I’m sitting in the airport lounge enjoying a margarita, en route to Shannon International Airport on the western coast of the Emerald Isle. I imagine it will be beer and whiskey from this point forward as I Am spending two weeks here. I understand that Shannon has a great way of welcoming visitors.
I can’t make sense of the liquid shit that is this week’s stock market, therefore I am off to Ireland to play some golf Amongst the Gorse. 
There is much more treachery involved in a round of the Auld Game than there is in the pits on Wall Street.
Throw in the North Atlantic Coast and it’s winds and my handicap should balloon like the Dow Jones Industrial Average on a warm July afternoon.
This is golf the way it was meant to be played, on a links course where attempting to retrieve your errant tee shot can result in a fall to certain death from a 200-foot cliff. Yet certainly there is much to be said when playing on a hole with a castle on it. And a guy in a rowboat. 
Verizon and TD Bank have been notified of my destination. Let’s hope neither fucks it up again as they did when I was in Cabo San Lucas and had to beg the proprietor of the fine establishment (where I had just enjoyed a phenomenal meal in an open-air Spanish garden setting) to allow me to go withdraw some pesos from the nearby ATM (with my Amex Gold Card) as TD completely sucked ass on my notification that I would be in another country – and my Visa card was refused.
Imagine trying that in the States, heh. I did leave three of my golfing buddies at the bar as hostages, and I am thankful that the Amex card worked as advertised and that they were not handed over to the Policia for interrogatorio robusto.
Anyway, The Plan is to hang out in a few pubs (in-between rounds, ancestor sleuthing and castle-hopping) and ingratiate meself with the local Micks to get a feeler on their sentiments re Brexit and other things.
I need some perspective, and if my 5/8 Irish blood has a bit o’ luck in it, perhaps some old gaffer in the local Guinness Dispensary will impart some Wisdom of the Ancients to flesh out my golf game.
You cannot trust the media. Go straight to the source. I trust the British Open will be broadcast on all television sets in all pubs this week. Debating whether to have a round at Trump’s new course nearby as I hear it is a nice place, maybe the Greatest Golf Course EVAH!
A course review and recap would be appreciated. Enjoy
Old Head – before you die. Lahinch +1, bring your wind-vectoring cap.