Nature's Wrath

Raw, Rugged,  and Pure: This is Ballyneal

He was alone in the dimly-lit club captivated by the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. As he looked out onto the stage, they exchanged eye contact which created an insatiable desire for exploration. She was sexy. She was mysterious. She brought out a feeling of excitement that he hadn't felt since he was 14 years old staring at Megan in his civics class wrestling in his mind images of a torrid love affair.

She crept down the runway with her seductive eyes drawing him in closer and closer. A bead of sweat which was the by-product of his excitement dripped down his left temple which was pulsing with excitement as his heart pumped blood through his veins at rapid pace.

The tips of her fingers grasped the bottom of his chin and demanded a long, deep stare into her eyes.

"You know you want me" she mouthed as she held his face just inches from her lips.

He wanted her right then and there. Whoever he was as a man before he walked into the club was irrelevant at this moment. He had seen the best and was now being offered a taste. His stream of consciousness was broken as the music stopped and the sleazy waitress who had been serving him drinks interrupted the moment and asked him if he wanted another round. He turned his head towards the waitress and quickly declined so that he could re-connect with his Siren.



The Stormwalker: "Double D" surveying the trouble coming from above

And she was gone.

This is how our group felt when we we woke up inside the well-appointed lodge at Ballyneal. The previous day featured 6 hours of driving, a quick stop to enjoy a sun-soaked day of golf at Wildhorse, the feel of being lost on a remote 2-lane highway off of I-80, the grand arrival to a remote club, and the chance to play an evening round before dinner.

Sounds pretty good doesn't it?
Well, it didn't work out as planned. Nature's wrath had other plans. Sunshine was replaced with wall clouds. Tornadoes touched down within the area. We saw sheets of golf ball-sized hail drill the golf course and the buildings for a solid half hour. The golf course at Ballyneal had taken a hit. Rupert O'Neal, the owner of the club could only watch in disappointment as nature's wrath exacted its fury on us and his golf course.

There wasn't any more golf to be played at Ballyneal for our trip. That's the bad news.

What very little we all got to indulge at Ballyneal, what I can tell you is this: its good. Its damn good. Designed by Tom Doak, Ballyneal offers a sincerely rugged layout that takes advantage of the Chop Hills for which it is laid upon, and made me feel as if I was walking through several holes at Ballybunion with its firm fescue from tee to green. Many of you have read about the course being walking only, having no tee markers, and no yardage on the sprinklers. As someone who is in the business, I was worried about arriving to a place that had been victim of a marketing company trying too hard to be pure with throw-back marketing bullshit. It works here. Although we didn't get to see but 5 total holes (the 6th was played at rapid pace before the wall cloud arrived and the staff rescued us), the heavy roll of the terrain added with the perfect turf conditions has LC wanting more....for which a return trip is warranted.

The glorious 5th Hole complete with a producing funnel cloud



I don't think giving the readers a full review of our experience is justified as the staff and course weren't able to give us the show that I know they are capable of delivering. But from what we saw, played, and felt, Ballyneal is a very special place for which I DARE to say may even exceed my favorite home of golf, The Sand Hills. I reserve judgement on this decision until a full experience is had, but it has that type of potential.

As we left the property feeling un-quenched for our golf appetite, my cell phone rang and it was my father in the car ahead....he had good news to shed in light of our crazy past 16 hours:

"We're going to Sand Hills."

Wildhorse. Ballyneal. Sand Hills.  A rota of golf courses toured within 30 hours that would make anyone shiver. Good things do happen in a crisis, and through our hail-storm survival, the sun was shining in a different spot that day.

The 4th at Ballyneal--One of the very best