"The Wandering Golfer" at Narin & Portnoo

[David_Tepper]

The episode of "The Wandering Golfer" that is playing RIGHT NOW on the Fine Living channel is set in Ireland. The first half of the show was at Narin & Portnoo, a wonderful scenic links on the NW coast of Ireland, about 20-30 miles north of Donegal.

I stumbled across N&P, more or less by accident, in 1994. It deserves to be very high on the list of hidden gems.  

[ed_getka]

David,
   What are the attributes of the course that make it worthy of hidden gem status?

[David_Tepper]

Ed -

First of all, it was unknown by me - that makes it "hidden" in my book!  The only reason I stopped in the villlage of Narin that afternoon was because I saw one of those very little red flags indicating a golf course on the road map. I had not read about or heard about the golf course in any of the research I had done.

Next, the course is set among some beautiful dunes. As is often the case on a links course, the first 3 or 4 holes (or in some cases the last 3 or 4 holes) go thru some humdrum inland terrain. However, once you reach the 5th (or 6th) tee, sitting on top of a large dune, the magnificence of the setting, overlooking a beautiful beach and bay, becomes quite apparent.

DT
   

[David_Tepper]

The 2nd half of this show is filmed at Rosses Point (County Sligo), a very fine links as well.

The show will be re-broadcast tonite at 10:30pm and on April 9 at 11:30am (west coast times).

Check your local listings!

[Johnny_Browne]

David,
I am a country member of Narin & Portnoo and it is a hidden gem - Tom Doak describes it in his confidential guide as one of the 10 best places in the world to get away from it all. Interestingly they had just made major changes to the course with even more spectacular holes along the beach - there is still considerable fighting with the environmentalists so the holes are being played sporadically.  I will be there next week and will post pictures of the changes.  My opinion is that the changes are probably going to make the course too difficult with the back nine being the hardest back nine I have ever played - 8 holes into the prevailing wind, 2 of them par 5s and two par 5s shortened slightly to play as par 4s.
Johnny Browne

[Mike_Sweeney]

Johnny,

Was the new work done in-house?

[Jonathan Cummings]

Ed, etal - for any interested here's a short review from last summer's trip.  JC
 
Portaboo/Narin (5.5) followed Carne.  We arrived on a bright and sunny morning with the wind blowing so hard that the power lines to town had been blown down.  The pro shop was dark and a nice lady sent us out having written up our purchases and greens fees in a ledger.  She took our credit cards and said she would charge us when the power came back on and her credit card machine was working.  

P/N is likely an easy course (short and mostly straightforward) in a nice sea breeze but in a 50-60 mile per hour hurricane you couldn’t stand up in, it became Oakmont on steroids.  After a mundane series of very flat outward holes (playing directly downwind) the course begins to increasingly ungulate the closer it approaches the sea.  The holes take on a quirky character as they dance around, over and through the large dunes blanketed in dense fescue.  The 4-5 hole series as the course reverses itself are seaside and particularly scenic and memorable.  Often blind with deceptive mounding distorting your depth perception, these holes can befuddle the best of shots.  From here we plodded back into the wind for the finishing series bent over like Quazzimoto.

P/N is a quality course worth re-visiting, especially the inward half.  They are in the process of building 4 new holes (almost complete) along the ocean which will strengthen (yeah, that’s just what they needed) the march, make that crawl, back to the clubhouse.  

[Johnny_Browne]

Mike,
They did have architect advice and involvement but not sure to what extent - I will find out next weekend.  The new 16th along the beach is incredibly spectacular and in a wind the only tee shot I have ever hit which I consider harder than the 2nd offf the very back tees at co down.
Regards,       Johnny

[David_Tepper]

Johnny B. -

Where about's do you live in Ireland? How many times a year do you get to N&P to play?

I visited N&P with my wife in 1994. We arrived in the village a little after 6:00pm. By the time we found a B&B, unpacked our bags and made it to the golf course, it was after 7:00pm when we teed off. As you might imagine, we were the only ones on the course. We finished a little before 10:30pm, just as it was getting dark.  

I will never forget climbing to the first elevated tee on the (5th or 6th hole) and taking in the 360 degree view of the beautiful crescent shaped beach and the surrounding contryside.

This TV show did a wonderful job of portraying both N&P and Rosses Point as places to visit. My wife and I really enjoyed watching the show and remembering our visit of 12 years ago.

DT

[Philip Gawith]

I enjoyed playing N&P on David T's advice. Very unassuming, basic, remote and charming. I will try and rustle up the photos I took.

Do I remember right that stroke 1 is an uphill par four where you tee off with your back to the bay - maybe the tee David was referring to?

And was there not also a heroic par 3 - maybe two holes before - where you had to manage quite an epic carry?

[Scott Whitley]

The par three is the eighth (previously the ninth) hole, I believe.  They have a website, but it is a bit rudimentary:

www.narinportnoogolfclub.ie

[peter_p]

Jonathan,
I have never been on a course that ungulates. Were you hoofing it?  

[Jonathan Cummings]

Peter!  We in the east have undulations.  I was just trying to put it in more phonetically understandable terms for you Oregonians!  

jaycee