Royal Portrush Golf Club – Dunluce Course
Reporting on The Open in 1951 at Portrush, renowned golf correspondent Bernard Darwin wrote: “Mr. H.S. Colt… has built himself a monument more enduring than brass.”
Another fine example of Nick Wall of Air Swing Media’s work
The B62 road that connects Ballymoney with the Dunluce Road is a pretty unremarkable secondary thoroughfare that visitors to the Causeway Coast will likely travel if on route northwards from Belfast, Newcastle (RCD) or Dublin. Unremarkable that is until you reach an abrupt left cambered t-junction where your eyes are likely to pop out of your head as the links, North Atlantic, Portrush itself and the hills of the Inishowen peninsula stretch out in front of you
The very first time I travelled this now well worn path, I was unaware that the first reveal of the day would occur before I even arrived at the front gates of the club. As I rounded the blind left-hander towards the slightly precarious t junction, I was accosted by a quite extraordinary vista of North Atlantic swell marching its way towards White Rocks and the East Strand.
I can still hear the dulcet tones, of the long departed RTE radio DJ Gerry Ryan teasing and cajoling his callers, as was his wont, as my mouth hit the floor of the car due to the transcendental beauty that the vista affords. Gerry is unfortunately long gone to the great phone in show in the sky and so too, in a professional context anyway, is Wilma Erskine the long standing Secretary Manager with whom I met that day.
Wilma of course was one of the driving forces in securing a return of the 2019 staging of the Open Championship to the North Coast of Ireland for the first time since Max Faulkner had hoisted the Claret Jug in 1951. As you are no doubt aware the 148th staging of the Open was won by a local which you could say was well received by the galleries and indeed Shane himself, you might enjoy the following ‘private celebration video’ .
For twenty five years or so from 1970 Royal Portrush was inexorably at the mercy of outside forces which conspired to unfortunately present Northern Ireland as somewhat of a no-go for visitors, thankfully those times have passed and RP has once again risen to the summit of Irish and world golf, where it assuredly belongs.
The club boasts 2 courses, The Dunluce being the main attraction, , it’s little sibling, however, The Valley, is no less tantalising and should be used as the perfect warm-up for the main event on the higher ground that the Dunluce occupies. But more of The Valley course in its own complimentary review located elsewhere on this site.
The Dunluce course at Royal Portrush, originally called the County Club, gradually migrated eastwards away from the town into the ample dune laden landscape, The redesign and extension that Harry Colt undertook in 1929 is broadly what we find there today, save for two additional holes, credited to the design firm MacKenzie and Ebert, created in advance of the 2019 Open Championships.
‘Mike (Keiser) was intrigued that Portrush, which had far fewer great golf holes than County Down, seemed to him just as memorable and wanted to know why, I explained that it was the sequencing of the holes. The routing at Portrush had an exclamation point in the middle of each nine, where the course came in contact with the ocean, not just at the beginning and the end like most other courses’
Tom Doak of Renaissance Design, from his book, Getting to 18 (2020)
The aforementioned exclamation points referenced above appear at the viciously doglegging shortish par 4 5th (White Rocks) where an assiduously placed drive can reach a generously contoured green, but beware the overly ambitious approach as out of bounds lurks precipitously guarding the back of this green. The careful golfer may opt against a bee line for the green, experience here screams ‘handle with care’, however temptation is a marvellous thing.... this hole goads you into taking on more carry than your ability may deliver.... a true heroic result is assured if only you
From the back of the next tee box your eyes will once again wander eastward towards Dunluce Castle and the Giants Causeway beyond. Focus and concentration must be regained prior to steeling oneself for the challenge offered by this bunkerless, beautiful and brutal 3 par that can often play into the prevailing wind.
The second exclamation point that Mr. Doak references above comes as a late crescendo to your round, the delightful tumbling 15th with its blind drive cresting to reveal, a picture postcard view of Skerries Islands in the distance, the North Atlantic and a perched sentinel green with classical fall aways on all sides, beware chasing a back pin here, middle of the green, two puts and you’ve succeeded where many others have perished.
The coup de grace is Calamity (#16), and I can assure you that calamity awaits the unwary on this murderously difficult 3 par. Under clubbing, pushing or slicing are not recommended as a calamitous cavern awaits the injudicious or over optimistic.
During the Open Championship of 1951 Bobby Locke, the great South African golfer, adopted a strategy of aiming left during all four rounds. So unerringly accurate was the big South African that he practically played out of the same divot on 4 occasions.
The Dunluce presents an eminently regal challenge, allowing the bogey golfer to tack their way around the course, encouraging the unwary to perish when they choose the line of instinct as opposed to the percentage based the line of charm.
The fairways are of ample width, off piste however the rough is of significant ferocity, made up of a combination of beasties such as strangely coarse plant matter, ferns, bracken and blackberry brambles..... re-load required, should the unlikely occur (finding your ball in there), you’ll likely do yourself an unfortunate mischief endeavouring extraction. Be warned and beware the wildly errant shot.
In the lead up to the staging of the Open Championship the brains trust at MacKenzie & Ebert were tasked in creating two new consecutive holes on the front nine, the two old finishing holes, located nearest town, deemed as the ideal location for the tented village and media compound now required for an event the size of the Open Championship.
These new holes are located as a jigsawed pair stretching hither and yon along the great barrier dune that marks the seaward side of the courses’ property line. Undoubtedly the 7th and 8th are two good holes, however, in order to accommodate these new holes the little brother Valley course had to surrender two of its finest for the greater good. I only had an opportunity to play the aforementioned lost holes on one occasion in 2007 and remember them as two of the standout holes on that visit, located as they were in there own secluded dune enclosed amphitheatre.... I understand the need for what happened but lament the loss of 2 of Colt’s original compositions.
Royal Portrush is another one of those must visit places, both for the local and visitor alike. I expectantly await my next visit and recommend wholeheartedly that it should sit squarely near the very top of any extended golfing trip to Ireland’s fair isle.
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Thanks again for visiting
Shane Derby
Lovely piece again Shane. Is there a better set of greens in Ireland? 5, 6, 10, 14 and 15 are magnificent. Such a shame that the green on hole 2 was moved in order to lengthen the hole.