A Ruddy Good Day

The European Club was conceived, designed, financed, built and is managed by Pat Ruddy and absolutely no one else, though his family does help him with the running of the operations.  Ruddy is a notoriously strong-willed person, but you'd have to be that and more to pull off this amazing accomplishment.

While in Portrush Lowell had given me a copy of Pat's book, Fifty years in a Bunker, about his decades-long quest to build his own golf club, but of course I'd gotten a mere few pages in.  The club opened in the late 1980's, but Mr. Ruddy has no doubt kept tinkering with it ever since.  He lives and works from the club, and the high point of our day was the few minutes we spent with him before playing.

Ruddy began his professional life as a golf writer, but soon made the transition to designing courses.  Amongst his credits are the Glashedy Links at our beloved Ballyliffin, Sandy Hills at Rosapenna and Donegal Golf Club (Murvagh), all of which I was able to tell him that we've enjoyed greatly.  In fact it was Ruddy who convinced the Ballyliffen members to build their second course before planning restrictions kicked in, a wise but bold move for such a small community golf club.

I'd guess that Pat is now in his early to mid-70's, but as full of spit and vinegar as can be.  He was reconnoitering the club in a buggy when we stopped and introduced ourselves, and he doesn't lack for the gift of gab.  It turns out that like my sainted bride he hails from County Mayo, and once those preliminaries were behind us Pat took control.  He told us that loves to go putter about on the second nine early in the day, as the first groups won't get there for a while.

Most amusingly, when I asked for a photo with him he immediately became the stage manager, orchestrating the rather amusing scene below and summoning one of the groundskeepers to play photographer:

Renowned Irish golf architect Pat Ruddy keeps your humble blogger at bay whilst cozying up to the fair lass. 

The course itself was a delight, built on beautiful rolling terrain with great vistas of the Irish Sea.  It also features a wide range of vegetation, the native gorse and grasses typical to the linksland, but also more tropical-looking flora as can be seen behind Pat and Theresa above.

The other notable feature is Ruddy's use of railway ties, often called sleepers on this side of the Atlantic, in his bunkers.  along with wiregrass.  Here's a good example of one from which Theresa successfully extricated herself:

The bunker below, just short of the fourth green, provided no end of amusement:

The fourth is a long Par-4 that was playing into the breeze, so I found myself needing my hybrid to reach.  I hit a good shot on a line to the left side of the green, and while I lost it coming down I heard a distinctive thud.  My ball had struck the top of the sleepers and bounced back some fifty yards.  Theresa then played a low runner from the right side of the fairway, that from the start seemed perhaps a smidgen left of optimal.  Sure enough the ground swept it towards the bunker, but instead of dropping in it instead circled the top of the sleepers, like water circling a drain, and popped out on the left side.

At times the planks were the only means of egress.  A ball that ran deep into the bunker could often be extricated by bouncing it off the sleepers... one feels sheepish in doing so I'll admit, but often there's no other choice.

The other unusual feature of the course is that it include twenty holes, with short Par-3's as Nos. 7A and 12A.  

Hole 7A, where above the pin is quite a challenge.

No. 7 is known to be their signature hole, though it's a tough one first time through.  I much preferred the eighth, which is one of those holes that looks like it's been there for an eternity and which they have the good sense not to mar with bunkers.

It may be no better than a poor version of Balybunion's 11th, but in a pinch it'll do.

More amusement was to be found at the fourteenth, a stout uphill Par-3.  Using her 3-wood, Theresa made an awful, no-good swing that deposited her golf ball in hip-deep maram grass some twenty yards from the tee.  Nothing to be done but to reload, and fortunately she made a much better swing.

That's Madam's ball leaning against the pin, just a routine bogey that easily eclipsed my rather hum-drum par.

We spent some time with Pat's daughter Sidon after the round, and she's also a delight.  She was kind enough to give us a copy of one of her Dad's book, and when I went to purchase a ball marker she insisted on giving us that as well.  

Before that I had asked her if it would be OK to ask the kind of question unsuitable for a lady, which she rather encouraged.  I first asked about the extra holes, speculating that her dad had found nice sites for greens amongst the dunes that didn't work in his routing.  She nodded in agreement, but also added that building them in advance of zoning restrictions was also a factor, as well as the fact that if a hole needs to be closed for maintenance, they provide options.

All well enough, but I expressed some concern with the nomenclature.  You've logically enough called them 7A and 12A, which would be my first instinct as well.  But because there are two of them, I can't call them anything other than the "A-holes," and does that mean the same here as it does at home?  We enjoyed quite the good laugh over that one, and she agreed it was somewhat awkward, though she guessed her Dad might well have been in on the joke.

I ended with a wealth of wonderful photos of the European Club and will put them after a jump.  Please do browse them if you're interested.