Nine hearty souls braved the elements to play the course Bernhard Langer designed in 1996. The course and the hotel span the grounds of the former Jameson estate, and three or four original holes have been incorporated into the current design.
Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links, part of the original Jameson estate.
“No bad weather” for Paul Rauker, Ken Flisek, Josh Webber and Jake Coldiron.
The rest of the group opted for a morning tour of Dublin and would meet up with us later in the afternoon. My local contact, Liam Gregg, picked up the group at 9:00 and went directly to Trinity College to see the exhibit on The Book of Kells. The site of Trinity College has been a seat of learning for over a thousand years, dating through Trinity’s founding over 500 years ago and a monastery before that.
Those who decided to tour Dublin on Saturday morning, here at Trinity College.
The balance of the group took advantage of the hotel’s many amenities by getting massages, enjoying a leisurely breakfast, or otherwise relaxing.
Saturday also marked the inaugural round of PutterBall. The hotel provided a meeting room where we set up this fun putter game. The object of putter ball is to sink balls in all six holes before your opponent’s team. It has been described as “beer pong for golf.” John Brauer, Lisa Donovan, Matt and Cheryl Crowther, Mike Cook, Kevin Collins, and I spent a few hours competing. Fortunately, the meeting room was not far from the hotel’s Jameson Bar, which was happy to deliver libations for the round.
Cheryl Crowther tries her had at PutterBall – the perfect rainy day game!
When the golfers arrived back at the hotel, they changed clothes, had a bite to eat, and we loaded up all the luggage, and golf clubs on the Matthews Coach bus. This is where Simon’s expertise is especially handy. Fitting all that gear into the hold of the bus is like working a giant jigsaw puzzle.
We decided to keep up with the Jameson theme by attending the Jameson Experience with a special tour that included a cask tasting in their Maturation Room. This visit was hosted by Doug Middleton and Kevin Collins of Ocean Organics. The city of Dublin was bustling, and the Jameson Experience was no exception. We had pre booked a 2:30 tour, and had a lovely young Irish woman taking us through the primary exhibit.
Kevin Collins of Ocean Organics, our host for the the Jameson Experience portion of the trip, with portraits of John and Margaret Jameson
The Jameson Experience is a fully guided tour, and explains not only the history of the company, but the processes behind making the world’s most famous Irish whiskey. The tour was updated in 2016 to reflect the more interactive/multimedia effects that people expect today. In addition to the standard tour, Ocean Organics provided the opportunity for most of the visitors to attend a cask presentation in the Maturation Room. Our second guide explained the process of how the whiskeys were matured in former bourbon and sherry barrels.
The TurfNet group in the Maturation Room.
The special Cask Room portion of the Jameson Experience tour.
The Cask Room was limited to 20 participants so Cheryl Crowther (behind Matt) and four others opted to stay on the outside, looking in.
Paul Rauker filling his own special bottle of Jameson Black Barrel.
Paul Rauker and Wendy Dahl enjoy a taste of his new whiskey.
After a taste of the cask strength whiskey, and a group photo, we all headed to the bar to receive our “daily grog.” The daily grog represents the whiskey that workers would receive at the beginning and end of each day. The group also managed to spend a fair amount of time and money in the Jameson Gift Shop.
Ken and Sharon Flisek are a couple after my own heart… or ears. They popped in to the nearby Cobblestone for a traditional Irish music session.
After a short ride to the Grand Canal Hotel we unpacked, relaxed, and got used to our new home for the next two days. A handful of visitors attended mass at St. Patrick’s church in nearby Ringsend, while seven of us attended an international football match between Ireland and Denmark. The match ended in a thrilling zero to zero tie.
The Aviva stadium hosted Saturday night’s soccer match between Ireland and Denmark
The Grand Canal area is home to many high tech companies, including Google and Facebook. It is a neighborhood in transition as these companies, and their workers move in. The added excitement of having nearly 60, 000 soccer fans pass in front of the hotel made the evening especially memorable. While some may have gone out on the town, many retired early in anticipation of our next round Sunday at historic Portmarnock Golf Club.