Portrush vs Royal County Down

[David_Tepper]

In the southwest quadrant of the island I suppose you could debate Ballybunion vs. Lahinch.

[JWinick]

Tom,


A friend of mine tells me he plays RCD in an alternative routing, in which you play 1-8, then 12-18, and finish with 10,11 and then 9.    9 becomes perhaps the best 18th hole in all of golf.


Thoughts?   And what do you think of the concept of an improved, but bastardized routing like this?


Jon

County Down is going to win if you prioritize beauty, though both courses are beautiful.


Portrush is going to win if you prioritize fairness.  County Down in a good wind can beat up the best of players [witness Tiger Woods' first round there], and with all of the blind shots, they're going to call it unfair.  Portrush is more refined, particularly around the greens, but for good players it is "all out in front of you" and they are suckers for that.


Both of them used to be hobbled by a weak finishing stretch.  Portrush "solved" this by offing the last two holes and replacing them with two holes that don't quite fit in, but fall much earlier in the round, so that you tend to forget about that.


It's subjective and neither one is the "correct" answer.

[Rory Connaughton]

Archie,


Wish you had never asked this question. How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
Haven't played since the finish changed but for 16 holes pre-Open Portrush was as good as anything I've played.
and 4 and 5 still occupy a spot at the front of my mind 10 years after I last played it.


RCD, on the other hand, is something totally different. In decent conditions and under the right light you can't be on that golf course and not wonder whether it is even real. The golf is wonderful, of course, but the sensory aspect of it is unlike anything I have experienced anywhere else. It occupies a category of one.

[archie_struthers]

 


There is no answer as Rory so beautifully described. Both are fabulous !  The picture of my friend playing there with his son almost twenty years after my trip there rekindled great memories.


Still think the hidden gate to Brigadoon is somewhere out there just not sure on which course