It was the music, that damn music that saunters into the living room each April, coercing me into four days of couch-surfing. Golfers around the world know the tune and I can vividly recall the first time I heard it, thinking it was the most ridiculous and pretentious piece of music, perfectly suited…
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It’s early on a crisp spring morning and my eyes are sweeping across Mount Juliet golf course taking it all in – it’s hard to imagine a more tranquil, elegant place to spend time. From the moment you drive through the gates of this sprawling country estate in County Kilkenny, Ireland, there is…
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In 2023, Italy will host its first Ryder Cup. The Marco Simone Golf Club, just outside Rome, is staging the biennial contest between Europe and the United States, and while most fans will base themselves in the Eternal City for the contest, those looking to lengthen their trip would do well to consider…
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In my head the atmospheric Old Course was going to be lit up by autumnal sunshine, showing off the home of golf in all its picture postcard perfection. In reality, the stoating rain that had threatened to derail my morning round at the Crail Golfing Society, had followed us up the Fife coast.…
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It’s no surprise to find the Scots have more than 100 words for rain – several sprang immediately to mind as I arrived at Crail Golfing Society, the seventh oldest club on the planet. It was a dreich morning, the darkest and dankest of starts to an autumnal day at the easternmost point…
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It would be understandable if Dundonald Links felt just a little threatened by Ayrshire’s embarrassment of golfing riches. After all it sits within minutes of storied Open venues such as Royal Troon and Prestwick Golf Club. Another, Turnberry, is 30 minutes down the coast. Wonderful Western Gailes is within a wedge. Barassie, Glasgow…
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Our adventure to the Inner Hebrides had to begin by road and involve taking to the water. Like real travellers. In my mind, it was the only way to prepare ourselves for our time on Islay. Yes, you can board a tiny flight from Glasgow and be preparing yourself to land just almost…
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When you think of the city of Liverpool, golf doesn’t immediately spring to mind. This, after all, is a city which lives and breathes football. It’s a city that is known across the world for its incredible music scene and it's a city with a rich, maritime history. But perhaps what golf is…
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If Scotland is the home of golf, Ireland the luxury holiday villa you can’t wait to go back to, what of England? Scotland and Ireland are quite rightly lauded as mythical golf destinations the world over – St Andrews, Ballybunion, Royal Dornoch, Lahinch – the names trip off the tongue. But a new…
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St Andrews and Chariots of Fire: the association immediately brings to mind the evocative opening moments of the celebrated Oscar-winning film, a sequence which has long since taken its place in cinematic history. The iconic images of young British athletes striding out across a windswept beach in slow-motion are set to one of…
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There will always be a special place in my heart for Celtic Manor. It was here that I covered my first and most memorable Ryder Cup for The Times newspaper, where I stood on the 18th green, soaked in champagne, as Team Europe danced with delight after another epic battle against their American…
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Dublin is one of Europe's most vibrant cities. The stereotypes of Guinness, music and culture are all rich and familiar but it also happens to be the gateway to some of the best links golf courses in Ireland…
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