Ireland/N Ireland trip recap (Portstewart/Royal County Down/Portmarnock)

[Chilidog]

Just returned from my Ireland/N Ireland trip over the last 2 weeks. My wife and I flew into Dublin and from there drove to Kilkenny, Cork, Killarney, Doolin, Donegal, Portrush, Belfast and back down to Dublin. We did a lot of hiking, seeing waterfalls, seeing ruins, seeing castles and drinking a lot of Hop House 13, Guinness and Baileys. But what most people will be interested in on these boards is the golf. While we stopped in at Ballybunion, Tralee and Lahinch, we only walked some of the holes but didn’t play any in the southwest. Instead, we focused on the Northwest, East and right around Dublin. The three courses I focused on were Portstewart (Portrush was closed for Remembrance Day to visitors the only day I was in town), Royal County Down and Portmarnock. Here are my thoughts on each with pics:

 

PORTSTEWART

 

My wife and I arrived at Portstewart around 12 for a 1:20 tee time on the famed Strand course. We had lunch in the restaurant and got checked in. I met with my caddie Maurice and he seemed to get started early as we were going to be pushing daylight. It was a little bit of a bummer not to be able to warm up at all or get some putts in and just go straight away to playing, but that’s what we did. The views from the first tee were outstanding and the fairway looked small. 
 

 

The second hole didn’t disappoint either as the views only got better. 
 

 

The 3rd kept the views going with a long par 3. 
 

 

I could keep going with pics of the front 9 but just be aware that they don’t get worse for the front 9. Overall, it may be the best 9 holes I’ve ever played. Not score wise but golf course wise and I’ve played 15 of the top 20 in the world. 
 

Here is where it turns for the worse for Portstewart and it’s the back 9. I’ll post a pic just so you can see the difference. 
 

 

Overall, it was still a great way to open golf in Ireland. 
 

ROYAL COUNTY DOWN

 

The next day, I ventured down to Royal County Down which has been rated the #1 course in the world lots of years. I was super pumped to play here knowing that. I was paired with Mick as my caddie who has been caddying there for 40 years. Again, I was disappointed in the practice areas. In order to hit balls, you had to get in your car and drive to the range. I chose not to and rolled some putts instead. I’ll post some pics and then give you my thoughts: 

 

 

Ok, you can obviously see that it’s visually stunning. Here are the negatives from the course:

 

1) The greens were aerated 10 days earlier. They can’t control that I picked this day to play but it was a bummer playing punched greens. 
2) The bigger thing is that I counted half of the par 4s/5s were blind shots from the tee where you hit over a stone in a dune or towards a pole by the green. In the US, I know blind holes are either loved or hated. Personally, I don’t mind some blind holes but they seemed excessive at RCD. I hit several drives just left or right of the line my caddie gave me only to come over the hill and find the ball in deep rough. You can’t miss the exact line or you found yourself in deep rough to try and hack it out (if you could find it). 
3) My biggest negative was that the ball backed up on the greens. I spun a wedge from the middle of the green completely off the front of one hole and backed up a 6 iron 5 ft on another hole. It just wasn’t links golf. It was like playing any American course. I was really disappointed in this. 
 

Overall, it was still a great day but the course wouldn’t crack my top 25. 
 

PORTMARNOCK

 

This past Wednesday, I played the Red and Yellow sides of the championship course at Portmarnock. I had an early morning tee time and wasn’t sure how long it would take to get out of Dublin and we showed up an hour before the time only to find that we beat the entire staff to the course. We waited for them to show up and once again, in order to hit balls we needed to pack back in the car and drive somewhere else. I chose once again to just roll some putts before playing. I got Paddy as my caddie that had also been there 40 years and had an Irish accent so thick that I constantly laughed and had him sound out slowly what he was wanting me to do. It was about 45 when we teed off so it was cold. I was happy to have my heated vest and gtech hand warmer with me. This course was less about undulation throughout the course and more about building dunes around each hole which made you feel like you were in amphitheater playing and wouldn’t know if someone was playing the hole beside you unless you could hear them. Here is the biggest thing: finally, finally, finally a course where you had to bounce it on. True links! Here are some pics from that day:

 

 

Overall, a really fun trip. We ended up driving from Dublin to Kilkenny, Cork, Killarney, Doolin, Donegal, Portrush, Belfast and back down to Dublin. If anyone is interested in some other pics from the trip, I am including a couple that I thought were cool. 
 

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by Chilidog

[PJ Blake]

Great picks. They are all really good, but the one of you putting in the sunset...frame it!

 

Considering just regions and not golf, did you have a favorite area?

[Chilidog]

12 minutes ago, PJ Blake said:

Great picks. They are all really good, but the one of you putting in the sunset...frame it!

 

Considering just regions and not golf, did you have a favorite area?

I would live in Doolin. Sleepy little coastal town with only 500 residents and some great pubs. Portrush was my second favorite. I love smaller towns. We could have done without Dublin, Cork or Belfast. 

[hammergolf]

On 11/22/2021 at 1:54 PM, Chilidog said:

Just returned from my Ireland/N Ireland trip over the last 2 weeks. My wife and I flew into Dublin and from there drove to Kilkenny, Cork, Killarney, Doolin, Donegal, Portrush, Belfast and back down to Dublin. We did a lot of hiking, seeing waterfalls, seeing ruins, seeing castles and drinking a lot of Hop House 13, Guinness and Baileys. But what most people will be interested in on these boards is the golf. While we stopped in at Ballybunion, Tralee and Lahinch, we only walked some of the holes but didn’t play any in the southwest. Instead, we focused on the Northwest, East and right around Dublin. The three courses I focused on were Portstewart (Portrush was closed for Remembrance Day to visitors the only day I was in town), Royal County Down and Portmarnock. Here are my thoughts on each with pics:

 

PORTSTEWART

 

My wife and I arrived at Portstewart around 12 for a 1:20 tee time on the famed Strand course. We had lunch in the restaurant and got checked in. I met with my caddie Maurice and he seemed to get started early as we were going to be pushing daylight. It was a little bit of a bummer not to be able to warm up at all or get some putts in and just go straight away to playing, but that’s what we did. The views from the first tee were outstanding and the fairway looked small. 
 

 

The second hole didn’t disappoint either as the views only got better. 
 

 

The 3rd kept the views going with a long par 3. 
 

 

I could keep going with pics of the front 9 but just be aware that they don’t get worse for the front 9. Overall, it may be the best 9 holes I’ve ever played. Not score wise but golf course wise and I’ve played 15 of the top 20 in the world. 
 

Here is where it turns for the worse for Portstewart and it’s the back 9. I’ll post a pic just so you can see the difference. 
 

 

Overall, it was still a great way to open golf in Ireland. 
 

ROYAL COUNTY DOWN

 

The next day, I ventured down to Royal County Down which has been rated the #1 course in the world lots of years. I was super pumped to play here knowing that. I was paired with Mick as my caddie who has been caddying there for 40 years. Again, I was disappointed in the practice areas. In order to hit balls, you had to get in your car and drive to the range. I chose not to and rolled some putts instead. I’ll post some pics and then give you my thoughts: 

 

 

Ok, you can obviously see that it’s visually stunning. Here are the negatives from the course:

 

1) The greens were aerated 10 days earlier. They can’t control that I picked this day to play but it was a bummer playing punched greens. 
2) The bigger thing is that I counted half of the par 4s/5s were blind shots from the tee where you hit over a stone in a dune or towards a pole by the green. In the US, I know blind holes are either loved or hated. Personally, I don’t mind some blind holes but they seemed excessive at RCD. I hit several drives just left or right of the line my caddie gave me only to come over the hill and find the ball in deep rough. You can’t miss the exact line or you found yourself in deep rough to try and hack it out (if you could find it). 
3) My biggest negative was that the ball backed up on the greens. I spun a wedge from the middle of the green completely off the front of one hole and backed up a 6 iron 5 ft on another hole. It just wasn’t links golf. It was like playing any American course. I was really disappointed in this. 
 

Overall, it was still a great day but the course wouldn’t crack my top 25. 
 

PORTMARNOCK

 

This past Wednesday, I played the Red and Yellow sides of the championship course at Portmarnock. I had an early morning tee time and wasn’t sure how long it would take to get out of Dublin and we showed up an hour before the time only to find that we beat the entire staff to the course. We waited for them to show up and once again, in order to hit balls we needed to pack back in the car and drive somewhere else. I chose once again to just roll some putts before playing. I got Paddy as my caddie that had also been there 40 years and had an Irish accent so thick that I constantly laughed and had him sound out slowly what he was wanting me to do. It was about 45 when we teed off so it was cold. I was happy to have my heated vest and gtech hand warmer with me. This course was less about undulation throughout the course and more about building dunes around each hole which made you feel like you were in amphitheater playing and wouldn’t know if someone was playing the hole beside you unless you could hear them. Here is the biggest thing: finally, finally, finally a course where you had to bounce it on. True links! Here are some pics from that day:

 

 

Overall, a really fun trip. We ended up driving from Dublin to Kilkenny, Cork, Killarney, Doolin, Donegal, Portrush, Belfast and back down to Dublin. If anyone is interested in some other pics from the trip, I am including a couple that I thought were cool. 
 

 

Looks like a great trip. You played some great ones, but man Bally, Tralee, and Lahinch are A MAZING!. See you visited the Rock of Cashel. I was there in early October and can’t wait to go back!

[Chilidog]

13 hours ago, hammergolf said:

Looks like a great trip. You played some great ones, but man Bally, Tralee, and Lahinch are A MAZING!. See you visited the Rock of Cashel. I was there in early October and can’t wait to go back!

We did. The guy that gave us our tickets was not impressed when I sang “Sharif don’t like it, Rock the Cashel” to the tune of “rock the casbah”….I guess that’s the price of showbiz baby!

[Chanceman]

I like how the pubs in Ireland are all like T J Ryan’s and J P O’Brien’s or one I saw was Dickie’s. In Lahinch there’s a pub called O’Looney’s. Love it - a great country to visit. 

[Bargegolf]

And in Ballybunion McMunn’s!

[nutmegchoi]

Beautiful pictures!

Portmarnock is the overwrapping course with our itinerary but it's nice to see some photos before hand.

Thank you!

[Hawkeye77]

Awesome report and pics!

[Schley]

Very nice photos. Are you wearing a hard warmer in your photos playing golf?  Never seen that really if so.

 

Also can you describe where your photos of non-golf locations were?  Like the scenery.

 

BTW RCD as just way too hard for me and I had a caddie as well. Too many lost balls and yes my caddie didn't find many (most just off fairway). Really sapped the enjoyment for me.