{"id":78,"date":"2011-07-14T00:14:01","date_gmt":"2011-07-14T00:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/daviddesmith.com\/?p=78"},"modified":"2013-05-10T00:49:41","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T00:49:41","slug":"mcilroysandwichestimebetweenopensatballyliffin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/golf\/personalities\/78\/mcilroysandwichestimebetweenopensatballyliffin","title":{"rendered":"McIlroy Sandwiches Time Between Opens at Ballyliffin"},"content":{"rendered":"

To celebrate Open Championship week, I thought I\u2019d post a few profiles of some of my favorite links courses in Great Britain and Ireland.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t done battle with these courses, you surely should.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A relaxed Rory McIlroy, with U.S. Open hardware close at hand, is greeted by club officers at Ballyliffin GC.<\/p><\/div>\n

A Favorite Son Returns to Ballyliffin<\/strong><\/p>\n

After lapping the field at the U.S. Open at Congressional, 22 year-old Rory McIlroy didn\u2019t go to Disney World.\u00a0 Or jet off to a private retreat.\u00a0 Instead he flew straight home to Ireland and made his way to one of the Emerald Isle\u2019s more unsung links golf destinations: Ballyliffin Golf Club<\/a> in Donegal.<\/p>\n

McIlroy was there to do a photo shoot for Oakley, whose clothing and eyewear he sports on tour.\u00a0 Ballyliffin had won out in the competition to host the shoot, whose producers sought a natural links location in the north of Ireland.\u00a0 Also in the running were Royal Portrush, Royal County Down and Portstewart.\u00a0 But Ballyliffin was the choice \u2013 and a fitting one at that.<\/p>\n

Ballyliffin was one of the first clubs in the world to recognize the outstanding young golfer when the club made him an Honorary Life Member in 2007 for his remarkable achievements as an amateur and for his contributions to Irish golf.\u00a0 McIlroy often competed at Ballyliffin as a youngster.\u00a0 In 2006, he was a member of the Faldo Series Team that spent a week at Ballyliffin under the tutelage of Sir Nick Faldo for an intensive week of coaching.\u00a0 That week culminated in McIlroy joining Faldo to officially open the club\u2019s renovated Old Links Course.\u00a0 McIlroy calmly went out and shot 67 \u2013 a course record that still stands today.\u00a0 He was also a member of the Ulster Team when it captured the Irish Interprovincial Championship at Ballyliffin in 2006.\u00a0 And, he\u2019s a past winner of the club\u2019s coveted Scratch Cup.\u00a0 McIlroy is proud of his association with the club, just as the club members are proud that Ballyliffin is something of a second home to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cRory\u2019s a fine young man and we\u2019re delighted to have hosted him once again at Ballyliffin,\u201d said John Farren, the club\u2019s General Manager.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sure his historic win in America will be but the first of many major victories for Rory, and we hope that he comes back to visit our club after every one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Glashedy Course at Ballyliffin GC - one of Ireland's lesser known must-play courses<\/p><\/div>\n

Ballyliffin is certainly a good place to warm up for an Open Championship.\u00a0 Its 36 stellar links golf holes may comprise the best 36 at one club in all the British Isles.\u00a0 The Old Links Course, which Faldo reshaped, hosted a European Senior Tour event, The Senior Irish Open, in 2008.\u00a0 The course features a wealth of perfectly placed bunkers, undulating fairways and small, tricky greens that make it play far longer and tougher than its 6,937 yards might indicate.\u00a0 It\u2019s an intimate course, with greens tucked in dells, and also a bold one, thanks to its three compelling oceanfront holes.<\/p>\n

The club\u2019s newer course, The Glashedy Links, is simply spectacular \u2013 and as good a test of links golf as you\u2019ll find anywhere in the golfing world.\u00a0 The Glashedy is a bigger course that plays in and out of the dunes that surround the property, offering unforgettable views of the coastline and majestic Glashedy Rock, which juts out of the ocean just offshore from the course.\u00a0 It has hosted many Irish championships and a European Tour event.\u00a0 At 7,220 yards, Glashedy can be both beauty and beast depending on the weather conditions.\u00a0 Even on calm and sunny days, though, its opening three holes present one of the sterner starts you’ll encounter; from the tips, these three par 4s (all playing uphill) measure 422, 427 and 426 yards.\u00a0 And from there, the course only gets better \u2013 if that\u2019s possible \u2013 as you trek up and around coastal dunes that alternately soar and plummet right along with your golf shots.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Rory McIlroy demonstrating his form on his home turf<\/p><\/div>\n

Finding the fairways is a must on both of these courses because as Farren points out in understated fashion, \u201cThe rough is fairly penal.\u201d\u00a0 Avoiding the cavernous pot bunkers is also strongly recommended.\u00a0 Some are deep enough to hide Volkswagens in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bunkers were designed that way to help keep the sand in them, because the wind will blow here,\u201d said Farren.\u00a0 \u201cDeep bunkers are something of a necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Time will tell how Rory McIlroy does at Royal St. George\u2019s in the 2011 Open.\u00a0 Should he win his second major in a row, don\u2019t be surprised if he returns to Ballyliffin.\u00a0 Though he may not need it, the luck of the Irish certainly seems to shine on him here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To celebrate Open Championship week, I thought I\u2019d post a few profiles of some of my favorite links courses in… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":79,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20890,22376,24425,9,19507,2226,17,7],"tags":[82897,65768,915,81208,65770,81527,65771,81648,65772,8927,81870,82115,82243,82617],"class_list":["post-78","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golftravel","category-tourismireland","category-britishopen","category-golf","category-havershambaker","category-perrygolf","category-courses-and-travel","category-personalities","tag-sirnickfaldo","tag-oakley","tag-donegal","tag-ballyliffingolfclub","tag-irelandgolfcourses","tag-theoldlinkscourseatballyliffingolfclub","tag-northwestcoastlinksofireland","tag-theglashedycourseatballyliffingolfclub","tag-royalstgeorgesgolfclub","tag-rorymcilroy","tag-theusopen","tag-theopenchamponship","tag-thebritishopen","tag-johnfarren"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2011\/07\/RoryOfficers.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions\/84"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}