The Island

As we straggle towards the conclusion of our trip, general fatigue and nagging injuries are the order of the day.  We're currently ensconced in Portmarnock, a nice little seaside suburb of Dublin with its own famed links (to be played on Wednesday).

Yesterday we ventured north to The Island Golf Club, a club founded in 1890 by ten members of Royal Dublin put off by the fact that their club was closed on Sundays.  That I believe is the definition of an nineteenth century first world problem...

 In its early years The Island was more than a catchy name for the club, as the final part of the trip to

the links was by boat.  If bad weather came in during play, those unfortunate souls had an arduous trek back through the delightfully-named town of Swords.

The property of the club is spectacular for its purpose, featuring large dunes and many views of the water.  I'll not dwell on the golf, as Theresa threw in the towel early and I alternated between links savant and one of Jerry's kids.  But it was another spectacular day, this time with a proper wind, but still suitable for golf in shorts.

I'll simply share a few photos:

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing...

The view from behind the first green.

I'm not sure this photo will quite capture it, but Theresa had this 85-yard shot into the fifth green, and there were four distinct humps between her ball and the pin:

Theresa captured this photo of your humble blogger off the spectacularly-elevated sixth tee.

This was the rather pleasant view from that tee.

And we even had time for an impromptu video...under amusing circumstances.  Theresa was looking at me as she offered profuse congratulations on a well-executed knocked-down nine-iron into the 12th green.  Though as she was looking at me, I was watching my ball trickle, then run off the front of the green to this position:

So a good time for one of our amateurish how-to videos:

The shot ran a bit further than I realized from below the green, so really more of a B-.

Theresa as always took her respite where she could find it:

A lovely dinner in Dublin with Lowell and some of his clients from Tennessee concluded our day.  Today it's on to Pat Ruddy's European Club.