[Paul Perrella]

Just returned fron a 10 day trip to the Emerald Isle and thought I would pass on some of my impressions. These are certainly just my opinions.
  1. The Dell and Klondyke at Lahinch are the two most fun back to back holes I've ever played.
  2. The back nine at Waterville is as good a nine as I've played anywhere.
  3. Old Head is among the most spectacular places I've seen but it will be long washed into the sea before it becomes the #1 ranked course in the world.
  4. Portmarnock is one of the most subtle, fair (its right in front of you) and playable of the worlds great courses.
  5. 36 holes at Newcastle(RCD) with some great caddies and super weather may have been the most enjoyable golfing day of my life. Playing the front nine in two under had nothing to do with it. Smiley face!
  6. Portstewart, where we saw the only rain of the entire trip(10 minutes), may be underrated. The front nine here combined with the back nine at Waterville would be a match for any course.
  7. Tom Huckaby's cousin at Castlerock is a great guy and one of the best 10 handicaps on the planet. John told some of Tom's "wild man" stories but that is for another post. Tom, thanks for hooking us up. I will be sending you an email soon. P.S. John and I were partners and, of course, won the match.
  8. Royal Portrush has bumped Shinnecock to third on my own personal list and is firmly up against Pine Valley. Calamity is at least as good as #5 at PV. Great variety of holes with no weak ones in the bunch.
  Ran, With your encyclopedic knowledge of golf holes, and presuming I'm not way off base here, a comparison of PR vs PV may prove to be interesting.
  9. Baltray (County Louth) may also be among the underrated courses in Ireland. We caught this one with the wind really up and it was all you wanted.
 10. The Links at Portmarnock, a Bernard Langer design, was a good ending to our trip. A three hour round and short drive to the airport allowed us to play virtually on our way home.

 Some other observations:

 Pete Galea, with his ball flight, would absolutely love these courses.
 The food was much better than I was anticipating.
 The Bushmills Inn is a very good place to stay while in the North.
 Ireland Golf Travel which assisted with some of our trip and is located in Ireland was very good to work with.

In case you can't already tell I loved most everything about Ireland and am very much looking forward to returning there.

[THuckaby2]

Fantastic, Paul!

My cousin emailed me a few days ago to relay that he REALLY enjoyed the afternoon with you!  I am very glad you could make that happen.  My cousin is a great guy indeed and a complete thief at 10.  He beat my ass like a drum all over Castlerock...

Full concurrence with your course sentiments also.  You've given me reason no. 128 to go back, by the way - I gotta see Baltray!

Thanks for the report.

TH

ps - you were a wise man indeed to take my cousin as your partner!

[Ran Morrissett]

Paul,

Excellent report and trip (!) though I can't agree with placing Portrush in the same class as Shinnecock or Pine Valley - the back nine has too many good - but nothing special - holes.

How about talking about Portmarnock some? My second visit there was a real eye-opener and the course doesn't get near the recognition it deserves on this site.

As for Baltray, does it need the wind to spruce things up? Put another way, everyone who has played it in a "brisk breeze" comes away singing its praises while those (like me) who caught it on a moderate day seem less excited.

Certainly the middle of each nine (4-8 and 12-14) are wonderful, especially the one shot 7th (!!) with its shaved bank, but the other holes only seem so-so in forming a supporting cast.

How good is Castelrock? Never been.

Your comment on the back nine at Waterville is spot on, plus holes 2-5 are chop liver. Paul, I bet you are a good golfer? Waterville seems to plummel the weaker man and appeal to the better golfer - how it isn't in GOLF's world top 100 is a mystery to me.

Cheers,

[THuckaby2]

Ran - I'll be interested in Paul's assessment also, but my take on Castlerock is just that it simply suffers in comparison to its more famous neighbors.  It is one hell of a golf course.  I forget the Doak scale right now but whatever number corresponds to "play it if you're within 100 miles", that's what I'd give it.  No offense to my cousin but it comes after each of Portrush Dunluce, Portrush Valley and Portstewart... but is a fine course in its own right.  It also has a "wee nine" that looks incredible... next time I play that.  It's all through sand hills, looking much like the front nine at Portstewart.

Paul is a FINE player too - you nailed that.  My cousin was raving.

TH

[Tim_Weiman]

Paul:

Options for food in Ireland are far better than ten years ago.  Nice to see someone else coming away with the same impression.

[THuckaby2]

Tim - this is something we can agree on!  I too had many fine meals during my last Ireland trip.

Cheers!

TH

[Ran Morrissett]

In that regard, I would like to second Paul's suggestion that the Bushmill Inn is a terrific place to stay.

[ForkaB]

Paul

I'd like to hear more about your impressions of Portmarnock, too.  I've always rated it ahead of Newcastle and Ballybunion as the best I've played in Ireland (haven't played Portrush).

[THuckaby2]

Again, jumping in where I wasn't asked (my specialty)...

I loved Portmarnock.  It's been a few years since I played it, however, so my memories are a bit faded... I just recall writing in my journal "this is the toughest course on earth."  I played it in ferocious winds, that I remember.

I can't say I'd put it above any of Ballybunion Old, Portrush Dunluce or Newcastle... but that's some tough company.

So yeah Paul, get back on here and give some more skinny!

TH

[Ran Morrissett]

Rich, How about using your 10 criteria for a Portmarnock vs. Dornoch fisticuffs?  Talk about natural, unspoilt courses with tons of short game interest!

[Gary Albrecht]

Thanks, Paul.  We're playing all that you did except Baltray, Castlerock, and Links at Portmarnock, but adding Doonbeg, Ballybunion, European Club, and The Island club.  

Does anyone know if it's difficult to set up a match with a group of locals?  We have 8 in our group and would love to tee it up with our Irish counterparts.

[THuckaby2]

Gary - get ye self to Castlerock and I'll have a game set up for you and your friends.  Otherwise, Tom Paul is the man to talk to as he just did exactly that at Portrush and RC Down - his club against those clubs... I'd imagine it takes a bit of planning but the members are such great people, I can't see it being "un-doable"...

And let's be clear re Portmarnock - there is a new course there designed by Langer that is NOT the one Paul's talking about (I think).  I played that and walked off after 13 holes... long story... but it was not nearly the course the "old" Portmarnock is in any case.  I only bring this up because the Langer course is called the Links at Portmarnock (I think)....

Oh, never mind.  

insert smiley face

TH

[Tim_Weiman]

Gary:

You are on the right track.  Send me your e mail and I'll see what I can do with some locals.

tweiman@aol.com

[ForkaB]

Ran

You made me go back to my post, as I've already forgotten what I wrote a few days ago!  Just another senior moment.....

Nevertheless

1. Wholeness. A “course.” This is to say something that flows, naturally and seamlessly, over the land. Tee to green to tee to green, etc.

Halved--there are no demonstrably more holistic venues in the world that I know of

2. WYSIWYG. What you see is what you get. Holes which, even if partially blind, make it clear, from their topography and the placement of hazards and the green, what the risks and rewards are of shots of varying intensity across varying angles.

Halved again.  Any diferences aren't worth disputing

3. Subtle deceptions. Within the context of 2 above, the addition of little tricks which reward experience, require you to think, and punish you if you do not.

I'll give this to Dornoch, but as I've played it 300+ times and Portmarnock only twice, I could easily be swayed by another 298+ trips out by the that view over the Hill of Howth...

4. Diversity. A mixture of shot values required, in terms of clubs to be used and the shape of the shots to be executed with those clubs.

Halved again.  Both world class.

5. Greens which accommodate both the aerial game and the ground game.

Another slight edge to Dornoch, based on my memory.

6. Greens which give higher rewards to properly executed “aerial” shots, with commensurately higher risk.

Another halve.  The better player will play relatively better than the average player on each course.

7. “Lines of charm” closely linked to hazards. Rough which borders the “fast lane” off the tee. Greenside bunkers which eat into the putting surface.

Another halve.  Don't remember Portmarnock well enough to compare.

8. A balance between the use of bunkers and swales and rough and natural watercourses as “hazards.”

A halve again.  Both have GREAT chipping/pitching/bump and run/putting options.

9. Greens which have at least 4 good-excellent pin positions, and which allow alternate ways of approaching possible pins.

A halve--again don't know Portmarnock well enough to compare, but I assume this is so!

10. Gut feel. You can’t always define a 3*** course, but you know one when you see one.

Portmarnock wins this one.  More obviously great than Dornoch.  In fact, if the Burghfield House Hotel had been located in Malahide rather than Dornoch I might now have very different ideas as to course greatness and my preferences.....

[THuckaby2]

Well said, Rich.  You had me nodding along in total agreement until the end...

I wouldn't say Portmarnock is more "obviously great" than Dornoch... Oh man, Dornoch screamed THIS COURSE IS FREAKIN' INCREDIBLE from first tee through 18th green to me...

But then again, so did Portmarnock.

So have quite a few others.

And Dornoch did the same for all of my friends I went there with... fellows of various "levels of understanding" re golf courses... Every one loved it.

My memory of Portmarnock isn't very sharp either though... maybe I'm foggy.

TH

[Paul_Daley]

Paul: Thanks for your terrific post and trip report.

Portmarnock is one of the fairest (not that a links has to be fair) links in all Britain. Where it ranks among the Irish courses can be ascertained that before commercial interests took hold - necessitating the Irish Open be held at
sub-standard venues, it hosted something like 30 of the last 60 Irish Opens.

Ben Crenshaw declared Portmarnock's greens the best he had played on in Britain, and Sevvy (though not known for his astute architectural mind) termed it a masterpiece.

Henry Cotton claimed the 14th to be the best par four he had ever played.

My own thoughts are that after Royal County Down, Royal Portrush and Ballybunion Old, Portmarnock is the 4th best links in Ireland and within the top-10 in all Britain.

[Paul Perrella]

 You gents have given me a number of questions to reply to so I will take them one at a time.
    1. Baltray-One of the flatter courses on our trip and also one that does not have the large dunes of some of the other courses we played. The major discussion of our group after our round was the placement of the fairway bunkers and the necessity of putting your ball in the proper position to approach the greens. As to Ran's point about the wind being a big factor in our enjoyment of the course, I would have to agree. The par 5's with no wind would have been easily reachable with mid irons and the par 3's less challenging.
   2. Castlerock was an absolute treat in the same way that Prestwick is in Scotland. It resembles Prestwick right down to the train tracks bordering on the right. There is a par 3 that runs along the tracks just like #1 at Prestwick. The 18th holes at both are drivable par 4's which makes for some great match play endings. Although not a bear of a course I had my highest score in Ireland here.
  3.Gary Albrecht- Call me at my office and I can set you up with some good matches at Lahinch and Portmarnock if you are interested. (518) 426-6575 8-5 or so EST
I don't know how much of your trip is already planned but I have a great deal of info re Ireland and would be happy to help in any way I can.
   4. I unfortunately don't have my notes on Portmarnock, they are at work, but I can tell you my thoughts. The course starts out with three par 4's that are of medium length by todays standards but play right into the teeth of the wind. They run up the tidal bay on the right and take you out to the Irish Sea. There are several par 4's over 440 yards but the strength of the course is in its par 5's which are pretty demanding. The 16th has a great set of cross bunkers that gobble up any misplayed shots. My favorite hole was number 15 which is a 190 yard par three that runs right along the coast. It is different than most of the par 3's in Ireland in that the wind is coming from the right. I say this because (and I'm sure there will be many objections to this comment) our collective opinions were that most par 3's that we played ran downwind or directly into the wind.
 Some of my other impressions seem to be shared with others on this site. Portmarnock has a flow to it that seems timeless but does not have any spectacular holes such as at Lahinch or Portrush. Both Tom Huckaby and Rich Goodale love the course but seem to have a hard time remembering every hole. This perhaps is a statement of the greatness of the course in that it is the whole course rather than the specific holes that are memorable.
   5. Ran, Your comments on Waterville are spot on back at you. I am a 3.2 index and my brother a 25.2. I loved Waterville and my brother did not like the course as much. It should be noted that we played a year apart so conditions may have been different. You will not change my impressions of Royal Portrush. I loved everything about the course and thought the 4th hole was one of the best par 4's I'd ever played. This course just struck a certain chord in me and will be remembered as one of my favorites. Its my story and I'm sticking to it. Smiley face.

[Ran Morrissett]

Paul, What is it about Portrush that you admire more than County Down?

Also, didn't you find the back nine at Portstewart too big of a letdown?

[Paul_W]

Paul P:  Member of Paul Cult here!  Yes, the 4th at Portrush is brilliant; fairway bunkering quite a sight from the tee.  It is an heroic prelude to the holes that follow.  The Royal Portrush routing is superior stuff.                    Baltray,(County Louth), is one of my favorites.  I stayed in one of the spartan rooms above the bar, B&B, and would characterize the course as better as a whole, rather than in part.  Conditioning a real plus here too!           Waterville's greens have been untidy my last two visits......

[Paul Perrella]

 Ran,

First of all please be assured that my love for PR over RCD is by the tiniest of margins. Other than Pine Valley, which I believe is the best course in the world, my next 4 favorite courses are not separated by a human hair as far as I am concerned. Maybe the difference is that I hit a driver and a two iron to about 25 feet at both of the opening holes. Obviously one hole is a 510 yard par 5 and the other is a 380 yard par 4 where I was immediately aware that the battle had been joined. We went to Ireland to play in wind and rain and at Portrush at least the wind cooperated. Maybe if the wind was up at RCD I would have the same great time as I had at PR in manufacturing shots and would have that ranked #1 in Ireland. This is not to say that I did not love the 120 yard par 3 or the 9th at RCD it is just that Portrush caught me at the right time.
  As to your second question about the back side at Portstewart being a big letdown I must agree. I was so impressed by the front side(#2 is one of the great short par 4's in golf) I was hoping the back to be just as good and it was not. My thoughts on the course were not necessarily that it was world class with no weak holes just that the front 9 was so good that some credit was deserved. Even you think that Waterville should be considered a top rate course even though it has some weak holes. This was my point also.

[Raymond]

Paul, thanks for a terrific account. It brings back so many great memories of my trip there in May. Playing Klondike and Dell in birdie - birdie was a real thrill and never will be forgotten. Calamity also was a favorite. A solid 200 yd.driver into a 2club wind reminded me an awful lot of the shot at the 16th at Cypress Point. I firmly agree with your recommendation of the Bushmills Inn (and the tour and tasting of course). Royal Portrush was very high on my list of favorites along with RCD. On your next visit, try to play Tralee. Although some don't see it's merits, I loved the course and it would be very high on my list of courses I have to play again. Coincidentally the only rain we encountered also was for about 10 min. at Portstewart.Portmarnock was fun but we played it in 40-50 mph winds and I had  jammed shoulder so I didn't really get a good feel for it. The routing was really fun with 4-5-6-7-8 crissrossing into and away from the wind. All told, Ireland quickly replaced Scotland as my favorite golfing grounds.

[Paul_Daley]

Raymond:

Your comment about Ireland replacing Scotland as your favourite golfing ground comes as little surprise.

In comparison to Scotland:

Ireland and the courses are slightly less crowded

Irish people are slightly more friendlier

Irish music is considerably more interesting

Green fees in both countries are now wickedly expensive

Less formaility required to book a game in Ireland

Most of the top Irish links are at least equal or superior to the top Scottish links

Guiness vs Whiskey - now that's a tough one!

[Raymond]

Paul
I have to disagree when you say that The Iris are just slightly more friendly than the Scots. I was overwhelmed by the warmth of the people in Ireland from Club Captains to caddies, club members to service personnel.
Nothing against the Scots but I just never felt that type of kindness when I was in Scotland.
Also Irish Stew vs.Haggis - a no brainer

[ForkaB]

Paul

I could argue any of your points on Ireland vs. Scotland the other way, but the real answer is:

Guinness AND Whisky (not "whiskEy"--that clearly inferior Irish product--yes, even including Black Bush).

PS--if you think that Ireland and Scotland are "wickedly expensive" you must be very spoiled down there in Oz.  The courses across our pond are still dirt cheap to anyone playing any of the comparably great courses here in the States.   Here in Silicon Valley where you have to pony up in excess of $150,000, plus $5,000/year or so just to join any half-assed club, they are downright CHEAP!

[Paul_Daley]

Hi Rich,

I was hoping to hear a contrary view; sorry, occasionally I do stir the stew. Thanks for the tip about Whiskey.

Yes, we are spoiled 'Down Under' where the gof is really economical without compromising quality. $150K membership is enough to make me dizzy. Most of the top Melbourne sandbelt courses will sting you for $5-8000 joining fee, plus a few thousand annual subscriptions.

Raymond: I may have been overly diplomatic in my call.

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