A Trip To Northern Ireland

Portrush Golf Club

The surprise announcement came at my 70th birthday dinner. My three sons, Tyler, Eric, and Kyle, and I were going on a golf trip to Northern Ireland. I could not have been happier and more excited. For years I had been dreaming of such a trip, but the stars were never aligned. The toughest part of every challenge is the commitment. We were committed to the trip.

Getting the calendars of the three sons, all in the prime of their careers, two with three young children each, was a challenge. Weather is always a consideration. I have had good luck in late summer and early fall in the British Isles with the weather. Thus I advocated for a fall trip. However, playing Portrush, site of the 2019 Open Championship before the event, was a top priority. It would have to be a spring trip.

Investigation uncovered the last day guests would be allowed to play Portrush was the 30th of April. A spring trip did have its positive aspects. Late April and early May would provide greater availability of courses, hotels and van drivers. In addition, costs are lower in the spring. We would be rolling the dice on weather, but it was done. We would leave the 27th of April and return May 3rd, 2019.

In talking with a friend from Dublin about the dates, he responded in his Irish accent, “Buy a rain suit and if ye don’t use it, I’ll give ye the money back.” Not an encouraging statement. 

We turned to Tom Kozlak of RTG Incredible Travel for suggestions on where to play. Portrush Golf Club and Royal County Down were mandatory, along with the European Club, which Tyler had played and liked several years ago. Beyond that we were open to suggestion.

Tom constructed an itinerary. We would fly to Dublin and drive to Portrush, Northern Ireland, using the Atlantic Hotel as a base for two nights. Sunday April 28, the afternoon we arrived, we would play Portstewart, a course I had only heard of. Monday morning would be Castlerock, a nearby course I was not familiar with, followed by an afternoon round at Portrush Golf Club. Tuesday called for motoring to Newcastle, a small seaside town and the home of Royal County Down, playing late morning. Wednesday we would be at the nearby Ardglass. Our final day, Thursday we would play the European Club, located south of Dublin. We would return on Friday, May 3rd.

By the first of February, 2019 we were booked, with payments being made. I bought a rain suit and wind shirts for all and on April 27th we were off. Before we knew it we were in Dublin. Our driver, Kenny Brogan, collected us at the airport, delivering a history lesson on the drive to Portstewart Golf Club.

The north of Ireland is made up of nine counties, six of them make up the country of Northern Ireland. Three western counties, Donegal, Sligo, and Leitrim, are in the country of Ireland. The caddies like to point out that Donegal, belonging to Ireland, has a point further north than all of Northern Ireland. 

Northern Ireland is under the monarchy in London, to which many are loyal. Several times our driver, Kenny Brogan, referred to “Her Majesty the Queen,” as he talked about the country. 

It seems “the troubles” are just below the surface in Northern Ireland. It is election season. I asked why the campaign signs were only found attached to light poles along streets and not in front yards. “If you put a sign in your yard everybody would know what religion you are,” said one of our drivers.

There are protestant towns, catholic towns, protestant areas and catholic areas in cities. 

“Can a catholic buy a home in a protestant area?” Kyle asked. 

“The home owner wouldn’t sell it,” our caddie replied.

“What if a protestant boy brought home a catholic girl?” asked Eric. The caddie stared at him with no response. His silence spoke volumes.

“My generation cares about that stuff,” said an older caddie, “but the next generation doesn’t.” Maybe time will heal the wound. 

We arrived in Portrush, Northern Ireland and were taken to Portstewart Golf Club, celebrating its 125th anniversary. We stepped onto the first tee in a howling wind that blew up to 30 MPH. 

“Quite a testing breeze,” the starter commented as we were buffeted by the wind. 

“Better than yesterday when it blew 70,” said one of our caddies. “Had to quit.”

Susan Anderson, my caddie, guided me through one of the finest nines I have ever seen. Portstewart is a links course running through the high dunes on each side of every fairway. Unlike any course we would see, the dunes go nearly straight up from the edge of the fairway. The fairways are narrow, moving along the floor between the dunes. Many of the tees are elevated looking down at the fairways. Stunning. 

One of my theories on golf course architecture is that nearly all great holes go down hill at some point in the hole. This is certainly the case at Portstewart. Nine great holes to start. 

It was so windy that only solidly struck shots found their way to the fairway.  We were not there to shoot a score but to take in the stunning scenery of the course. I hit a shot that looked like it was headed for the tall grass. I moaned. A caddie with sharper eyes than mine sees that the ball is not going to get into trouble. “Don’t despise it,” he comforted me. 

The back nine is very good, has views of the North Sea, but lacks the dunes so prevalent on the front nine. The green complexes are challenging and fun to play with many classic sod wall bunkers dotting the terrain. 

It was early spring and the course was showing signs of work being done in preparation for summer. The greens had been verticut and the fairways were thin in places. However, ‘it is what it is’ and we enjoyed it. 

We would all like another crack at Portstewart. Our trip was off to a great start although a bit breezy. I have never made a list of my top twenty five courses, but when I do, Portstewart will be on it. 

Portrush is an old, smallish sea side town driven by agriculture and tourism. Nothing is fancy in Portrush. At the suggestion of Tom Kozlak, our trip planner, we wandered down to the Harbor Bar, a classic small Irish pub. There we met Willie Gregg, the bartender and host. 

I have seen a lot of characters in my life, we all have. However, Willie Gregg is number one on my list. Never have I experienced a guy quite like him. He knows everybody and everybody knows him. He has a running banter about Bushmills Irish Whiskey describing the shapes and sizes of the bottles. “This bottle was made in 1850,” he said to us. Running around like his hair was on fire, he kept several balls in the air with the clientele. 

After reporting we would be playing Portrush Golf Club the next day, he called the caddie master with instructions to make certain we would be cared for by the finest of their caddies. It was 9:30 at night.

He called Kyle behind the bar to review the various Bushmills Whiskeys.

As our caddie laughed the next day, “Half of what he says is an embellishment and the rest are lies.” So much for the bottle from 1850.

I hope the people doing the telecast of The Open discover him. He would make a great feature segment. There is an adjacent restaurant to the pub where Willie seated us and then checked on us several times throughout the night. If I owned a bar restaurant I would want Willie Gregg working for me. We laughed about Willie for the rest of the trip and will do so for years to come.

Since we left the Harbor Bar Willie has sent me two emails. Willie is special.

Monday morning we headed to Castlerock Golf Club, a typical small town golf club you might see anywhere in Ireland or Scotland. Located in the town of Castlerock there was nothing fancy or pretentious at this links course. It was a classic scene of the sea, the links land course, and the town rising up on gently sloping hills a short distance away. 

The practice tee located some distance away did not have golf balls. You must bring your own. We loosened up by hitting balls into a net, not uncommon in the British Isles. 

Castlerock has just completed a $500,000 renovation of the course using Scottish course architect Martin Hawtree, one of the most respected architects in Great Britain. I was impressed they would hire such a high profile person. 

Hawtree has done a wonderful job rebuilding several greens, adding and subtracting bunkers and improving the course. The wind blew to greater than 25 MPH again. However, Castlerock is more open than Portstewart so wayward shots could be located and played. 

For the second day we had members of the club who caddied for us. Some are retired, while some have less than full time jobs elsewhere. As suggested we paid big city caddie rates. All of the member caddies were fun, proud of their course, and greeted grounds crew workers by name. 

Like most links courses, on days where the wind is down, the course has no defense. This was true at Castlerock. However, with the wind up as we played, there was plenty of challenge.

The fees the visitors pay keep the dues down for the local members. Entry into the Castlerock Golf Club is $500 with monthly dues of $90. The cost was almost the same as Ardglass, which we would play in two days. 

The courses in the area benefit from the traffic driven by Portrush Golf Club. Like our group, many golfers come north to play Portrush but want to play other courses. Golf is a big boon to all the golf clubs and the local economy. Every course we visited had built a new club house and spent significant money on their course. 

Following play at Castlerock Golf Club we headed to Portrush Golf Club where preparation for The Open Championship was in full swing. The bleachers going around and partially down the 18th green and fairway were complete. Other bleachers were being assembled around the course. 

Since I was last at Portrush Golf Club in 1991 a new clubhouse with pro shop had been built. As I have seen at many courses throughout Scotland, the pro shops are beautifully appointed with rich wood paneling and display fixtures. The labels are the same as those you would see at any club in the USA - Peter Millar, Foot Joy, and Fairway and Green. I saw a Peter Millar print shirt at Royal County Down that was in a pro shop at Desert Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ. The only thing different was the logo. In the last thirty years high profile golf clubs have figured out American golfers like to buy logo shirts, hats and even head covers, on golf trips.

The new clubhouse was a large two story building with an elegant men’s locker room. I wondered if the old line club members and Northern Ireland golfers thought it a bit much. 

We went to the first tee to meet a group of member caddies. The wind continued to blow off te North Sea as we began our battle against a great golf course. The first hole played up to a plateau above the sea. The dunes on this course were back from the fairways and generally not as high as those at Portstewart. 

The greens were in better condition than we had seen but still not overly quick. “The R & A (Royal and Ancient Golf Association who run The Open) are aiming at nine feet, eight inches to ten feet, two inches for green speeds for the tournament,” a young assistant professional told me later that night. “The wind can dry the greens out. If the greens dry out and a player has a down hill putt, the green speed can get to 12’.” 

The USGA knows all about that happening.

Portrush has the most dramatic and beautiful view in golf. The fourth hole plays out to the edge of the plateau and sits adjacent to the fifth tee. The plateau drops straight down two hundred feet or more to an enormous half moon shaped beach where locals run dogs and others enjoy leisurely strolls.

Looking to the right in the distance you can clearly see the Giants Causeway made up of 40,000 interlocking stones formed by the glaciers. Your eye wanders up the cliff to what is left of the Duneluce Castle that fell onto the beach over 200 years ago and the beautiful cliffs defining Northern Ireland. To the left in the distance are more cliffs and far out County Donegal is visible. It was stunning. 

Portrush Golf Club has built two new holes in the middle of the course, now numbers eight and nine, removing the old seventeen and eighteen. They are wonderful holes that look just like Harry Colt built them in 1901. My caddie reported that former US Open Champion and resident of Northern Ireland Darren Clark played two days in a row recently. The first day he hit a driver, three wood and six iron to the green while the next day he hit a driver and a four iron to this same par five hole.

The course now finishes on what was number sixteen. It is a big improvement to the course as seventeen and eighteen were always a disappointment after sixteen wonderful holes.

A hole to watch in The Open will be number sixteen. It looks much like the 16th at Cypress Point, the long par three over water. Sixteen at Portrush carries over a canyon. The walk to the green is around the left of the penalty area. The wind howled from left to right driving balls into the canyon as we played. It will play up to 234 yards for The Open. The two sixteens are the most intimidating shots I have ever faced.

“That’s in the BBC,” said Eric’s caddie after a tee shot got away up into the wind blowing hard to the right on eighteen. 

“BBC?”

“Bad boys corner. Every course has a bad boys corner.” 

Eric managed a five from the BBC and we walked off the green thrilled at seeing one of the great courses in the world. It was fun to play, fair and challenging. I would love to come back and play again. It will be a great Open Championship and, if the wind blows, the scores will reflect it. 

We were halfway through our trip. It had been breezy but we did not care. So far my 70th birthday present was living up to all expectations and a special highlight in A Life In Golf.