The arrivals area at Belfast International is quite a change from Heathrow or Changi International.
Northern Ireland is immediately different and the Guinness just tastes authentic. It must be something in the local water. The Beef has joined this leg of the Open Venues Tour and has flown over from The Netherlands to play at Portrush with The Good Doctor.
The Beef is a legend of a South African Golf Tour called ‘Hack Daddies’ which is celebrating 10 years in 2019. A quality group of lads who play an epic annual tour with no holds barred.
Obviously, a proper catch up was required in Belfast and the city did not disappoint. If you have an opportunity to visit do yourself a favour and take in the Duke of York – an absolutely classic public house. It was a memorable night of live music, eclectic sights, and the local fare. Belfast is an edgy city with some really interesting spots to visit and makes the trip up to play Portrush very palatable.
The questions around the tour have included a lot of interest in the weather from back home. Scotland was so kind to us that we actually still cannot believe how we managed to arrange the best week of weather ‘in forever’.
The rain gear and umbrella were not required to be honest and the boys felt really fortunate all around the fair land. Royal Portrush was a different story with the rain tipping down over the final stretch. Most of the wet gear fortunately held out well, but we soon agreed that playing 18 in a torrent would not be ideal…
Royal Portrush first hosted The Open in 1951 and is back on the rota for 2019 for the 148th Open Championship.
The prestige of hosting an Open is clearly at the forefront for each of the courses we have played so far and Portrush is no different. The club is very proud to be back and a lot of work has been done on the setup. It is simply breathtaking.
The courses of Northern Ireland are certainly on a big charge at the moment with Royal County Down rated
as being one of the top courses in the world (not to mention Lough Erne, Castlerock and Portstewart).
Another little tour option for your group of mates perhaps?
The Dunluce Course is the championship track, with the Valley being the other option at Portrush. It’s a visually striking start and requires a lot of accuracy. The Beef has not been able to get to the range much over the last few weeks but managed to strike a lot of pure shots on this testing layout. The holes are not generally very long, but the rough is brutal.
We understood from our conversations with the Members and Pro that the course has undergone some tweaking in preparation for the Open. It is a gem of course with so many memorable holes to play.
White Rocks, #5 on the card is stunning. Our four ball all took multiple photos at this spot and also took in the OB line at the back of the green. This hole is going to get some attention come Open time. The Par 5, 7 th is also a very strong hole and plays very long off the back. The naming of the holes is truly classic. Our personal favourites were Calamity Corner (#16) and Purgatory (#17).
Calamity Corner is a Par 3 that played into a strong wind over 215m from our tees during the round.
It is going to be fascinating to see the participants take on this challenged at Portrush as they will potentially be playing it from 230m plus. What a challenge.
Royal Portrush is a must play and inspired us to think about the options we have for rounds in the region.
It really is a golfing mecca and if you can strike it reasonably lucky on the weather side it will be an epic tour.
The region has so much to offer in the form of history, day tours and distillery visits. We will definitely be back in Northern Ireland!
