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Your first sighting of the Tramore course will indicate you’ve come across something rather special. It has been written that "Tramore is as fine a golf course as ever pleased the eye", a style of language that indicates a few years have passed since those words were penned.
In fact the era was circa 1938, when the club’s present course was opened, but the sentiments are as valid today. The course is a cracker, good enough to have staged the Irish Closed Championship. A modern architect would be stretched to suggest improvements without jeopardising the charming ambience that borders on the rustic.
The club dates to 1894, which makes it one of Ireland’s most venerable, and originally had a nine hole links down by the sea a mile or so away. But the site was susceptible to flooding and eventually was lost to the elements. The ensuing move proved a blessing in disguise.
Designed by a Captain H. C. Tippet of Wimbledon, the present lay-out has been described as a sea-side parkland but in truth it’s more akin to an old-style down-land, albeit more wooded. Undulating and elevated in places, it is thus susceptible to the breeze that whips in from the Atlantic.
Most of the fairways bend a touch so blind tee shots are not uncommon but sound drivers love the place and a number of shortish par fours give the higher handicappers a chance, if they can avoid the major trees that influence certain tee shots and the old-fashioned bunkers that decorate the opening to several greens.
Many of the latter have up-slopes in the approaches or are slightly elevated with ingenious configuration and subtle rolls and breaks. Admirers of Braid-style design would recognise the traits. Doubtless Captain Tippett knew the great man and was influenced by him.
It all contributes to a delightful golfing experience. Beware, though: you’ll require steely determination to escape from the clubhouse.
From one of Ireland’s oldest courses to one of its newest: the comparison to Mount Juliet couldn’t be greater. Here’s a course by a modern master whose work provokes a variety of responses but never ambivalence!
The design philosophy of Jack Nicklaus has mellowed since he laid out this beauty back in 1990 but there’s never been any doubt about the quality and character of his creation at Mount Juliet. It has been described as the best inland course in Ireland.
It is, in a word, awesome. Visually and technically it is one to impoverish adjectives. Quality abounds at every turn. No less a player than Tiger Woods has described it as "absolutely gorgeous: the fairways are perfect, the greens are the best we’ve putted on all year, including the majors."
It’s a regular stage for the WGC Amex World Championship and the Irish Open but with five sets of tees offering variable shot lines it’s a course that will also delight the average player. He’ll need to be straight, though: the fairways are generous but the graded rough will have him hacking and though there are only 80 or so bunkers some of them are huge and they come in clusters.
And such is the configuration of most greens that a lay-up is generally the order of the day. Getting down in two here is a tall order. This is not a course for aggression: temper your ambitions, stop to think on most second shots and you’ll have a grand day. And you won’t believe the greens!
Feature holes abound but the 3rd, a stunning par three from an elevated tee to a green guarded by a lake, is memorable, and the par five 10th hole with its split fairway, a copse of trees and clustered greenside bunkers will have you scratching your head. The final hole, a long par four with water all down the left and a narrow approach to the green, has been described by Sam Torrance as the best finishing hole he knows.
Mount Juliet is also a resort and famous for its varied sporting activities and luxurious ambience. There’s a choice of accommodations and its hotel, a member of 'The Small Luxury Hotels of The World', ranks with such as Raffles of Singapore and The Ritz of London. For a couple of days of pampering and top flight golf there can be nowhere finer.
It would be a fitting finale to a glorious week on Ireland’s Sunshine Coast.
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