When know you're screwed #4: (Calamity) Royal Portrush

[Brian_Gracely]

The tee-shot at #14 at Royal Portrush.  210 yards with a left-to-right crosswind and a small gulley to the right.


My initial thought about getting it to a place where I'd have a more level lie.  I second-guessed myself and went with the stance below.


Now it's at about shoulder height.  Nothing like a dead-pull lie when you need to go up and right!


Yep...a dead-pull....but directly back over my head and down to the bottom of the gulley!!  I'm surprised my brother could get up off the ground since he was laughing so hard at this point.

Knocked the next one on and managed to walk away with a humbling 5.

[Thomas_Brown]

Great pics on a great track.

I think Matt Ward wanted the "par 3 fairways" wider too, right?  

Tom

[TEPaul]

"Re:When know you're screwed #4: (Calamity) Royal Portrush"

So, when did I know I was screwed on that hole? Pretty much when I first walked onto that tee and first looked at that hole and way before I had a club in my hand!!

How did I end up playing it? Into that chipping area swale on the left of the green where the members I was with told me most all smart players try to play the ball. Did I make par? NO! I didn't make worse than bogie though---and on to the next hole feeling like I'd just kissed my cousin!

[hp@hc]

TEPaul
That grass swale that you speak of is actually known by us locals as "Bobby Locke's Hollow".  During the British Open there in 1951 Locke's strategy on Calamity was to aim for the grass bunker, and he did - ALL 4 ROUNDS, making par on each occasion.

Certainly it limits the damage on your scorecard - the vertical drop to the right is no bargain, and can lead to some big numbers.  

Not that you can tell from the pics, but the grass in the swale is cut tight, so you can putt it if you prefer, and it is a tough chip if that is your strategy because of the tightness of the turf.

Great hole though - a world-class par-3, aptly named

[stovepipe]

Brian, i see that you have had the good fortune to play in Northern Ireland.

When i was over there 5 or so years ago i had the good fortune to play Portrush, i came across a Lepracon, did you have any luck in finding him?

Hes a nice fellow & a good Golfer to.

[TEPaul]

hp@hc:

You know it seems like I remember the members I played with at RPR told me that same story about Locke almost word for word and before I hit that chip from that swale. I think I recall playing a decent chip pretty close and I'm a pretty good putter too but I didn't make it for a par and obviously I'm no Bobby Locke either!  

However, that's one truly wonderful hole--one of those that you'll never forget once you've seen it. I could've stayed there for an hour just looking at it!

[Brian_Gracely]

The other great thing about #14 is that it offers the best view of the coastline, Valley course and back towards #5 as any point on the property.  It's the one point on the Dunluce course that feels completely exposed.  You stand there, not only feeling like you're on top of the world but also feeling like the margin for error is almost non-existant.  

Great experience...more than worth the drive all the way up there.

[swindon uk]

Go to bed Stovepipe, its late.

[stovepipe]

Hello Bob, where you at?

[Bill Gayne]

Brian, how do you post pictures?

Thanks

[Neil Regan]

Brian,
 I can't see the pictures. Are they still there ?

[Brian_Gracely]

billg - these were older pictures, so I had to scan them onto my PC.  HP allows some free space on the Internet to store pictures, so I went to http://www/hpphoto.com and created an account and uploaded the images.  once they are there, if you right click on an image and go to Properties, you will see the URL where the image resides.  For posting them, to GCA.com, have to add some YaBB tags before and after the URL (no spaces on either side).  The tags are "img" and "/img", but instead of "", you add [] brackets.  Sorry to get so techy, but without writing it like that it shows up wrong once this post gets viewable by the public.


nregan - yes, they are still there.  I can see then when I view the thread.  

[Neil Regan]

Brian,
 I just sent you a private message via GCA.

Neil

[SPDB]

Brian - You may be able to see it because it is a private page to which you only have access. I don't see the pictures either, nor can I access them by going to their URLs.

[Brian_Gracely]

SPDB -

You're probably right about that.  I'm currently out of the country and am not able to do much to change their location, so I did one thing in the interim:

1) go to http://www.hpphoto.com
2) use my login, username=bgracely, password=GCA.com
3) select the Portrush album

When I return I'll work on getting all of my Portrush, Royal County Down, and Turnberry pictures posted.  

[Paul_Turner]

Brian

Try and get hole of a book by Patric Dickinson called "A Round of Golf Courses".  He draws a funny cartoon of your exact predicament.

I reckon perhaps the 6th is as good as the 14th at RP.

[Brian_Gracely]

P_Turner

Yes, I have a copy of that book and I feel a brotherhood with that poor stick figure at the bottom of the drawing.  

I've heard others talk about the difficulty of #6 at RPGC, but I must say that I didn't think it was that difficult or memorable either time I played it.  Maybe it was just because it seemed like a breather after the challenges at #4 and the beauty of #5.  Granted we played in moderate winds both days, so maybe it merits a trip back to see what I overlooked.

[Matt_Ward]

A superb hole no doubt -- when it plays into a "stiff" breeze you have all you can handle and then some.

Truly unique and utterly uncompromising.