1983 Walker Cup and British Amateur
In 1978 I had the good fortune to qualify for the US Amateur Championship held at Plainfield Country Club in Plainfield, New Jersey. The Royal and Ancient Golf Association, (R & A), granted a one-time exemption into the British Amateur with the achievement. The exemption was good for five years. As 1983 rolled around I was aware that if I was ever going to play the British Amateur, this had to be the year. I went to work planning the trip. As luck would have it, the Walker Cup was to be played near Liverpool the weekend before the British Amateur at nearby Turnberry, allowing us to attend.
Twenty years before the internet brought the world into everybody's home, golf courses, hotels and places to visit carried the allure of mystique and adventure. Research was reading magazines on the destination and talking with the few people who had traveled. As a result, marketing materials and guessing could mislead the inexperienced traveler.
Sandy and I left on May 20th, arriving May 21st at Shannon, Ireland, on the west central coast. In addition to playing Lahinch and Ballybunion, the highlight of the Irish portion of the trip would be staying at the highly acclaimed Dromoland Castle. Upon arrival, however, our waitlist status for the first night at Dromoland never cleared and we were sent to the Claire Inn, on the same 450 acre property. It was a newer, comfortable hotel.
After a good night's sleep, we headed to play Lahinch with the assurance of a room at the Dromoland Castle upon our return.
Originally built in 1892 by Old Tom Morris, followed by the work of Alister MacKenzie, Lahinch is a wonderful course with several unique design features. One of them, Klondike, the 4th hole, features a hill 40 feet high or more with the green immediately on the back side.
Finding herself 30 yards in front of the massive hill Sandy asked our caddie, Mike, if she should use a 7 iron. "Aye, lassie," Mike responded. He then turned to me and in a voice barely audible in his Irish brogue, whispered, "And say a little prayer."
The 150 yard 5th is the Dell hole. The green sits in a valley or dell between hills front and back. The flagstick is not visible. The caddie directs where to aim and the rest is luck. It's a crazy feeling standing on the tee, looking at the face of the hill and being told to hit the ball toward a cloud or waving grasses.
At the time, all but a few of the Alister MacKenzie greens had been changed because of drainage problems. However, in 1999 top architect, Dr. Martin Hawtree, rebuilt 14 greens to their original MacKenzie design. Often overlooked on trips to Ireland, Lahinch should not be missed.
Following the experience of Lahinch we headed the short distance down past rolling green hills, narrow, rock-walled, winding roads to Dromoland Castle. It is an iconic building featuring wide, stone stairs leading up to the building. A round parapet dominates the right side extending many feet above the building. One could imagine guards walking the perimeter on the look out for an invader.
It was dark inside the castle, looking like it needed sprucing up with an investment in furniture and fixtures. Following check in, we headed out for sightseeing at the stunning cliffs of Moher, dinner, and then back anticipating a good night's rest.
It wasn't to be. In what may be the worst bed I have ever been on, in one of the noisiest rooms, we ended up playing gin rummy most of the night, with the mattress being moved to the floor of the room. Room 108 at Dromoland Castle must have been where the prisoners were sent as punishment because it was not where guests should have stayed. The website today claims Dromoland Castle to be a 5 Star Hotel and it may well be, but not before someone put a lot of money into it.
We headed to Ballybunion, a course Tom Watson has called "one of the best and most beautiful tests of links golf". Dodging cows while driving down the narrow road, I was anxious to see the course I had heard so much about.
I was not disappointed. Now called the Old Course at Ballybunion, it is on every list of great courses in the world. Built in 1893 by James McKenna, holes move in and around grassy dunes, with fairways hanging precariously on cliffs overlooking the Bay of Kerry off the Atlantic Ocean. It is spectacular. Ballybunion fits easily into my list of top ten courses in the world I have played. It's challenging, fun, fair and beautiful. What more does one want in a golf course?
After a delightful round at Ballybunion, we hustled back to Shannon Airport, made the short flight to Dublin for dinner at the famous Jury's Hotel, followed by a day of sightseeing and then on to the Walker Cup at Liverpool, England.
Arriving in Liverpool we found the Bowler Hat Hotel, where I had made reservations months before. Standing at the desk I waited anxiously for the clerk to assign our room as a pregnant Sandy was ready for a nap after travel. "Mr. Simmons we have you booked for a week from today. With the Walker Cup here we are full. I have no room for you." I had booked our stay for the wrong week.
It was a crisis averted only with the help of the kind staff person at the Bowler Hat who used all of her resources to find room on the third floor of a B & B. Arriving at our B & B, I struggled to get our luggage up three flights of a narrow stairway. Getting to the room we discovered the bathroom was at the end of the hallway on the floor below, servicing two floors of rooms. At several months pregnant Sandy broke down, "I don't want to walk down the hallway and downstairs in the middle of the night," she sobbed.
"Let's just get through tonight and I will find a better place tomorrow," I pleaded trying to console her. Luckily we did. The next morning as we arrived at the Walker Cup, I overheard a spectator saying he was checking out of his hotel. It was a small boutique hotel just opened, a few blocks from the course. We had a new room.
The Royal Liverpool Golf Club, also known as Hoylake, is a links course south of Liverpool. The down economy at the time had taken its toll on Liverpool with the large estates in the area of the club appearing to be in disrepair.
"The course had lots of humps and bumps," said David Tentis, a member of the 1983 Walker Cup team. David was a friend who made the team on the strength of back to back quarter-final finishes in the US Amateur. The course was devoid of hills and valleys, often seen on links courses but full of mounds and slopes.
"The first day with my partner Jim Hofer, the Mid-Amateur champion, we got beat pretty good, 5 & 4," David said. "I was out late the second afternoon in singles against Scot Lindsey Mann. My match was close and the overall match was close. We were on the 17th tee, all square. I was up first. With the back of the tee only a few steps away, a guy wearing a red jacket and significantly over served, yelled as loud as he could right in the middle of my back swing. Somehow it went in the fairway. I won the hole, guaranteeing at least a tie in my match and giving us a win. Everybody rushed the green and after a short party, I played the 18th hole. It was a big thrill to win the clinching point."
As is standard at Walker Cup Matches, the club hosts a party for officials and guests. It was held at a large old red stone house on the first fairway. As with all Walker Cup events, it was very nice with appetizers being the main offering. The chairman of the event was the host. As guests were leaving, out of the kitchen came the hostess. She had spent the entire party preparing the food and cleaning in the kitchen! The event was for the guests, not her, she claimed.
Following the Walker Cup, we ventured on to the Turnberry Hotel and golf courses. I registered as contestant number 227 and we perused the property. The Turnberry Hotel sits on a rise 100 feet above and across an expanse from the Firth of Clyde. The hotel has a formal feel, giving the impression of catering to only the upper crust from around the world. The expansive dining room, with views out to the Firth of Clyde, was always quiet and civil, with guests speaking in hushed tones. No loud laughing after a couple of beers in the Turnberry dining room!
The smartly dressed host in a black jacket would seat us. Each day I looked for an iconic Englishman holding a folded newspaper in one hand, legs crossed, while sipping tea from a white-flowered china cup in the other, his glasses hanging from the end of his nose. There was always one dining.
Developed by the railroad, the two courses, Ailsa and Arran were built between 1901 and 1905, along with the 100 room hotel. A picturesque lighthouse built in the mid-1800s, stands at the northern end of the property, nearly in play. The courses are classic links in style, featuring holes stringing down the Firth of Clyde and inland through the dunes.
Gorse is predominant off the fairway. A thick, thorny bush eats golf balls. Like bugs to a zapper, its yellow flower seemed to entice several of my drives. After two pleasant days of practice the wind kicked up severely and I struggled.
The format for the event was 36 holes of medal play, with the low 64 scores of the 256 contestants, moving on to match play. The two courses at Turnberry were difficult in the high wind, evidenced by the fact that the medalist was even par over the two days. Paired with an Englishman and an Italian, no one in our group advanced.
Walker Cupper, David Tentis, faired far better, easily qualifying for match play. "The rain was terrible during the match play portion," said David. He persevered to the semifinals before falling to Steven Kepler, a fine British player. It was the finest finish in his amateur career.
Iain Carslaw, a friend and former Walker Cup Team member for Great Britain, also in the field, told me, "I didn't even mind getting beat the weather was so bad."
Disappointed in my play with scores of 83-87, I commented to Sandy, "At least nobody in the States will see my results." We flew back, connecting in Boston where I picked up a copy of 'USA Today'. There in the sports section was a list of all the American player's scores in the British Amateur. Right down at the bottom was my name. So much for anonymity. Opening my locker back at Interlachen, there it was, someone had taped the paper with my name and scores inside the door.
The experience of the British Amateur at Turnberry was a thrill. Playing the event and being around the greatest amateur players in the world is at the top of the list of competitive events in a Life In Golf.
1st tee with my caddie at the British Amateur
