Hello and welcome to MJ-GolfGuides!
The first steps of the journey
Firstly, a little bit about myself. I’m an Irish guy coming from a little parish in West Cork, Ireland called Adrigole. Son of a man who loves golf, as does all his family, I was introduced to the sport at a young age. My first real interest was spiked in 1991 when I sat down and watched Ian Woosnam win the Masters in Augusta. It struck a chord with me, and from then on I was intrigued by the sport. Two months after that my Dad took me to the Irish Open in Killarney. Where my first interaction with the professional golfing scene was to get thrown a golf ball by Wayne Riley which I still have! After this I started caddying for my Dad when he played in matches for our club, and I loved the atmosphere.
My first years golfing
I joined our local club, Glengarriff Golf Club, as a juvenile member, and along with one other juvenile member traveled to other West Cork courses playing competitions. We were the only two long term juveniles in the club at the time, some people came, and some went, but we hung on. He was a really long hitter and a great golfer, and still is! I was restricted to my 3-wood and was always considered a short hitter. However, I kept battling! Our course is a short course, but extremely tricky, accuracy is key. Our touch around the greens saved us a lot of times, and as the sun went down in the summer evenings we could be seen playing four corners on the greens or playing approach shots in from 100 yards. Who could spin the most, the sort of things young players try to do!
My first wins
In 1997 I joined the club as a full member as I felt I could hack it with the big boys at that stage. My handicap was 16 by then and in my first year I won a President’s Prize, the Golfer of the Year, and the Club Matchplay. I was over the moon! That year I also played in a team event, the Maureen O’Hara Golf Classic, and our team won it. (We also won it in 1999, 2000, and 2002).
A lapse in golf
In 1999, I moved to Cork City to start college, and my golf game suffered. I didn’t have the time to play, and I was working during weekends so couldn’t travel home to play every weekend. However, after finishing college, I started to play regularly again in about 2006. One big difference was that my distance had now all of a sudden become long, and I was able to hit a driver. I was playing with Glengarriff in lots of club tournaments and got to play a lot of courses in Cork and Kerry playing with them.
Unfortunately, in 2009 due to the recession I was made redundant and decided to move to New Zealand. Again, my golf game took a back step, but another curiosity was awoken in me. The urge for travel and seeing the world. In 2010 I moved back to Ireland, but not for long. In 2011 I accepted a job in Saudi Arabia, and remained there until 2022. While there I brought my handicap down to a respectable 5. However, with the new WHS system that changed to 7.
Golf and Travel
When I can I travel to other countries, (click for the travel website), and a couple of times a year a few of us went to other courses in the Middle East and played there. We played some beautiful courses, some of the best in the world. Before playing those courses, I liked to know what I was coming up against. I liked to research the courses, see the lie of the land, and plan my way around the course. Some of the more famous courses had an abundance of information, but others didn’t.
My goals
My original aim was to play all the Middle Eastern golf courses and put a detailed review and hole-by-hole walkthrough on them so that others looking to play them could find the information easily. During my time in the Middle East I managed to play all of the courses in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman. I also played courses in other countries but only at my leisure with mates.
Since moving back to Ireland, I have a mission to play all of Ireland’s golf courses, review them and do hole-by-hole walkthroughs on them also. As well as doing video vlogs for my YouTube channel. With over 400 courses in the country it’s a large task. Especially when you take the unpredictable Irish weather into account!
Realizing my dream
I was never good enough to make the standard that first peaked my interest in 1991. But that’s not going to stop me from trying to live my dream of traveling the world golfing. Putting my two passions together, and sharing them with others. I hope the information on the website is useful to you when you come across it. And I hope you choose to follow me on my journey. I hope golf will bring you as much joy (and less frustration!) than it has brought me over the years.
Martin Jer (MJ-GolfGuides)