Talking Royal Portrush

[Brent Carlson]

With The Open upon us we should discuss this excellent links.  For those of you who have played it:


1.  What are your general thoughts on the course, the club, the architecture?


2.  What are your favorite holes?


3.  What are your thoughts on the Valley course, if played?


4.  Your prediction on the winner and final score...




1.  To me this is an excellent course for The Open.  It will challenge off the tee with doglegs in the landing zones.  Driver will be kept in the bag often IMO.  The long grass is deep and penal at Portrush!  It's not the wispy variety.  The old 17 & 18 will not be missed (by me).  They played across flat land that did not fit to the rest of the course.  (Are these holes now on the Valley?). The club has a great vibe and is friendly to visitors.  Rusty nails out of a drip in the locker room was a treat.  Bushmills Distillery is just a short drive away.


2.  Of course #5; watching your ball suspend against an ocean backdrop is the definition of pleasurable excitement.  The pros should be able to drive that hole.  The old 14, 15, 16 (now 16, 17, 18) will be excellent closing holes IMO.  16 is a world class par 3.  17 could be drivable with the right wind and bounce.  There is a new bunker about 345 yards out to make players think.  18 will test the nerves in the final round.  It will require two solid shots and OB is on the left.


3.  The Valley course is an absolutely pleasure (as stated in The CONFIDENTIAL Guide).  It's the perfect course for an evening 9.  The firm, rumpled ground is magnificent.  The value is good.  I really enjoyed the old numbers 5&6 which I believe are now gone.  6 was a great hole.  The Valley highly recommended.


4.  Rory at -12 as the winning score.  The course will be wet.  It's a perfect opportunity for him.  When you play the course it's hard to believe he shot 61 at age 16.

[mike_beene]

Will the two new holes be kept?

[Ally Mcintosh]

Will the two new holes be kept?

I really can’t see them reverting to the old layout.


The two new holes are a great addition, everyone (members included) will want to play the Open course, and the club will be vying for a return visit within 10 years I suspect.


Only negative seems to be an 18th green removed from underneath the clubhouse windows.

[Tony_Muldoon]

As I write the Lark's on the wing, the sun is shinning on the dew, Darren Clarke leads The Open - All's right with the world.



Final practice day showed


Course is in beautiful condition.  Transition from fairway to green is ideal for the running game.  Despite a lot of rain falling last evening the tv shows it's drained well overnight.


Even though I've played it twice walking it made it abundantly clear that The Dunluce course offers an exceptional challenge.  TV will not show the elevation but from the first hole it's everywhere.  e.g. Playing my second shot to the first I would need two extra clubs. There are micro contours that you will see as drives run out.BUT I had forgotten quite what a great set of greens there are. Yesterday practice rounds were slooooow, with players trying many ways of chipping and putting to get to where they thought the pins will be. Hitting 3 shots from the fairway to see how the balls run out showed how talented these guys are as they adjusted their line to allow for wind and slope.


Oddly I didnt think the rough was as 'brutal' as the TV guys do - its tough but I've seen worse.


The forecast wind was for 10-12 mph but on course for most of the day it was 15 +. This caused players problems. In a L-R wind Cabrero Bello missed the 16 green twice and the 17 fairway 3x. Sabatini was trying to flop it close!!! If this wind continues no one is going low over 4 days.


On the practice greens watching Mickleson was amazing. He went through a routine with his chips, high land on downslope, high roll out, high stop dead, high past and spin back (from 25 yards!),low roll out, low check. Each shot got a mix of cheers, laughter and applause - the only player get get this for his practice. Watching him play the 2nd green this morning, you have to wonder if it's his decisions that cause him problems - it's certainly not LOFT.


My only prediction is that the Champion Golfer of the Year will win. Enjoy.

[Robin_Hiseman]

Will the two new holes be kept?

Portrush has a deal for three Opens, so the new holes will be kept.

[Tim Martin]

The golf course looks incredible on TV.

[Steve_Lovett]

Royal Portrush has been fairly obscure but will become more recognized for its greatness this week. The way the golf course works its way through the dunes is brilliant and the rolling, tumbling terrain is a welcome change from the excess of penal pot-bunkers that require one-dimensional recovery shots.


It's a super-fun golf course without a weak hole. The 5th gets a lot of publicity and the approach with the sea behind the green is awesome, but other holes that are GREAT and stand out to me are 1, 4, 10, 15, and the finishing stretch of 16-18. If the wind blows it will be a stern challenge - if not, good scoring is possible. I played the course in the final days before they closed the old 17th and 18th holes in June 2017, so I never played the new 7th and 8th. I'm sure they're an improvement, but I thought the old final holes were great fun and the thrill of a hazard the scale of Big Nellie was pretty awesome.


The Harbour Bar and it's proprietor Willie Gregg are to Portrush what the Pine Crest Inn is to Pinehurst - if not moreso. In two nights there I made golfing friends-for-life across three continents.     

[Brent Carlson]

Well, so much for Rory...


What I'm seeing from the course so far is: balls funneling into challenging bunkers, being off the fairway on a side slope is proving challenging for the pros (not so much bomb and gouge), crowned greens are tough, the conditions are ever changing.  The weather will be a huge factor.  The pros seem to like the set up as it's all in front of them.  The leaderboard looks good going into Friday.

[Garland Bayley]

Will the two new holes be kept?

Portrush has a deal for three Opens, so the new holes will be kept.

When I was there the two holes were built, but not integrated into the routing, the staff said the members want to play the old routing so they can hassle their buddies as they try to finish out in front of the clubhouse.

Personally, I think the old 17th and 18th were the weakest holes on the course and when the members have experience playing the new ones, I can't see anyone wanting to return to using the old 17 and 18.

[Garland Bayley]

I remember 1, 2, 4 (hooked it OB there), 5 (very memorable), 7&8 didn't exist, 10, 13, 15, 16 (very memorable), 17 (very memorable). Great links land, more enjoyable than Valley, they were rerouting to enable adding 7&8 making the middle part of the course confusing in my mind. Not a lot of bunkers as the terrain defends quite well. I didn't have an opportunity to play out of a bunker. The most in play bunker fronts 13 green. I just carried it as planned.

Favorite holes, 5 and 17. 5 has perhaps the best green surrounds I have seen anywhere.

Valley is fun, but Dunluce is funner.

McIntyre for the win.