Regrets, I've Had A Few

But then again, too few to mention... well, I suppose if you really want to hear about them...  Right now I'm experiencing a serious case of travelfreude, a gnawing regret about my intended travel destination, and it's all David Owen's fault.  

A month or so ago, Theresa let me know that she was sufficiently recovered from her hip replacement and that we could plan a trip to Scotland or Ireland to get her husband a fix of that linksy goodness he craves.  We decided that this is the year for Askernish, my current Great White Whale, and we set about soliciting our Portrush friends participation.  In fact, in one conversation she went so far as to demand that I take her to Askernish...I know, I'm a lucky man indeed.

However, it so happens that Lowell and Carol, the above-mentioned friends, can't swing an extended trip in our available timeframe.  A dilemma for sure, but they had joined us on our trek to Machrihanish, the predecessor Great White Whale, and it would be so much more fun with good friends with whom to share the adventure, that we made a course correction.  Instead we're going to poke around in a couple of unexplored (for us) regions of Ireland, the East coast (including Dublin) and the south of Donegal.

So it is with great consternation that I share this typically delightful David Owen post, a trip report from one of his readers about...wait for it...Askernish.  God I hate when others get there before me...It's got everything, including this satellite image of Askernish's location:

Somehow this understates the difficulty of actually getting there.

Here's a better sense of how one gets there:

The South Uist ferry trip takes about six and a half hours in good weather. We passed the

islands of Mull, Coll, Muck, Eigg, Rum, Sanday, Sundray, Vatersay, Hellisay, Gighay, and Stack, among others. We also passed this lighthouse, on a tiny island called Eilean Musdile. It’s just off the shore of a larger island, called Lismore, which has a population of 146. The lighthouse was built in 1833.

Lots of good stuff in the post, including this mini-review of the actual links:

The initial six holes at Askernish can cause one to question what the fuss is all about. They are certainly quite nice, but nothing unusual or special. However, the WOW factor kicks in as you climb the dunes from sixth green to seventh tee and you stand there gazing out over the Atlantic Ocean. I thought I had died and gone to heaven, but I wasn’t about to allow that to happen, at least until I finished my round!

Yes, that walk to the seventh tee must be something. Here's what John Garrity had to say in a response to a comment left on his blog:

I played the course several times in August 2011 and would describe it as rustic and an absolutely fantastic experience. I was also blown away (pardon the pun) by recent trips to the old course at Machrihanish and Askernish is an equally rewarding trip to make. The greens will not be what you are used to coming from a course like Dornoch but it is simply the most natural golfing experience I have had. Enjoy the walk to the 7th tee where you will find spectacular views of the beach and across to Barra, before you play as good a par 4 I have seen that winds through the dunes to a plateau green. Absolutely stunning.

Alas, no picture of the 7th tee from either source, though David's reader does provide this eye candy of the 16th hole, called Old Tom's Pulpit:

David closes with a warning about traffic congestion on the back roads:

If you visit South Uist, drive carefully. Most of the roads are single-lane, and you have to share them.

I've got more than a few photos such as this in the archives.

So, Theresa and Lowell, we go in 2015.  No excuses!