We played Lahinch today on the last day of a terrific Ireland trip. I first played it in 2013 and have long held it as my favorite course even though we have been fortunate to play many wonderful (and more than a few highly ranked) courses over the past decade. Accordingly, I approached the round with some psychological trepidation: was my view of Lahinch nostalgia from a first trip to Ireland? Had I refused to displace it out of stubbornness?
I played pretty poorly even for me on the front in part because all of it was weighing on my mind.
At the end of the day, I found no reason to change my view. If anything, some of the less dramatic holes--1, 2, 10, and 15-18 were better than I remembered, particularly the fairway and green movement. And if anything, the dramatic holes were better golf holes than I remembered and not just dramatic.
For a bit, it bothered me that my wife and our friends did not get it (to be fair to them, it was a windy day and the rough was up in preparation for the Palmer Cup). But my list is my list, not theirs, and my attachment to Lahinch is personal to me.
It remains my favorite.