LOFOTEN, NORWAY. For a brief period each year the midnight sun transforms Lofoten Links, situated inside the Arctic Circle. In summer visitors stay in lodges and play 24h golf in a spectacular setting, and from August to October they get the Northern Lights thrown in. (See main image)
In June eight amateur golfers arrived to play on the Links for 24 hours straight. Their target? To raise money towards purchasing Paragolfers – a specialist vehicle that enables people with impaired mobility to stand up to play golf. Unfortunately for the lads the weather wasn’t friendly. It rained for 22 of the 24 hours with a freezing wind. However, they each clocked up a minimum of 50,000 steps, playing from midday to midday despite feeling as though hypothermia was setting in, sustained by “bucket loads of sandwiches and toasties.” Their praiseworthy efforts raised enough to buy two Paragolfers, and they staggered off the course “for a few beers and a nap” before heading back to the airport. I think I”d have needed something a bit stronger than beer.
LUCKY PRO GOLFERS get to play the world’s best courses, but at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship you get them with knobs on. St. Andrews Old Course, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie await, with celebrity amateurs providing added entertainment, the only possible downside being the weather. The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (Oct 3-6th) incorporates two separate competitions – a DP World Tour individual tournament for 168 of the world’s leading golfers, and a Team Championship Pro-Am.
On land jutting into the estuary of the river Eden, St. Andrews Old Course is Dr. Jekyll when the wind isn’t blowing and Mr. Hyde when it is. The Road Hole 17th with its infamous bunker, the 18th green guarded by the Valley of Sin, and celebrated features like the Swilcan Burn, Hell Bunker and Coffins have been copied around the world.
Following the 1999 Open Championship the American press labelled Carnoustie ‘Car-Nasty’ after America lost. Long, brutally testing, with the Barry Burn snaking around the final two holes, it provides a formidable challenge. Especially if you take the dangerous but direct line between out of bounds and bunkers at the par five 6th hole, still known as (Ben) Hogan’s Alley.
Kingsbarns is a firm favourite with players and spectators alike. Gently rolling topography provides great vantage points for viewing the action and a comfortable walk to accompany your favourite players. Three great courses, it makes for a great week of golf.
SHANE LOWRY celebrated his successful season on tour and his young daughter’s birthday in style at Eastlake Golf Club in Miami, with a McDonalds washed down by Chateau Lafitte Rothschild at $1800 a bottle (It is rumoured that Rothschild’s vintner shot himself)
THE ODYSSEY Ai-ONE Milled putter is designed, as it’s name implies, using artificial intelligence. Odyssey’s latest family of meticulously engineered putters consists of 7 different head shapes, all made with 100% milled stainless steel and crafted with flawless precision to deliver that unique ‘feel.’ Featuring a lightweight steel shaft with 20-30 grams of counterbalance weight in the butt end of the club, and designed with an interchangeable front split weighting system which allows golfers to dial in the putter head to their exact preference.
With a stunning blue PVD finish and Odyssey’s famous attention to detail, this putter is, as the man said, a thing of beauty and a joy forever. And at €469.00 it had better be.
IN SINGAPORE, IN 1965, the American aircraft carrier Yorktown steamed into harbour with a huge banner along the length of her side proclaiming “USS Yorktown, Second to None.” Within an hour, a small British minesweeper had sailed out of the harbour with a bedsheet hung over her side on which was painted the word ”None”.
Muhammed Ali – “I’m the best, I just haven’t played yet.”
Roy Castle – “My game is improving, last week I got through the windmill.”
Until next time: Happy Golfing.
Contact Mick for your regripping and repairs. Tel 638 859 475
