Great Golfer Series - Windell Humphries

I first met Windell in the late 1990’s in Auburn, Alabama while playing in a local scramble tournament. Windell walked out onto the course to visit with a close friend, Steve Autrey, who was playing in our group. At that time, Windell was around sixty years old. Later I would become a member of the Auburn Links Golf Club where Windell was a member. It didn’t take long for me to discover just how accomplished a golfer Windell was. On Saturdays, a large group of low to mid handicap golfers would assemble for an 8:30 A.M. dogfight. The first hole at Auburn Links is a medium distance par four hole which requires a golfer to twice pass over a bending Parkerson’s Mill Creek. One Saturday morning, Windell drove his ball from the member’s tee onto the green on this par four hole rolling his ball amongst a group of golfers that were putting on the green. Windell claimed he didn’t know he could hit the ball this far, but we all accused him of trying to shake up the group on the green. Extraordinary shots seemed to come often for Windell after that day. He duplicated this same feat on the same hole playing with the Secretary at a Hooters tournament at Auburn Links a couple of years ago. He hit his ball onto this same green in one and proceeded to make a fifty foot eagle putt.

In 1999, Windell made his first trip with our group of six Dal Riadans to play the links courses of Northern Ireland and the northwest courses of the Republic. When we arrived at Royal County Down, we encountered a group of Japanese men and women who were teeing off just before us. We were playing in two groups of three with Windell playing in the group behind us. It was immediately apparent that the members of this Japanese group had either never played golf or were not nearly accomplished enough to be playing a course as difficult as Royal County Down. After interminable waits on the first two holes due to the flailing of this Japanese group, their caddies apparently convinced them to wave our first group through on hole three. This left Windell’s group stuck behind the beginners, but not for long. After we finished putting out on the signature par three fourth hole, our group climbed the long series of steps that lead to the fifth tee box. The Japanese party had reached the area of the green on hole four as we were preparing to hit our tee shots on hole five. As the fourth green cannot be seen from the fifth tee ground area, we were startled when suddenly we heard a cacophony of squeals and shouts coming from behind us. We rushed back over the ridge that blocked our line of sight to see what had happened. The Japanese were jumping up and down screaming wildly. Windell’s group had been waved through the Japanese and Windell had promptly scored a hole-in-one on this magnificent 175/215 yard hole. This was the second hole-in-one of Windell’s career. Since then he has had three more. Ironically the Secretary has a little something in common with Windell. Each of us has a hole-in-one on hole sixteen at Auburn Links Golf Club.

Since 1999, Windell has often traveled with our group to play the great links courses of Ireland and the British Isles. As we have timed our trips to facilitate our playing in Ballyliffin Golf Club’s Annual Pro-Am golf tournament, it has fallen that Windell’s birthday has for several years occurred while we are in Ireland. This year we all sang Happy Birthday to Windell at Gilroy’s Restaurant in Enniscrone, Ireland. Our boisterous singing brought an enthusiastic round of applause from all the Irish patrons dining in the packed restaurant that Thursday night. The photo accompanying this post is Windell and caddy Barry at Ballyliffin in 1999.

While playing a nine hole match in the Wynlakes Golf Club’s Member/Guest in June 2008, Windell birdied the first three holes of our match against the winning team. We beat this team 6 1/2 to 3 1/2 but lost to them on points. We did not lose a match, beat the winning team, but still finished second due to the point scoring method employed in this tournament. Windell had numerous other birdies in this tournament which helped us land the second place finish in our bracket.

Windell also scored one of his holes-in-one at Moores Mill Golf Club in 2005 in a Member/Member tournament which helped carry his two man team to a first place finish in the tournament.Prior to his leaving for this year’s trip in 2008 Windell shot his age or under several times. In 2007, he shot a “two under his age” 66 at Moores Mill Golf Club in Auburn picking up eight birdies for the round.

Links Golf Travel – Tips to an Affordable and Fulfilling Trip - Part 3

This is the final installment of the three part series, Links Golf Travel – Tips to an Affordable and Fulfilling Trip. In the first two installments (Part 1 and Part 2), we discussed saving money by avoiding travel compaines and if you do use a travel company, opt for the self-drive option. Other tips centered around lodging and scheduling tee times. In this post, we discuss tips for airline reservations, travel between courses, and trip transportation.

7. For optimal savings, airline reservations should be made well in advance, preferably in December or January. Sometimes a window opens in the spring that can have the lower rates found in December and January. The availabilty of cheap rates in the spring is strictly a function of the percentage of seats sold in December and January. Get commitments early from those planning to travel. The best way to solidify your trip list is for a potential traveler to make the plunge and buy the ticket in December or January.

8. Do yourself a favor and plan your travel times between venues with a cushion for traffic delays, narrow roads, and rest stops.

9. The best way to travel with up to four golfers is an 8 passenger minivan. This vehicle will handle clubs, bags and up to four, possibly five golfers. For larger groups use an eight passenger minibus and a cargo van. The cargo van rents cheaper than the bus and will carry all luggage and gear. It will also carry three people. These are only available in Great Britain and Northern Ireland as the Republic of Ireland bars foreigners from renting cargo vans. For even larger groups a fifteen or seventeen passenger bus can be utilized.

10. Good luck! If you find this process exasperating, “The Secretary” will do your planning for you at a fraction of the cost of a golf travel company. With the above described process our group played 12 courses, 12 nights lodging, airline tickets, ground transportation including fuel for vehicles for less than $3,500 including airfare. Included were Connemara, Enniscrone, Carne, County Sligo, Donegal, Royal Portrush, Portstewart, and three rounds at Ballyliffin. Try doing that with a golf travel company. They will charge you that for three or four top courses and a couple of nags.

What are your tips or questions? I would love to read them; just leave a comment.

Links Golf Travel - Tips to an Affordable and Fulfilling Trip - Part 2

In the first part of this series, Links Golf Travel – Tips to an Affordable and Fulfilling Trip, I discussed the best way to save money is to self-plan your trip. The second tip was if you decide to use a travel company, save money by opting for the self-drive option. The third tip was to stay in Holiday Houses which are "self catered". Tips four and five expand on lodging options and tip six focuses on scheduling tee times.

4. If you prefer a bed and breakfast to the holiday house concept, expect to pay a little more for the privilege of having a full hot breakfast in the mornings. These are also found on the government sponsored travel websites. There is an atmosphere of charm in the interaction with locals that is found in bed and breakfast styled accommodations. I would recommend trying this option for a portion of your stay as visiting with your hosts and other guests can enrich your experience immensely.

5. If you prefer a hotel, choose clean highly recommended three star hotels rather than four and five star hotels. You will be using the hotel only for sleeping, so as long as they are clean and comfortable this is all that is important. Go to travel company websites and check the postings by people who have used these accommodations. For example, I had planned to use one particular hotel on our last trip but found it to have bad postings and as a result booked elsewhere.

6. Plan your golf around the “hardest to get” courses first. Once these tee times are secured you will go to the second hardest and on down to the easiest last. Look for early or late afternoon tee times for reduced rates. Look also for courses with all day rates anytime you plan to play two rounds in a day. Plan your lesser known courses for weekends as weekends go at a higher rate at big name venues.

In the last part of this series, I will provide tips on airline fares and transporation during your trip. If you have any tips you would like to share or any questions, please post them. I would enjoy reading them.

Links Golf Travel – Tips to an Affordable and Fulfilling Trip from “The Secretary”

Links Golf Travel – Tips to an affordable and fulfilling trip from “The Secretary”

Golf travel to the links courses of the British Isles and Ireland in the late eighties and early nineties was economical and there was little need to watch costs. Four and five star accommodations were affordable and green fees and ground transportation, even with a plush chauffeur driven coach, were inexpensive. All this came to a grinding halt with the arrival of the new millennium.

As the Euro currency got its legs and began its steady climb against the dollar, venues gradually became more and more expensive. During 2006-2007, the Euro exploded against the dollar and golf travel in “Links Land” suddenly became quite expensive, especially in the areas of the southwest of Ireland and in the regions of Scotland and England that contain host courses to the British Open (now known in Europe as simply “The Open”).

This post is the first in a three part series of our solution to keeping costs low on Links Golf Travel to the British Isles and Ireland:

1. Avoid golf travel companies. Plan your own itinerary securing your own reservations at all venues. Internet access has made this an inexpensive although time consuming process.

2. Auto, mini bus, and van rental provide self-drive savings over a chauffeur driven bus. With a chauffeur comes their lodging and meals expense as well.

3. Look for clean new holiday houses that are available on a weekly basis at reasonable prices. You must start early however, as these go quickly during the holiday travel time in Europe which runs from July through August. This is the best weather time period so competition for these houses is fierce. Such accommodations come as “self catering” which simply means you will be making your own bed, cooking your own breakfast and washing your own clothes.

This type of housing can be found by going to the government sponsored websites that have listings in all areas of the country you choose. Start your planning process in the fall of the year before the year that you plan to travel. Choose your holiday house in a central location to the courses you plan to play. Sometimes a weekly rental will give a savings even though you only use this for four or five nights.

Here are a couple of links to government sponsored websites. Keep in mind you could always do a simple Google search for this as well.

http://www.discoverireland.com/us/accommodation/
http://international.visitscotland.com/aboutscotland/a-zlisting (click on your region of interest)

In the next post, I'll cover tips number four through six which includes additional information on accommodations and golf course and tee time scheduling. As always, if you have any questions or tips you would like to share, please post a comment. I look forward to reading them!

Saving Money on Scotland and Ireland Golf Travel

I have been searching lately for other golf blogs dedicated to golf travel to Scotland and Ireland and have been relatively dissapointed at the results. Most are run by travel companies that plan the trip for you and are more expensive than the trips the Secretary self-plans. I did run across another posting from Brandon Tucker at worldgolf.com that mentions some tips to save money when you self-plan. The post is from July 2007 but I think the thoughts are still applicable today.

http://www.worldgolf.com/features/ireland-scotland-golf-vacation-values-weak-dollar-5694.htm

In some future posts, the Secretary will post some of his secrects on how he saves money on the golf trips he self-plans. I hope you enjoy.

-Assistant (to the) Secretary

Great Golf Blog on Golf Travel

Gentlemen,

I just found a great golf blog I would encourage you to check from time to time. Brandon Tucker of Worldgolf.com writes a blog that as Worldgolf.com describes "offers his unique perspective on golf and travel destinations from Scotland and Ireland to Myrtle Beach. He also chimes in on news events on the PGA and LPGA Tours, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and other happenings around the world of golf". The posting that caught my eye was on St. Andrews Golf Trust announcing that they are keeping greens fees for 2009 at the 2008 level at all of their golf courses. Here is a link to Brandon's post on this and another link or his blog.

Post on St. Andrews Greens Fees Frozen for 2009

http://www.worldgolf.com/blogs/brandon.tucker

As a housekeeping note, you can now find on the right side of the page a blog roll providing links to other golf blogs I enjoy. I hope you like them as well. If you have any suggestions for good golf blogs, please post them in the comment section!

-Assistant (to the) Secretary

Welcome to the Dal Riadas Golf Society

In 1988, we took our first trip to the world of “Links Golf”. That first trip included rounds at The Old Course St Andrews, Carnoustie, Panmure, Muirfield, Crail, Turnberry, Royal Troon, Western Gailles, and Barassie. We have returned every year since, except for the year of the Gulf War in 1990. In later years trips were made to Ireland and eventually to England.

I owe my introduction to “Links Golf” to my friends from Dothan, Alabama who invited me along on one of their many trips. Don Kennington was the leader of this group. Don was a true gentleman in every sense of the word. In those early years my golfing skills were somewhat lacking, but Don never failed to encourage all members of the groups, regardless of their skill level.

Don had been a member of the Auburn University Golf Team in the 1950’s and years later he competed in the British Amateur Championship, making it to the quarter finals. A lot of rounds have come and gone since that first trip. Don is no longer with us. I feel certain he is putting together golf outings on the greatest links course of all, and at the same time smiling down at us with that wry grin that he so often exhibited. Who would have guessed that I would some day have my picture taken with the reigning British Amateur Champion, Robert Hory, which occurred at last year’s Ballyliffin Pro-Am Tournament.

It is my goal to pass on worthwhile information that that will encourage you to play and learn about this special brand of golf.