June 20, 2012
The California Golden Bear women's golf team continued their tour of the courses of the Emerald Isle with a day two round at County Louth Golf Club. Senior Emily Childs sent the following from Dublin to document the day:
Hello everyone! Today we woke up at the crack of dawn to head out to play County Louth Golf Club about an hour outside of Dublin for an 8:30 tee-time. Being in the middle of summer, waking up early isn't too bad since the sun rises at around 4 am. All of us girls hopped on our bus with orange juice and croissant in hand, excited to play yet another day out on the Irish links.
Arriving at County Louth Golf Club, we were greeted by Dan Coyle (a past Cal Golf men's team member) and fellow County Louth members excited to play some matches against our Cal Golf team and coaches. Suited up in matching blue and gold outfits and confident about our games we were pleasantly surprised to find how good Dan and the County Louth golf members actually were, sweeping our team completely.
Feeling a little bit humbled out there, the course played pretty tough. The links style set right off the coast played 6,600 yards with numerous pot bunkers, thick rough and large undulating greens. Despite its toughness, it was hard not to appreciate the beauty of the County Louth Golf Club, especially the vast view of the Atlantic Ocean on number 14 tee. Although we ended up loosing our matches we added up 12 birdies made between the team and had a blast getting to know our new County Louth friends. Jo Ee and I even learned how to pronounce some words in an Irish accent! Where instead of saying the number "three" an Irish person would pronounce it as "tree". Or instead of "thanks", it is "tanks."
After the matches came in we headed into the 19th century clubhouse to have lunch followed by tea to talk about our play on the course. Dan, who soon developed the nickname of Irish folk song "Danny Boy", and the members were so friendly and warm and taught us a thing or two about the game of golf too!
Hopping back on the bus back to Dublin, we discussed what we wanted to do next. Our very knowledgeable and funny bus driver, Brian offered the option to stop by Saint Collins Cathedral on the way home. The girls didn't seem too excited about the idea until he mentioned how there was a real life 400-year-old human head within the cathedral! Arriving at Saint Collins we were stunned by the massive exterior of the cathedral, looking like something I had has seen in my art history book. We walked through the doors to find 150-foot ceilings, beautifully stained glass windows and paintings of Saints everywhere. The sun shined in through the windows exactly on the white and gold plated altar making us all feel very spiritual.
We eventually found our live/dead human head in a glass box realizing that the head belonged to Saint Oliver Plunkett, a man who helped the poor in Ireland 400 years ago. Unfortunately, English royalty beheaded him and the people today remember his good deeds by checking out his perfectly preserved head during church.
Back on the bus, we enjoyed some Cal Golf karaoke ready for our next Irish adventure. What a wonderful day!
Tomorrow, we play Kileen Castle where the Solhiem Cup was played this past year. We will get back to you soon, thanks for reading!
