Our First Official Club Tour – a very quiet and restful break!!

Macreddin Golf Club had it’s first official club tour, when we visited Spain at the end of October to watch Paul defend his Volvo Masters crown play and play a bit of golf.

We all met in Dublin Airport early on the Wednesday the 25th for a trouble free flight to Malaga. From there it was a brief journey to Marbella Golf Course for a warm-up casual 12 hole competition.

Here we started to see some of our future club stars shining and the makings of what looks like a very handy Barton Cup team.

The winner, John Murphy had a cracking score of 25 points for the 12 holes and he was nursing two recently broken fingers.

After the golf and a few quick refreshments (apologies to the very patient coach driver) we headed to the beautiful 5 star Hotel Guadlapin in Puerta Banus for a quick shower and change.

The crew all re-assembled for a bite to eat that evening in the Thai Gallery as the prizes for the day were given out. A quick trip to Sinatra’s bar was followed by an early night (for our driver) with the trip to Valderrama the next morning.

We arrived at Valderrama and headed straight out to the course to follow Paul in his first round. Playing with Damien Mc Grane there was plenty of Irish accents with this group. Dressed in our tour tee-shirts there was no mistaking the Macreddin groupies as we followed our man through the tough terrain of Valderrama.

Having turned in 3 over par the test was proving tough for Paul but 3 birdies at the start of the back nine he got him back to level and all the Irish eyes were smiling. Unfortunately bogeys on 16 & 17 left him back on 2 over but all in all it was a solid start on a very tough course.

Following his round Paul joined us all in a nearby hotel to talk about Macreddin and his plans for the course, his season to date and just about anything else that came up! Having spent over an hour getting to know the members Paul left us to continue his defence of his Volvo Masters title.

Day 3 was our final day in Spain and the day of the much awaited final competition at Santa Clara Golf Club. After much debate the final teams were picked and a scramble format was agreed.

We were sent out in groups of 3 and again had a very enjoyable round on a challenging course. Roger Jones our co-designer at Macreddin was on hand to pass on some tips to all on the way around.

Following much suspense the winners of the final competition were announced at the official prize giving in Mona Lisa’s restaurant. The team of John Murphy (again!!), Liam Murphy and Terry Shorten shot a score of level par with 11 shots to easily pick up the prize of Valderrama caps signed by Paul.

We then enjoyed celebration drinks in O’Gradys Irish bar and had a night-cap or two in …. you guessed it – Sinatra’s bar.

The next morning we finally managed to board the coach to the airport and set on our way back to rainy Dublin after a great 3 days.

Paul finished the tournament with an excellent tie for 18th place – no doubt inspired by his groupies from Macreddin!!!

We look forward to the next Macreddin tour in February to Quinta da Lago in Portugal one of our sister PGA European Tour Courses members.