Ultimate Scottish-Irish Golf Trip

In the current Sports Illustrated Golf Plus edition, there is a story by Alan Shipnuck (may require registration) about a four-day eight-golf-course trip he and three pals made to Pinehurst this spring to sample the octet of courses there. I was reminded of an earlier golfing trip.



When Brenda and I went on a golfing trip to Ireland in 1998 with Nikki and Bob Kober, two of the unforgettable characters we met were Dennis and Chris, two brothers-in-law from Texas. (They are the two guys on the left in the above photo--I didn't record their last names.) The one on the left, Dennis I think, was taking his medical software company public and was in the middle of the Quiet Time, so he and Chris were on a 14-day, 27-different-golf-course tour of Scotland and Ireland. They were playing (walking and carrying their bags) 36 holes each day and travelling each evening to the next location. They would have played 28 courses, but it took half a day to get from Scotland to Ireland.

We met them in the morning when Bob and I were paired with them at Tralee Golf Course, and we were all planning to play Ballybunion Golf Links that afternoon, so we arranged to be paired together again there. Also playing at Ballybunion that day were Tiger Woods, Mark O'Meara, and Payne Stewart, who were leaving just as we arrived about 3:30, and Ernie Els and friends, who played just in front of our group. When we caught up with the Els group on the 15th tee, we decided not to ask to play through, though they did have a good-sized gallery and were playing pretty slowly.


How the Big Boys travel!


15th Green

Els Group on 17th Fairway