A Trip To Northern Ireland Continued
Royal County Down Ninth Hole With The Slieve Donard Hotel As A Backdrop
I left my last post halfway through our trip to Northern Ireland. Put together by my three sons, Tyler, Eric and Kyle it had been a wonderful trip, all be it a bit breezy. We said good bye to the City of Portrush, the Harbor Bar and its bartender, Willie Gregg and headed for the small seaside city of Newcastle, home of Royal County Down Golf Club, (RCD).
Most world rankings of courses have RCD at or near the top. Few that have played it say it is not the greatest course they have ever played. I’m not going to quarrel about whether it’s number one, two or three, it’s one of the great ones.
The membership has significantly enlarged the clubhouse since I was last there in 1991. The white and brown two story structure looks out over the course. The beautiful new pro shop in the clubhouse is stocked with all the logo clothing American golfers crave.
We arrived to find the course closed after an all morning rain. I had never seen water not draining down through sand on a links course, but this one was unplayable. However after a two hour delay we were good to go.
At 45 degrees, a stiff wind and intermittent rain, I finally got to use my new rain suit. Purchasing a stocking cap in the shop and with all of us buying rain gloves, we headed out.
Royal County Down differs from Portrush Golf Club in that RCD has ridges and dunes closely defining many of the fairways. The holes are dictated by the movement of the dunes and ridges.
Much like Portrush, every hole fit perfectly into the land, designed over 100 years ago. This does not mean they aren’t continually making changes to the course. A hazard in the middle of the sixteenth fairway was being removed. “It doesn’t fit with the course,” a caddie informed us.
“There are so many colors,” Tyler said. While the other courses we had played were attractive, they did not have the wide variety of browns and greens with yellow flowers on the gorse. High on a hill in the middle of the ninth fairway was a view of the spire of our five star hotel, the Slieve Donard, with the mountains as a backdrop. It was a virtual picture postcard.
Playing in the most difficult conditions I have played in for decades, we had a surprisingly wonderful time looking at each hole and talking with our professional caddies, soaking up RCD. Being well prepared with our clothes made the weather just an inconvenience.
Everything that is RCD was great and it started with the people. Each person we interacted with treated us like a friend. At each course on the trip staff and caddies were friendly, helpful and went above and beyond. We never had anything but a good experience with the people in Northern Ireland and RCD exemplified that.
Walking around Newcastle following our round, we came upon an exceptional restaurant, Brunel’s. With a young chef working the kitchen we each had an interesting and wonderful meal. It was a big surprise for me. Small town, Northern Ireland, great restaurant. Times have changed.
The next morning we drove to Ardglass, another town on the east coast of Ireland, about thirty minutes away. It is visible across the bay from the town of Newcastle but a long drive around to it.
Wednesday was a picture perfect, calm day with only a few puffy clouds. At Ardglass Golf Club a sign proclaimed ‘the oldest clubhouse in the world’. It’s in a national archive castle built in 1405. Ardglass is another small town greatly benefitting from golfers traveling to a high profile golf course. This time its Royal County Down that has drawn the crowd with Ardglass appreciative. The greens fee had been 35 Euro ($45) which developed little traffic or revenue. The club increased the fees to 100 Euro ($130) and the world was now coming to see them. I guess if it’s more expensive it has to be better!
Although it was built adjacent to the sea and there were no trees, it was technically not a links course. The caddies at RCD were quick to point out. “Don’t let them tell you it’s a links course. It’s built on rock, not sand.” Those caddies are purists.
The course has one of the more dramatic first holes in golf, with the tee on one side of an inlet and the fairway on the other. Better bring a breakfast ball with you to the first tee. It was a beautiful setting. Not a long course at 6250 yards from the back tees, the attraction was the first five holes played along the coast line. It was a wonderful walk looking out over the North Sea. From the sixth tee the holes run inland on flat ground with not a lot of topography.
With two birdies at the short 18th we had smiles as we walked off. “I thought this was a fun place to play,” said Kyle.
Following play we had a two hour drive to Dublin and the Grand Hotel for a good nights sleep before our final round, at the European Club. The European Club is located an hour and fifteen minutes south of Dublin. It was designed, built and is owned by Patrick Ruddy. It opened in 1987. Ruddy has become one of the more prolific designers in Ireland with several wonderful courses to his credit.
The European Club has been climbing the list ‘Top Courses in Ireland’ since inception. Located in a remote area, the last few miles into the course are on a single lane road. We arrived at 10:30 AM to find two cars in the parking lot. With no caddies we headed to the first tee carrying our clubs on a perfect weather day.
Hard up against the Irish Sea, the European Club measured up with the best I have played. Ruddy prided himself on building a course that used camouflage and optical illusion to hide fairway areas. He used through bunkers to define the direction of the holes. (A bunker on the far side of a fairway to show the player the depth of the fairway and direction it moves.)
An interesting feature of the course was the routing. “This course started inland, with the holes by the sea deep into the round,” noted Tyler. “Most links courses have the sea visible on the early holes and work to the interior later in the round. Not at the European Club.”
The condition of the course was comparable to peak season in the US. The fairways were firm and full. The greens were the quickest we had seen. Not quite as firm as others, but smooth and excellent.
The European Club has been criticized for not being Irish enough. I disagree. It is a links course on sand next to the sea. The only place it varied was with the use of railroad ties on the face of the bunkers, as Pete Dye did on many of his courses. Dunes defined many of the fairways as they moved up and down the slopes of the topography.
Ruddy designed some of the largest and most interesting greens I have seen. The par four 12th green was over 100 yards deep. The 14th, (pictured), was an enormous horseshoe shape with a bunker in the middle.
The course was so remote I would be surprised if there are more than 10,000 rounds in a year.
A big change in Northern Ireland since I was last there in 1991 was in the food. My impression of the food in the past was bland and featured potatoes. On this trip our meals were excellent. In Portrush we had an wonderful meal at the Harbor Bistro, a restaurant tied into the Harbor Pub. Newcastle, with Brunel’s was exceptional and the big city of Dublin has many excellent choices.
A trip to Ireland would not be complete without visiting a few pubs and we met the obligation. Guinness was the beer of choice. Throughout Northern Ireland, the caddies and others would inform us of where the best Guinness was served.
Willie Gregg, bartender at the Harbor Bar in Portrush, talked at length about how his Guinness was the best set up in Portrush. “The line comes off the keg located directly under the tap. The only place it’s better is in Dublin because that’s where it’s brewed.” For some reason, the shorter the line from the keg the better the Guinness. Why it would be better 3 hours away in Dublin, I never figured out.
Our final night in Dublin was what one reads about in a travel guide. The story was that in Dublin, Mulligans poured the best Guinness in the city. We had to test it out. It’s a small pub, jammed with patrons enjoying the finest of the local brew. We each got a tall, cold one. It’s cold and smooth. Is it the best Guinness anywhere? Well, you’ll just have to go and see for yourself!
Wandering down the narrow streets stopping in pubs, talking with the locals. It’s an interesting clientele of largely middle aged men. And so much fun.
An important soccer game was being played. A game equivalent to a playoff NFL football game. The pubs were packed with fans watching the game. No sitting at home.
“It was better in Dublin,” said Tyler, sipping on a Guinness back in Minnesota after the trip of a lifetime. We had some wind and one day of rain, but nothing that dampened a most special time for the four of us. If you love golf don’t miss Northern Ireland. The trip to Northern Ireland with my sons created some of my best memories in A Life In Golf
