn’t go to university like you would
go to yellow or like you would go to well Oklahoma with basically just studying but you know you’re going to
play golf these guys have just like fallen in love with it through the university but they were they were good players like you know they were good
players playing on scratch plus one whatever but they were good socializers as well so they were they were both
things in the golf sphere but now they’ve doubled down and got even got a lot better like it’s like an Indian summary you know and it’s actually been
really interesting to be a part of that like you learn so much from those guys and just by hanging around by osmosis even in so many guys in portmarnock
you’ve kind of walked into it but but amateur golf you you’re quite keen on
amateur golf Walker Cup in particular as a yeah particular specialist topic for you well yeah I think it’s actually
Purity yes it is um I think that that’s there probably when I joined portmarnock and they have
a obviously an hosted Walker Club in 91 that was the first Walker Club to be held in September I think as well
um but I think there’s a there’s a massive record book in the hall in Port Manor that they flipped the page on once
a day I think when I was a university I remember remember I wouldn’t have known much about the walk Republic I think I remember if they flipped the page onto
two big pages about the World Cup that day and for whatever reason it resonated with me I just think it’s such a pure
form of the game it’s so enjoyable because you can as you know I bought a lot of my pals like Jeff and Richie and
Dara and lots of guys who play a high level amateur golf and it feels like you have something like
you you’re kind of live and enjoying with them so I suppose a lot of my interest in Amateur Golf came from watching them play
um play amateur golf some I think there’s a beauty in someone who’s toiling outside of work doing that
or whatever you know um it just resonates completely different with me um and yes I do I do as you know I
really enjoyed the work I’m still working on a few missing programs I should tell a story I tell it to
everyone they’re like talk about you which I talk about you far too frequently to be fair but it’s usually
because you have good stuff to say um I think when you came to Blackwell we weren’t that members and gas weekend I’d
sort of shown you around the clubhouse and sort of shown you um puddle Clique and and and and Dr
William twaddle who obviously captained to walk upside in 28 for GB and I yeah opposing the opposing Captain was Bobby
Jones yeah and I sort of said uh you know actually Bobby Jones then played at Blackwell the day after he but he he
played he won the won the Open Championship at Hoy Lake in 1930 and you were like yeah now it’s quite interesting it’s funny enough the 1928
Walker cut Chicago that’s one of two programs I’m still missing from my collection I thought okay we’ve got
ourselves a golf nerd on our hands here these guys this guy knows his onions there was actually a good story I
remember when I started kind of collecting the programs a lot of them are easy enough to get on eBay um like the 70s and the 80s ones
whatever and there’s another guy in Portland who was also collecting them but without
I didn’t know about that I knew Donald but I didn’t know he was collecting them and at some stage I’m not sure how it
became obvious that we were backing against each other and I remember texting him it’s like are you bidding on a 19 whatever 71 from would have been
said I’m 71 from Saint Andrews actually why was that the second time GB and I had won it in whatever her first time in
37 years and the second time since 1937 or something but and he was like yes yes I am and so then we had to we came up
with a rule where whoever bid burst on something was allowed keep bidding on a the other person had to withdraw solemnly
and give up the ghost um but yeah I do enjoy it but I’ve I’ve come to I still have a few missing but
uh we’ll get back to it which are the big ones missing which are there because there’s a there’s a really good listenership to this podcast you never
know Dara that we might receive an email here with someone very keen to give you the 1944 yeah actually the only the only
modern one I’m missing is actually um Brooklyn I think so um but anyone has that one um I think I
had a lead at one stage and I’m not sure where it went but I definitely haven’t that one I think uh I think Donald Quinn
actually would just mentioned speak me to that one so he probably has that um so that’s about the only one I’m missing in the modern era I believe and
we’ve got duplicates of a lot of them um but it’s uh I collect a lot of trouble histories as well
architecture books things like that so it’s it’s look it’s it’s really
interesting I think it’s a they’re great to flick over a coffee table books even lots of that stuff 100 that the so that
you know and you know it’s part of the like it’s like you were saying I think at the top of the top of the part is
like the layers and the dimensions of golf and the fact that the more you immerse yourself into it it almost becomes this sort of ever expansive game
and it’s like you realize that actually you don’t need another Peter Millar Polo you actually don’t need another quarter
zip like like four or five of those things is probably enough but actually a club history is pretty unique when I um
when I said I when we first met about two years ago and I came over and played Holland world and did last and I played
Holland world with a guy called Nick Jones who is their green chairman um and he’s a retired surgeon but he
self-published their history like he’s a guy who just is incredibly invested into it
um probably had a little bit of time in his retirement but just so well intentioned um such a is a brilliantary instrument
but self-published the book and that sort of stuff really like it was I had an incredible day and that would have been two days before I met you guys
um it’s so good to see that sort of stuff going around around the place and I mentioned earlier at the top of the part as well about meeting Tim Haley
when I was a university member um he was the guy who did the Centenary book in Port Martin published in 94
we’ve obviously had a one two five book published since and I think I I think I sent you over copy that I did indeed is
the most remarkable book I was just about to say but um like guys like that are just they’re kind of they give so
much to clubs um like Tim Healey had probably been collating bits and bobs for 40 or 50
years and you don’t realize how valuable that is until you’re looking for something or whatever you know you’re
looking to see who won a cop in 1952 and it’s all there laid out because some guy’s been tapping later forever we’ve
just established well established a Heritage Committee in portmarnock and one of his um relations is on it now so
everything comes full circle you know and yeah of course we talk a lot about that and talk a lot about his just a look at his book and all that sort of
stuff so when it’s gone it’s gone this stuff like you’ve got to keep the chain going with these things yeah in terms of
um your eBay purchases are there any kind of big regrets in there any that you’re thinking God I wish I
could really backed out on that and I shouldn’t have done I don’t know I’m gonna lose your mind on some of this stuff can’t you no I’ve probably got the
absolutely only sound like I bought like really bruises up and very entertained by this like what I brought some what
was it I bought a really stiff like uh or 510 TP that was belong to a line
driver like the thing is just like literally a rebar it’s a lead pole if you’re a kid you use it as scaffolding
like so I was actually looking at it before I came down it’s up in the bedroom there but um no
um lots of regrets but uh do not miss things they’re probably things I bought um God what what do I have I probably
have a set of six eight ones X100 is brand new they’re probably the best thing I ever bought um really enjoy those
we can scrub that out sponsored by Taylor Made here I certain there was something you told
me once was it Ken venturi’s mask oh it’s Ken venturi’s um personal Masters blanket yeah
production that came up because someone in the WhatsApp group remember I put in something about missing something and I
said the biggest regret I have is not not bidding further on Ken venturi’s personal Master’s rug
I think it’s a fairly good insight into the type of couch we’re dealing with um I want to close if it’s all right by
just talking a little bit of chronomy um yeah sure obviously in Your Capacity as chairman of greens at Port Monarch um at
the moment I I you know you work full-time there’s a lot on in terms of trying to support
the club through that sort of stuff how much is doing that being an education in Agronomy and how much of it is actually
pretty common sense um yeah I suppose it’s actually an
education and a privilege really um because what I get to do is as you said I’m doing that I’m two years
through a three year stint I basically get to tag along watch our brilliant links manager superintendent whatever
you want to call Gary Gary Johnston um he’s been with us since 2007 and he has
slowly and steadily polish the diamond really with portmarnock like as I said at the top of the part it’s we’re under
northern half of a peninsula which has a huge amount of rescue hyperboruses rescue
um permeable rock it drains brilliantly we have all our own sound reserves so we’re
blessed with a lot of good but Gary has really just kept fine tuning things I get to go along for the ride I get to
um I get to learn so much from listening to him on basically a daily or weekly basis do a lot of course walks probably
three or four times a year but I also get to tag along when Ali Beggs and Richard Windows come over who help us
with our Agronomy ever since we did the British amateur um the amateur championship in 2019 so
it has been it’s I would say to me anyway it’s probably not as much common sense it’s been very data driven I’ve
learned enormous amount it’s been a real privilege um I’ve learned an awful lot about
probably more about like organic matter profiles than like I suppose the best key stock is common sense
but if I do anything I would actually say aside from that it’s acting as a
Communicator between Gary and the members just keeps them abreast of what we’re doing um you don’t want the members blindsided
by anything so what I’ve kind of tried to do is be a good conduit between Gary the members
put out kind of semi-technic information in newsletters misses memos whatever you want to call them just so that they’re
well informed and I’ve lost counted a number of times that really interested members have come back to me with
something really useful fed back to me after I put out some kind of communication so that’s what I really like um and I put out a lot of stuff
that I’ve learned um as I said um but fungicides pesticides organic matters and clagging and which I know you get a
good laugh out of the flag I like you you’re a big fan of the clergy cleghammer right you’re not maybe you’ve
like I’m I’m a big fan because actually what you say is actually I can kind of get on board with it there’s layers to
this legging though Sam the flagging was one of the first things that I understand that I understood and learned from Gary that you could obviously
quantify firmness so he gave like if you give if you give me a little tool and tell me how Burma green is I love it
it’s 130 specific gravity so that the green is really firm but then over time
I’ve just got to learn a bit more of this like you can get a firm Green from drawing it out from starvings
um uh measuring a bit of pogo or moisture mapping it but Port Mark’s really blessed because you can keep the
moisture content quite high and would say we can keep our greens clicking High
Yes 120 130 140 with quite High which is incredibly High we should add so that is
obviously a parking course is we’ll never go above 100 will they no exactly yeah and like most like links courses
will probably be 100 110 120 and a hot summer would be 120 130 but I suppose
the main thing is anyone can get the or most people can get the surfaces quite hard and balancing if you dry the greens
out and get the moisture down to three four five percent or cut really low as
well like most we caught it four and a half millimeters um and if we go we we got natural pace
because Fescue gives you natural pace okay so what do you mean bring that to life like if you have a really clean
sword of Fescue like a dominant Fescue sword you don’t need to cut the grass
low you don’t need to drop the mowers to three and a half mils to get things really fast like it just gives natural
pace so you’ve got a perfect top layer of Fescue you don’t have to say well protected you know I’m going to stress
it at all but it’s just running for it’s running first so if you if you you can go to somewhere and Green’s running really fast
um but what you don’t see then is the payoff three months later they’ve been drying the greens they’ve been stressing them out a lot and the grains are
disease prone then three months later so they’ve been good for six weeks a year or whatever like we keep things that we
cut it four and a half mils our moisture rarely drops probably below 10 percent
um and the specific gravity is it’s like ham are still high so we don’t stress
our greens and as I was saying fast food grows so late in the year that right now is actually peaked on to be playing in
Port marine and probably in other places as well which are very high testing um but like the I suppose what we’re
refocusing on as well and Gary started it early um he’s always out of the curve but neglected like the climb us like 2030
kind of initiative in golf and that the RNA will be running we’ll be trying to mirror what’s going on in climate change
and apply to golf courses to be more cognizant of sand and water and
pesticides and fungicides um like we the same problems as other clubs have how do we use water how do we
store it and we don’t actually really have the drainage problems a lot of places have obviously
um but you’ve got to find a way of storing it as well it’s hard to store it then because if it drains well it’s like why do I keep the water yeah yeah but
look we’re so blessed like it’s cheaper to maintain a brown Golf Course like all that affects q and once it’s
brown it means you have a deeper root system green and Lush actually means the roots are closer to surface more exposed
really really like yeah so our native areas as well out actually out acre or
like outnumber our maintained areas I.E the links um so we’ve got wonderful flora and fauna one of our members did a book on
it um I’ve got that one as well actually that’s interesting but we picked that one up after a few times yeah
a little bit of thievery there so like no no I purchased it I think you’ve got the gate for it though actually oh wait
you’re checking the post so so we’re well on top of things like that um from a climate change
perspective but that’s definitely becoming a huge thing um like how you look at some stage you’d
wonder about sand and golf courses where it’s going to go with significant enough sand Reserves
compared to I’d say a lot of links courses but at the same time everyone’s running out of sand so
um we have probably a few Acres behind the 15 green um there if you’d wonder what’s going to
happen in 20 30 years um what are you going to be going to some sort of synthetic sand or whatever you know
um but yeah um that’s that’s probably a lot of what I’ve learned is the day-to-day operations from Gary he’s
been absolutely brilliant just fascinating and stuff like that but like what you’ve just spilled there all about there
you know the nature of like nurturing kind of Fescue grasses yeah things at
like an optimal condition that’s mentally you’re doing that as a greens chairman it’s quite it’s quite interesting to see the level of detail
that you’re kind of getting into there um and a lot of clubs can learn a lot I think from some of that stuff as well it’s like you know if you sort the
ground like the actual kind of matter out first then you’re gonna you’re gonna make your life so much easier and I
think that would apply to you know a Parkland course in the same way as you would a lynx course like you you the the
ground is absolutely fundamental to what you’re going on it’s not about you know making the greens bold and quick yeah
not at all nothing keeps an organic matter or profile as good as sanding you know like and we’ve really fine sand
we’re looking at portmarnock but try and keep the organic matter between three and a half and four and a half percent and I’d suspect most links courses
probably found that there’s probably crept up like ours did a little bit probably over I don’t know five percent because of relaxed sanding during the
pandemic and then you try and keep the soil PH IDE ideal for Fescue dominant Turf
um probably between five and eight ideally between whatever seven and eight um and then all our sand is sourced on
site so really look at that um our greens are probably 90 95 pescued
on at this stage Gary’s been that’s high give us some context though is that is that yeah that that is like
that is how I um as I said the whole the whole Peninsula is just a high grade of Fescue and now when we try and so where
do you go from that if you have a relatively High proportion of Fescue we still get a little bit of creeping Rogue
bent and a little bit of metal grass but tiny amounts so when we how do you keep
that out you overseed with um pescue again but when we’re all receding now because we’re already so
high we’re choosing cultivars or strains of Fescue that are actually just would
say resistant to a dollar spot which is probably a little bit of a fungus that others and all links courses uh struggle
with but we can be selective we don’t need General Fescue because we have such high proportion of it
um so we go for a particular Culture by our particular strain um yeah like what what else do we look at
we’ve got a little bit of wear and tear from Charlie’s at the front of greens just walk on walk-off areas you’ll see
some metagraphs and invade um you see some daughter spot in the greens occasionally but other than that
um they’re all really really well um I think one of the things I couldn’t believe when I first show in Port
America was how well they rolled in December January February like it was such an alien concept to me
um it’s kind of low rise isn’t it you know again that I I wasn’t prepped when I played Rye in December last year we
went down after our Christmas party and had a great day there and just threw a few balls down to the putting green and
you you’d expect them to stop on site I pretty much degrained these things it’s like how the hell have we got greens
like this in December and it’s just it’s god-given right it’s god-given completely is is the one thing
that I’ve realized about places like Ryan Port America and other places but like what was it team Sky cycling came
up with that marginal gains thing and I often think that’s what we’re probably doing at Fort Myers but Gary genuinely has made such a difference over the
years like we have taken out lots of trees um we really have improved the greens we treated them again two years ago during
covert um you played the yellow line as well
again I mean it’s another one of these you know it’s like it’s always the case for anyone that just goes and plays a
championship course when they go to somewhere like Port Monarch it’s like you need to play all three nines because yeah you do and there’s really every
inch as good as the rest pretty much and the greens are quicker the Queens are more smaller as well I’d say more
intricate yeah yeah yeah um that was built in 1972 I think it was so we just had a 15th anniversary with a
special competition on last year to Mark the um those holes they were kind of
entirely constructed well a lot of the greens were constructed by the green Keeper at the time right Temple which is really interesting
um but uh it’s it’s so used to have with three nines or three starting holes all
within a couple of hundred yards of the clubhouse time so that gives us a lot of opportunity even if it is busy at Portland to start if you’ve got you know
you’ve got friends or family out you can often pop onto the yellow line and play nine holes there um but it’s we really are blessed with
the environment you love to see it Go a shade of khaki um you just hope when that happens and the ball is rolling all
over the place and even when you guys were there in May it was beginning to happen little you know it was it the Walk of cup where it was completely
baked out it was it was at the amateur what am I thinking of there’s what there’s a pit there’s an aerial picture where it’s like it’s pretty much a
Weetabix the course at this point yeah that was actually yeah I think there’s no irrigation though or something at
that time but there’s a picture from the Irish open in the 80s an aerial photo where the thing is just like you know
it’s it’s absolutely baked it’s just yeah there’s great footage if anyone wants to look at the Walker Club in 91 I
don’t know if you’ve done it uh if you’ve looked at it there’s lots of footage of makers and playing a singles match
um on YouTube and from 91 to portmarnock and it’s well worth the watch
um and there is something the Irish open in the late 80s and they’re great winners like they had followed one a few
times um I think it was all a parable people like that um I think the first time someone ever
got appearance money you know the European tour was Crenshaw came to board American 75 I think I remember hearing
that no way yeah so it’s a long history championships it’s been it’s been brilliant yeah so it’s been an incredible podcast
I want to close we you’ve touched on the Walker cup there I’m gonna pin you and how do you feel about the Walker cup
next year Saint Andrews I think I went out on a limb talking to Matt McLean said look seems to be some really high
quality amateur golfers from GB and I at the moment there’s some serious players out there yeah like I can’t like so
excited it’s hard to quantify what Hugh Paul is on an Irish guard this year how consistent he’s been and being for
Walker cup pick as well yeah I would imagine that he’d be front and foremost in anyone’s Minds given the the year
he’s had I know nothing is guaranteed like you obviously have to play some Stellar golf next year as you said there’s an incredible golf prison
Scotland England elsewhere but the year he’s had has just been incredible to watch his consistency and him and Mark
getting to final of that U.S mid-am was just incredible really the only two
irish guys in it um magnificent yeah the irishman’s never won it before one incredible incredible
yeah yeah absolutely um so excited isn’t even the word and then Cypress Point in 2025
um so it’s it always goes to the best golf courses it’s incredible well Darry said you were going to be one and done
on this podcast but I’m sure I’ll talk you into a second appearance um I’d actually like thank you enough no
problem Sam I’d like to come back with uh Bruce’s auditing on board um thank you oh yeah I was telling you
before we came on I got new new bats and uh I was like went to Bruce for some good advice he gave me an awful awful
lot of great advice about my setup so I think Bruce should be known as an auditor and an educator um so I think uh I think we’ll have to
come back for some further education 100 Bruce can take you through his first pupil yeah you can see what that does to
your golf two basket cases
thank you so much cordless links what a place and uh yeah I hope you guys found
that interesting and thanks again Tara great to chat Sam see you soon