The One-Armed Bandits

The Old Course at Ballybunion is perhaps the most famous of the championship links in the south west of Ireland, and it is without doubt one of the country's best layouts.

Unlike so many of the toughest coastal courses, The Old Course is relatively straight forward off the tee, but there is a very high premium on approach shots. Small, irregularly shaped greens that often hide devilish pin positions will decide the success of your round. Undulating fairways and a mixture of contour changes make club selection to these small greens even more difficult. It certainly tightened Stewart Cink's game up in the week preceding the Open Championship at Turnberry. He went over to the Ayrshire coast and played beautifully throughout the four days, finally overcoming Tom Watson in a playoff to lift the Claret Jug.

The second stands out as a particularly tough hole. Its 394 yards play more like 450 when you factor in the climb up to the green. The fairway is reasonably generous but finding the left half makes for a more favourable approach. The green slopes from back to front and must be found in regulation if you are to have any hope of making par. Penal bunkering and unforgiving run-off areas make it an almost impossible job to rescue a four after a stray approach. My good friend Tom Whelan recently invited me down to play during his visit over from Washington for the member guest. To say I was confident of victory in a one-off bout over 18 holes would be an understatement. But after he rolled in a 12 foot putt for the most textbook of birdies on this unmerciful hole, I knew I was in for a tough day. It proved to be very tough, and I was eating my words on the 16th green.

However this was a match within a match, because Tom and I were also playing betterball against the renowned 'One-Armed Bandits'. For those of you that have not yet lost money to this duo of sandbaggers, the pairing consists of Joe Guerin (past captain of Ballybunion) and Graeme Dawson (golf and leisure sales manager at the Fairmont St Andrews). Both play without the aid of a left arm, and use a combination of prosthetic and home-manufactured gadgets to devastating effect.

After an unlikely series of dove-tailing, Tom and I managed to find ourselves still in the game and only 1-down on the 14th tee. After a wayward 9-iron and a skulled chip I found myself in a not-so-pleasant spot in the first cut of rough to the left of the green. Somehow the ball found the bottom of the cup with my third shot, and Joe missed an eight foot birdie putt after a beautiful approach. This was to prove a turning point, and the One-Armed Bandits knew they still had a game on their hands.

After a few out-of-character holes where I almost resembled a 5 handicap golfer, we stood all square on the final hole. The 18th at Ballybunion is one of those holes that looks relatively straightforward, a medium length par four that doglegs uphill and to the left, but again the difficulty is in the approach. As I waded about in tangly rough for the next 360 yards, Tom and Graeme both played two fine shots to find themselves 30 feet from the hole. My partner shook off the yips to make par, leaving Graeme a birdie putt for the win. Bearing in mind this is a guy that in his prime held the amateur course record at Shinnecock Hills and reached the latter stages of matchplay at the Scottish Amateur, we would have been very content at this point to walk away with a halved match. However when the first putt came up a good four feet short, our eyebrows almost touched our fastly receeding hairlines. Joe gave a rye smile, knowing that his rock solid partner was merely toying with us wannabe hustlers. But with the clubhouse looking on, and the fear of spoiling their unblemished career record, the ball didn't even threaten the hole.

By all accounts, we finished celebrating this most unlikely of victories 12-18 hours later. Tom and I may not be scratch golfers, but we are major championship contenders when it comes to drinking Guinness. Ballybunion is full of fantastic bars, but be sure to have a bite to eat in McMunns and then walk around the corner for a few jars in Mikey Joes. You should also seek out a game with the One Armed Bandits, because they are smarting from their first ever defeat and are perhaps not the impregnable force of days gone by.

Killarney Park Hotel

Killarney is an excellent central base for playing the renowned golf courses of South West Ireland. Furthermore, the town itself is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the country outside Dublin. From May until September this place is thriving with an eclectic mix of travellers from all over the world. It would take you an entire week to fully enjoy the plethora of traditional Irish pubs, many boasting live music, but all experts in pouring that perfect pint of Guinness.

There are countless accommodation providers in the town and it's surroundings, but The 5* Killarney Park Hotel stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of facilities, service, and an overall aura of luxury.

Greeted by the wonderful aroma of a log fire, you will immediately feel comfortable and relaxed as the concierge welcomes you to the hotel. The deluxe rooms are spacious, with views of either the hotel gardens and the mountains beyond or the town itself with the Cathedral and church steeples in the background. Fresh linen and soft Irish blankets finish off a country house decor that also includes the required modern amenities such as air conditioning, plasma tvs, complimentary internet access and large marble bathrooms. Only one upgrade further are The Killarney Park suites, which take the comfort mentioned above to the next level. You may choose between classical splendour or comtemporary style. Opting for the latter, my only problem was prying myself away from the widescreen plasma - which rose majestically at the touch of a button from the end of the sumptious kingsize bed.

Breakfast is far from ordinary. Yes, there is a continental buffet and full cooked Irish breakfast, but the option of beef fillet with saute potatoes gives an indication of the luxurious treatment on offer here. Later in the day, The Park Restaurant arguably provides the best fine-dining in town, all complimented with an extensive winelist and knowledgable, attentive service.

Many hotels at the lower end of the 5* spectrum include a small pool or massage room to tick off another box on the discerning traveller's requirements, but The Spa at The Killarney Park is an attraction within itself. The perfect way to ease jetlag on the first day of arrival, or to refresh after a long afternoon on the fairways.

Connoisseur Golf regard The Killarney Park Hotel as the premier 5* accommodation in the area, and would be delighted should you wish to take advantage of our exclusive rates and add a stay here on to your Irish itinerary.

Road Hole Extended

Probably the most famous hole in golf, the 17th on The Old Course at St Andrews, is to be lengthened by 35 yards in preparation for the 2010 Open Championship.

The 150th staging of golf's oldest major will take place next July, and the course is a very different beast to that faced by professional golfers throughout the 20th century. Although many new tees had been added before the 2005 Open, this is surely the most controversial, and perhaps the most unnecessary. Currently the 17th plays 455 yards. With out of bounds on the right, thick rough on the left, an extremely narrow green complex, and the road hole bunker itself to contend with - you would've thought this hole was intimidating enough. But the powers that be are concerned many of the longer hitters can still tame this hole by hitting a long iron off the tee. They are adamant that it should be a driving hole, and that is most definitely what it will now be.

My argument is that golfers should have the right to select their own path of course management. Even in 2005, only the very longest hitters were choosing a hybrid or long iron from the tee. This choice made the second half of the hole even tougher, because they were now faced with another long iron to a treacherous green. Those brave enough to hit driver, and land it on the short stuff, were rewarded with a 150 yard approach to the same treacherous green. By adding this new tee, you alienate guys like Tom Watson who will now struggle to reach in two. Into the wind, shorter hitters may even have to face the humility of playing around the old railway shed, lay up to the tightest part of the fairway with a long iron, and hit a third shot from around 90 yards. This isn't great tv, and certainly not the way the hole was designed to be played.

The new tee in question is being built in the adjacent driving range which used to be part of the old Eden Course. This is the first time the hole will have been altered in more than a century. The R&A's reasoning is that by widening the fairway, the players will have a larger and fairer target to aim at with driver, with the hole playing as originally intended. If Tiger Woods had been sitting in on that meeting, he may have found it tough to hold back a smile.