Royal Portrush

It took a little over an hour to get up to Portrush from Belfast. This terrain was very different from what I had seen in the other courses so far. I could see mountains, not too big but when you come from Florida anything is huge, cliffs and rolling hills all over the country. The place reminded me of New Zealand that I love so much. I made sure to get there early and have a proper warm-up. I was assigned Derek as my caddie and at first I wasn’t too sure what to think of him since he put my bad on a trolley cart instead of carrying it. I would guess he was about 50 years old. I found out through the course of the day that he’s been a caddie for over 35 years. We really hit it off as he called me “boss” and would say, “I’m here to do the work and you’re here to enjoy yourself.” The guy was a class act. He didn’t always get the club or yardage correct but I’m sure I had him guessing between the great golf swing and the bad one. 

You go in and pay at the pro shop for your round but you get your caddie and start from the caddie master. I was just walking up from the range and I had twenty minutes to go and was planning on putting and relaxing a bit. The caddie master tells me I need to go, so I went.

Hole 1: Is uphill and not too difficult. Stay right for an easy shot and less slope into the green.

Hole 3: I think I hit a 395 yard drive. About 260 in the air and another 135 at least on the ground that put me in a bunker about 90 yards from the green. It’s weird to hit a ball that far because you start to realize you don’t have any control over where that thing is going to stop.

Hole 5: I knock my chip onto the green after a fantastic drive of over 350 yards, down-hill.

Hole 13: The signature hole that runs up to the beach lived up to its name, “calamity corner”. My short chip hit the green and it just kept rolling through the green and down the embankment to the beach.

Hole 14: I hit a great 3 wood 195 yards into the wind that ended up just off the green in a hollow. The hollow is named after a guy who hit his ball in there all four rounds of the British Open and pared the hole every time.

I really loved this golf course and can’t wait to play it again. While the first the courses were great, this one in my book was the best of them. 

After the round I went up stairs to the restaurant for lunch, ordered with Joy and then went back down and took a shower. They don’t allow golf shoes or hats in the restaurant so it was taking a little longer than usual for me to get situated. I started telling Joy that we should go over to Rathmore which is Graeme McDowell’s course next door. I saw the pro shop from the 18th tee box. It’s not a big deal at all and my caddie said the member there are also members of Portrush. I told her I bet Graeme is in town since he wasn’t playing this week and he is playing next week at the Open in England. No sooner do I say this and a guy comes in and sits down with his back facing the room and starts talking to another guy. He orders a coffee and I hear his voice and I say to Joy, I think that’s McDowell. She starts giving me crap like don’t tease me, I say listen to his voice, she starts to get nervous and says omygosh, it is. I say, you better get over there and ask for a photo. It took her about 5 minutes of listening to him for her to get up the courage. He couldn’t have been nicer. I did apologize to him for my wife stalking him. He commented on my Pebble Beach shirt (where he won the US Open) and asked me about my round and plans, and where we were from. 

Joy said she’s good, she got all she came for. It’s funny, I remember teasing Joy that we only live 2 hours from him in Florida, but we’ll go 2500 miles to meet him. What are the odds? The stars were aligned and everything came together and I’m so happy that Joy got her moment. Definitely a memory that will last a lifetime.

Location: Royal Portrush Golf Club, Dunluce Road, Portrush, County Antrim
Website: http://www.royalportrushgolfclub.com/

Played: July 2012
Public

Tags: Ireland, Royal Portrush, Golf Course, July, 2012, Summer, World