The A Position

  An eventful day here in northwest Ireland.  A whole lotta day. The day-to-day existence of The Golf Road Warrior might sound, well, sorta cushy if viewed from a distance. But the pace is unrelentingly, if purposely, grueling. Let me give you the blow by blow of our Saturday  in County Donegal, using the 24-hour clock that pervades here:   1:15, Saturday, 23 July — To bed at ... Read more

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  Hello and welcome to a special Road Warrior edition of The Curmudgeon, the golf podcast here at halphillips.net. This week we';re in the north of Ireland, writing and podcasting, even doing some video, on location. “We” are the Golf Road Warriors, all of us members of The A Position. This pod can be heard, and all of the Warriors’ reporting can be seen, by visiting ... Read more

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Nearly eleven in the evening here at Rosapenna in northern Ireland and the sun is just setting over the golf course and the round bay beyond my window at the Rosapenna Hotel.  We've just finished a fabulous four-course meal in the dining room, met some nice locals at the next table who were eager to trade golfing tales, and now, finally, it's time to get ... Read more

Hal Phillips and Tom Harack describe their pre-game strategies for Ballyliffin's Glashedy links.  Note: Harack was able to follow through on his promise to shift his weight off-center repeatedly and not keep the ball in play . . .  Phillips will have another chance tomorrow at Narin & Portnoo . . . Read more

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After an overnight, transatlantic flight, you probably wouldn’t be eager to, say, play an all-out hockey game or run a marathon. But golf once again proved the perfect palliative for the rigors of travel – including a four-hour-plus drive after we landed in Dublin. Our destination was Ballyliffin Golf Club, on the Inishowen Peninsula, near the northernmost point on the Emerald Isle, Malin Head. The commute ... Read more

The way you can tell there is a golf heaven is simple.  You play The Old Links at Ballyliffin in 65 degree weather, in shimmering, brilliant sunshine with a two club wind and close out your match one up with a par on the final hole.  The course is not of this world.  Each hole is simple but elegant, keen and fast, exciting and ready ... Read more

After many hours of travel from many compass points the Golf Road Warriors met this morning at Dublin airport, threw all manner of baggage into a seven-person VW van and hit the road north-- WAAAY north, four hours in the car to Ballyliffin Golf Links, at the very top of the island.  While rain fell in Dublin the skies cleaved open as we headed for ... Read more