The thrill of playing some of the world?s finest golf courses can be severely dampened by the anguish of a bad game. And probably some of the worst golf ever witnessed on these layouts has been inflicted by golf writers who, more often than not, are quality hackers.
It would be incredibly ignorant to call Royal Portrush and Royal County Down hidden gems. Fine links courses both, located in northern Ireland, they have been consistently ranked in the top five (outside of the US) in Golf Digest?s biennial golf course rankings. County Down topped the list in 2009, while Portrush remains the only course outside Great Britain to host the British Open. Portrush lies beside the pretty North Antrim Causeway coast and is hedged in by the hills of Donegal in the west, the Isle of Islay and the Southern Hebrides in the north, and the Skerries in the east. The 13th-century Dunluce castle overlooks the course and gives its name to Portrush?s famous championship course?the Dunluce Links.
And it?s on the first tee at Dunluce that our group of golf writers finds itself, trying not to gape, gathering swing thoughts, striving to overthrow the burden of all the ?how to play a links course? advice. The first is a fairly short uphill par-4 but the drive needs to thread between out-of-bounds on both sides of the fairway; three unspectacular shots and one brilliant drive, a quick doff of the cap and we?re on our way. Derek, a broadcaster from South Africa, decides that we?re going to need a caddie. That bagman is George, a 70-year-old three-handicapper who takes just one hole to figure we?re not going to threaten the course record.
It?s obvious from the start that Royal Portrush can?t be bludgeoned into submission; the Englishman HS Colt, who redesigned the course in the early 1930s, did not plant trees or create any obstacle for the sweeping winds which lash the course. The weather?s fine, albeit windy, and George says we?re lucky to play on a ?remarkably calm day?. It takes a few holes to realise that the wedge might as well have been left back at the hotel. On the rolling mounds of a links course, the lofted wedge is a no-percentage shot, and prodigiously long swings of the putter are the order of the day. After getting some measure of the roll, we?re almost having fun.
The Dunluce Links is home to one of the most stunning par fours in golf, the 411-yard fifth hole. A dogleg played from an elevated tee towards the ocean, it presents such a visual distraction that it?s difficult to keep your mind on the game. The drive requires a daring shot across a wide expanse of rough, but not too long, as Boyd, the long hitting Canadian in our fourball, finds out when his ball lands up on the sands of the White Rocks beach. From the green, you get stunning views of Dunluce castle.
The ominous sounding Calamity Corner, the 210-yard par-3 14th hole, is rather literally named. Between the tee and the green is a large chasm, which must be cleared to stand any chance of making par. With the wind in your face, it?s a hard driver for most (it must be hit low, and yet get across the void). Not surprisingly, most people land left of the green, where some sadistic gorse awaits. A four on this hole is as good as a par.
You don?t have to be a scratch golfer to understand, even after just one outing, that Royal Portrush is a masterpiece of golf course architecture. In the words of noted writer Bernard Darwin, Colt created ?a monument more enduring than brass?. Unimaginable rough and endlessly breaking greens, combined with the unpredictable weather off the roaring North Atlantic, make this course a fantastic test for golfers of all levels. Local prodigy Rory McIlroy obviously likes the layout?the Ulsterman also holds the course record, a 10-under 62, which he shot as a 15-year-old. Our group honourably breaks 100.
A couple of hours away, also on the coast, is the equally breathtaking but much tougher Royal County Down Golf Club. If Portrush presents a hard countenance, then County Down?s championship links is downright stern. Even when the wind is down, the second shot on most par-4s is a long-middle iron?assuming that you?ve hit a big drive in the middle of the fairway. Sitting against the backdrop of the Mourne mountain range, and in the Murlough nature reserve, virtually every hole on the course presents a different vista of the shore.
The fairways are a bit of a holy grail, both to see and to hit?you have to wind through a series of sand dunes surrounded by purple heather and golden gorse. The gorse actually looks pretty on this course, at least till you end up inside it. The massive ?bearded? bunkers feature overhanging lips of marram, red fescue and heather. The greens, like Portrush, are fast and demand irons hit with conviction. If you don?t have the bump-and-run in your repertoire then learn it before heading here; you?ll probably play it 18 times in a round.
The ninth is one of the most photographed holes in golf. But the 486-yard par-4 looks very intimidating from the tee. Hit your drive from atop a mound to a fairway some 60 ft below and some 260 yards from the tee. If you have a big drive in you, then save it for this hole. No one in the recent past seems to have got the measure of County Down; the course record, a six-under 66 by Ireland?s first golfing superstar, Jimmy Bruen, was set in 1939.
It?s no coincidence that we played Portrush before County Down; it wouldn?t have been pretty the other way round. But even if you don?t play at your very best, this duo represents a golfing pilgrimage which is a must for every golfer. It would have been nice to be able to boast a round in the 70s at either of the two courses, but the experience does have an effect on your game. You realise it when you scorch that meek little city parkland course when you get back home.
A golfer, Meraj Shah also writes about the game