I'll get right to it: I've now played the top dozen
or so
links
on each side, and based on that experience, I have to
give the edge
to
Ireland. I can already feel the cold stares of St.
Andrean neighbors. But
let's take a side-by-side look at
the
first-string squads—the top half-dozen links from each
land.
Representing Team Ireland: Ballybunion, Royal Portrush,
Lahinch, Portmarnock, Royal County Down and Waterville.
For
Team
Scotland: Carnoustie, Muirfield, the Old Course, Royal Dornoch,
Royal Troon
and Turnberry.
Now, those of you who have been
fortunate
enough to play all
or most of those courses, tell
me if you don't
agree that the more exhilarating and
engaging tests of golf are, for
the most part, on the Irish
side. Maybe it's the fact that Ireland
is the first line of
defense against
the winds and surf of the
Atlantic, maybe
it's the deeper green of the
fairways or the sheer
cliffs
that drop vertiginously to broad sandy
beaches—whatever the
reason, there's something massive and mystical about the
great
links
of Ireland, something that's missing in their Scottish
counterparts.
Whether it's the 7th tee at Ballybunion,
the 17th at
Waterville
or the 6th at Royal Portrush, the
combination of stern
shotmaking
demands and
majestic scenery causes this golfer's blood to
rush.
Scotland appeals in a subtler, quieter way. With the
exception
of a few holes at Turnberry and Dornoch, we're
low to the ground,
down amid
the dunes, plying our way
across humps and hummocks rather than
battling heroically
against three-story sandhills and defiant
plateau greens.
Sure, along with the Irish scenery come some blind
shots, goofy kicks and
onerous hikes from green to tee. But it's all
part of the invigorating joy, a
happy tradeoff for the
grandeur of
the playground.
Now let's expand the
squads and
bring in those young
recruits the scouts have been touting. For
Team Scotland, there's
Kingsbarns, a nouveau links sculpted
artfully by Mark
Parsinen and
Kyle Phillips from a tract of
seaside farmland just outside St.
Andrews. Kingsbarns grabs
your attention at the 1st hole and never
lets go
with a
series of inspiring and ingeniously plotted holes
that look as if
they've been there for centuries. Currently it ranks
among
the top 50 courses
in the world and should probably be in
the top 25.
But that's it. Scotland
has not produced
another
significant course—at least not one along the sea—in
the last two
decades. (There are several in the works.)
By contrast, Team Ireland has signed
four rising
players,
each on a different coast: Starting in
the
east and moving
clockwise around the island, they are the European Club
(1992), Old Head (1997), Doonbeg (2002) and Carne
(1993).
