It has been claimed that Arnold looked at the course and said, “I designed the first nine holes and mother nature did the rest.” After a night in a castle we arrive five minutes before our start time and two minutes before a busload from the States. We hurry out to the 1st tee and are warmed up by the time we reach the green. The 2nd tee is an immediate test – nearby sea, dogleg, par 5 – and we misjudge the length of angle and end up in the first take of the Oscar-nominated film “Ryan’s Daughter” from 1970. The 3rd – Pebble Beach No7 – is an exceptional hole, as if the first nine holes where laid out around this masterpiece.
View of third green, Tralee
In a daze we move on and can relax on the next two parallel par 4s. The 6th requires a blind tee shot with hard-to-hit fairway. The 8th is once again a par 4 that nudges water. As narrow as a mountain path and a fantastic location. Back to the clubhouse with butterflies in our stomachs in anticipation of what awaits us. The 10th takes us down to the Atlantic. The wind increases somewhat and suddenly the contours of a number of gigantic sand dunes reveal themselves. We feel very small. The 11th, 595 yards uphill – Palmer’s Peak – towards an opening and expectant green. Once at the top we get the same feeling as at the start of a rollercoaster ride when the force of gravity takes hold and plunges us with a scream down the 12th. A par 4 – 461 yards – that lacks comparison. How many times must one play it in order to get one’s second shot on the green? A hair-raising hole that concludes with a green that hangs over a deep grass berm to the left, where the second shot should be struck from a downhill lie with a slight fade in over the hollow. Mr J wins 7 and 6. We look up towards the sky and see the 13th – a par 3. Almost like in a film. Over a gigantic grass crater the ball must be struck to a waiting green that feels as if it has been hung up by a mountaineer on the edge of the next sand dune.
13th, Tralee
We get vertigo. The 14th has a mile-wide view over the Atlantic and the beach that the traitor Sir Roger Casement was delivered to by German U-boat in 1916, before he was captured and executed. Without thinking we try for the green from the 15th tee and are doomed to failure in the headwind. A groundsman smiles. He has seen it before. The 16th is once again a par 3 that runs the length of the Atlantic, with a waiting plateau-green. Magnificent scenery. Hard to describe. The 17th is a par 4 with a drive over elephant grass towards a rise with bunkers, before heading uphill towards a plateau-green. A fantastic hole which demands everything and gives nothing.
The green at no17, Ryan’s Daughter, Tralee
The 18th – a par 5 – is a victory parade home to safety. The train pulls up to a stop. We have made it without losing face and everyone safe and sound. Mother Earth has given us her blessing.
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