This Golf Club blows my mind!!

I'm not quite sure how Ireland keeps on doing this but it continually surprises me by the unreal quality of their golf courses. Is Ireland's ancient east the best value destination to play golf right now? I reckon it takes some beating and in tonight's episode I will suggest that is the very case and I will share with you where I stayed in the centre of Waterford who also happened to serve the biggest breakfast known to man. I take a trip into the city's Viking triangle the odd pint or two and of course there will be a man versus golf challenge. This is Waterford Golf Club. Right so welcome back to another episode of off the beaten track our Ireland edition and so far we've had two belters and this one looks no different to be honest here. I've just arrived the sun is shining I'm making my way down the first and already this suggests this could be pretty decent to say the least. I'm at Waterford Golf Club and let's see what this has installed. This golf course it's I think front line was designed by Willie Park back nine by James Braid that's not a bad pairing in terms of course designer. I haven't done just this since the drive went away and the next two shots are pretty poor so we've got a put to save par. The first thing I'll say is the greens seem fairly tiny. I'm rolling plenty quick enough as I said save par I'll be lucky if I make a bogey. I was a bit bold and I wasn't quite expecting that kind of pace. Yeah and we just about save on for a bogey. So first impressions I can't wait to see what this place has got in there in store for us. Right real interesting one the third we're on a well an alternate tee box. The regular tee is over about 50 yards to my right we've got a real tiny green which has been so far a bit of a feature of the course and look we've only got 130 yards there's not a lot of green to aim for. I'll keep turning ball keep turning ball keep turning oh short well I got that one wrong there's a bit of wind that you in the parking course the one thing I potentially struggle with a little bit is you're you're covered and particularly in this tee box in that you don't feel the wind and clearly it is up there because that thing just hung so I'm assuming slightly into us and off the left but either way I've got a chance of an up and down. Ah not a great start two bogeys in the first three holes and I think the green keeper was kidding me on they vertical up the greens said they weren't quite at their best which clearly were at the end of March expected that but what I wasn't expecting was for them to be as quick as they are so the little chip I quite liked and left myself far too much to be making a well a real chance of saving that par but there you go not a great start we'll get better that's a decent drive on four anyway we've got one away and it's time for the time for the jelly to come off turning from Club Choice Island they did tell me that the this is the sunny southeast and it's pretty much guaranteed sunshine if you do book any of your trips through them so that's important to mention if you are going to make a booking don't forget this is in partnership with Club Choice Island fantastic set up get your bookings done with them but what I also want to mention is this this is my few warm-up holes because if you watch the previous episode you'll know man versus golf is back that's a three hole challenge it's coming up very shortly I've got to get my game in order before we kick that off and fingers crossed I've been doing okay so far right hole five got a par five let's even get a drive away and I'll have a little chat about the the change in hotel that we've got at the moment that's the best swing of the day yeah that's got one away we're basically we've moved we were in we're in Kilkenny as you know from the previous episodes really nice hotel up there Hotel Kilkenny and then we've moved part of our itinerary was to see another part and we're in Waterford Fitzwilton Hotel really nice again real good location and where you're going to see in the next two episodes is obviously we've got Waterford Golf Club today and then we've got Waterford Castle coming in this next week's episode and obviously we're on the doorstep of both and of the city as well so again great itinerary great locations both in Kilkenny and in Waterford let's see if we can get this ball up in two on a par five eh I think I stand corrected this is not a par five I thought all of a sudden I've grown all kinds of guns and bombed it with 150 left but it is in fact a par four it was the ladies tea I was reading from yeah I got excited then for a minute but we should definitely get up in two hopefully we can get there distance wise anyway right well it came up short but it was right on line it was probably the best iron of it all week anyway let's see if we can make it two put from here or maybe even one oh no it's just wriggled away at the end there good pace though and the pace of the greens fantastic and I think it's important to know you know we we should be aware that we're at the end of March and uh these greens are incredibly true we've got trees that still won't have foliage on them so it'll it'll come on a heck of a lot in the in the next few months and even so still it's an incredible condition so it's time for man versus golf and we kick things off at the par three ninth hole it's measuring 170 yards to the pin it's stroke index 13 so no shots and I decided the six iron was the club of choice now in the air this was all over the flag and as you can see it just came up a tad short but I do have a realistic birdie putt to be fair it wasn't the best to read but it did leave a straightforward tap in for a three so the first hole of the challenge is halved right it's time for a quick breather and take a bit of shade would you believe from the sun I did tell you sunny southeast guaranteed I'd take this layer off a secondary skin but uh the polo shirt underneath it's a bit tight if you know what I mean and I haven't got the I've got the figure for it so we're gonna have to sweat it out I'm afraid but uh yeah man versus golf let me know what you think of that as well because it's been something interesting if you're an og viewer then you'll have seen this many moons ago and uh everybody liked it to be fair it's one of them things you question why did we ever drop that and for this series it's good because I think off the beaten track I'm trying to show you around the golf course but I want to make it engaging at the same time and also for me as well because I hit a lot of shots that are pretty meaningless most of the time my score is irrelevant but then when you get the man versus golf challenge as we call it then you just switch on for a little bit focuses the mind and for three holes at least that is uh so let me know I'd love your feedback down below let me uh should we be continuing outside of our island edition should we be carrying this forward in uh in the months ahead anyway I'm halfway through the 10th hole and uh this place is good isn't it result remains the same it was a par for second hole on the challenge par 5 and it's stroke index 10 so still no shot as you can see from tea to green it's uh it's straight which for me is uh sometimes the biggest challenge oh and come on that's a golf shot that's a golf shot that is straight well that's a great start I have no idea about whether we can get anywhere near in two but all I do know is the first bit is achieved my 224 to the flag which I can get there with a Sunday best I think we're going to aim slightly right to target and bring it back a tad if we can two of the best shots of it in a while well we've literally got front edge oh I'm delighted with those two a real birdie chance I was a nice little chip you know and uh it's still come quite severely down that slope which I wasn't quite ready for I thought it was stone dead but probably just outside of gimme do we go firm up the hill I think that's got to be the play hasn't it it's it oh do you know what had nearly slipped by on the right hand side but it didn't and we make a birdie so either way that puts me one up with one hole to play in this man versus golf bowl challenge right on the 12th hole first of all stroke index two I didn't record the t-shot nor the second but I thought way short it plays all the way uphill well such a pretty backdrop really nice and and that's been a general feature of the course it's stunning I love the fact that we've got loads of variety in terms of the way the uh par three par four par five the shaping of the holes we've got the yellow gorse that you see you've got lots of evergreens that you see it's just a real nice course to play and also want to talk about the the welcome we received as well from the minute we arrived the lad behind the bar was really good met the captain and the greens convener or course convener really nice people and we've spoken to a few lads as well around the golf course who've uh also been very nice right now we've got to work it looks like it sits on a bit of a ridge see if we can get one up there I've chunked it I've chunked it I've done too much talking and not enough thinking all 12 I'm having a blinking nightmare thank god it's not man versus golf right you wait a long time for the final hole in the man versus golf challenge it's a par four it's hole 17 and uh as you can see it's not overly long as a par four but it's fairly tricky towards the green because I'm going to go with driver and they've got a few well-placed bunkers to catch this kind of shot out but I've hit driver well so I want to stick with it and see if we can finish this challenge with a win so come on nice and that hasn't drawn it's gone through the trees and I don't know where it's finished up if it doesn't hit a tree then it's a direct route to the green and we could end up lucky if not well uh well we'll soon find out okay so we've got we've got a line but it's whether or not we can get it up quick enough over the top um of this tree directly in front of me and still get the distance on it we got over the tree has it got the yardage go oh my word that could be good we've got a camera on the green and uh I don't know we shall see you know more than I do well I'm pleased with the end result and I'll watch it back on camera and see what happened there but yeah positive we now need a not too lively putt because I think like I said at the beginning these greens have been really good this seems to be running away from me a bit the sun has stayed out throughout the whole round it's been an absolute joy let's see if we can roll in another birdie on man versus golf oh it's a feeble effort and I think I was fearful of it running away and it was it was pretty poor but uh it's a good four yeah it's always disappointing when you don't give it a run and especially leaving it short that's uh yeah painful finish but we're going to play 18 we'll have a look at the top there because we're over a raised tee box just to the left of me now which looks straight over into Waterford so we'll have a quick glance at that but essentially I'm finished here I'm not sure where we're off to next I'm enjoying every minute of it I just hope you are too we'll probably end up in a pub a bar a restaurant we'll be doing something so don't switch off just yet it was a quick drive back into Waterford City and check into our hotel the Fitzwill gorgeous room with a view of the waterfront as well as that incredible breakfast you've seen earlier the bar served some great food before we headed on into Waterford City I took a short walk for a wander around the area known as the Viking Triangle lots of great architecture and an understanding of Waterford's history then it was in for those few pints before we get ready for next week's episode which we get a ferry to play golf on an island in Ireland I'll see you next Monday