Troon - Portland

[BCrosby]

I just read that MacKenzie designed the Portland Course at Troon. In fact, he said (in his inimitably humble way) that his Portland Course was better than Troon Old.

That is not the view today. What happened to Portland? Is there any MacK left?

Bob

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Bob,

I don't know the answer, but the club publsihed a lavish history recently and it should be in there.  The club website has a 'Contact Us' tab and they should be able to answer if you put it to them direct:

http://www.royaltroon.co.uk/

I played the Portland course for the first time last year.  It was somewhat uneven.  I thought that the short holes were full of character, one or two of the two-shot holes of strategic interest, but there were several dull holes and a couple of eccentric holes.  I'll E-mail you a description.

Mark.

[Doug Siebert]

When I played Troon I played the Old course first and then the Portland the same day.  I found the Portland to be a lot of fun, there are some interesting holes there.  Some are weak, but the openers on the Old are pretty weak as well -- its just that it finishes so very well people forgive that.

Portland has more variety than the Old, but its a lot shorter so is hurt more by technology.  It also doesn't have the same up/down routing that puts you into the teeth of the wind for the entire back nine, which would be challenging enough with no wind, but is positively brutal when it is howling.  The Portland has its strongest hole first, and gets easier from there, the exact opposite of Old Troon.

[Evan Fleisher]

Doug has nailed it pretty much...it is not that it has become "watered down", it just does not have the length, variety, or wind problems presented by it's sister course across the street...but it is a really fun place to just tee it up and let it fly, we too had a great all-around day there at Troon.