Rosapenna

Monday October 1, 2012 Our hotel for Sunday night, Caraween House in Narin, was closed for the winter and the person who agreed to open up for us was a no show. So.......we headed north to spend an extra night at the Rosapenna Hotel----this also brought us closer to our favorite bar in Ireland -- the epicenter of our travels, the holy grail of Irish bars -- The Harbour Bar in Downings. where the Guinness is smooth, the music is plentiful, and the craic is omnipresent. We four Irish-Americans fell truly blessed to have found this perfect bar where the Irish welcome is always in splendid display. We spent Sunday night eating and drinking in the Rosapenna Hotel bar and watching the Ryder Cup singles matches with rabid, but respectful, European fans. How could Justin Rose hit those big putts on such a big stage? When Furyk went down to Garcia, we knew it was over. The outcome of the match was disappointing and disheartening, but the fellowship with the golfers we met was memorable. Back to our golf. Monday morning we played a new/renovated course at Rosapenna----the Morris/Ruddy Old Course. We played the predecessor course in 1998, and it was not impressive. This new course was fun. The front nine is a quiet low-key circuit which is a nice test, but not very special. The back nine, which begins at the north corner of the Golf Pavilion, runs along the coast in muted dunes. This nine is impressive and tested every club in the bag. Quiet and elegant layout. Bravo to owner Frank Casey and the Rosapenna family for bringing the resort back to the main stage of links golf. The local news is that Casey recently purchased 36 more holes adjacent to the hotel on land which was originally going to be developed by Jack Nicklaus. Rumor has it that Jack may be brought back to lend his designing hand to the new course(s). No matter who develops this marvelous links land -- Rosapenna is here to stay on any golf map.