Bushmills 8

N. Ireland Golf Trip

Just fresh back from a week in Northern Ireland, playing some of the greatest golf courses on the planet. It all started back in Feb of this year, after a round w/a few friends and a cocktail or three. We had all heard many great things about the area, and so being in the travel business, I was put to task of planning the trip.

After a few days of tweaking the itinerary based on available t-times, and days that Gringo’s can play, we had a firmed up trip.

Our trip began w/a flight into Belfast, on a non-stop flight from Newark. There were eight of us, and we were met by our driver and guide Nigel. A couple of words of advice; I’ve done many many golf trips to Scotland and Ireland. Two foursomes is ideal, it’s manageable and mobile. Of course having the right group of guys makes a difference, but once you get over eight, you start having too many people to make happy. Second word of advice, hire a driver and van or bus. The driver actually acts as more than your driver, he handles dinner reservations, recommendations and helps load and unload luggage. I like to think of them as “enablers”; forget your deodorant and don’t want to waste precious range time, no worries your enabler will handle it whilst you are chasing your orb around the links. Granted it costs an extra couple of hundred of bucks for the service, but it makes for a brain-free trip.

Once we got our luggage loaded in our Mercedes Van, we headed to our first course. As luck would have it, it was an afternoon t-time which left us just enough time for a swing by the Bushmill’s plant for a tour and tasting. A couple of hours later, and a couple of drams fuller we were off to our first course Port Stewart.



http://www.portstewartgc.co.uk/
Port Stewart is set in a beautiful little town right on the north coast of Ireland. It was unanimous in our group that the Strand course is the most scenic first nine holes of golf any of us had ever played. A few more things about golf in Ireland, you don’t get a cart (buggy) unless you have a medical certificate. Pull carts (trolley’s) are available and only cost $6-8 to rent. You can request caddies in advance, but don’t beat your farm that they will be there. It’s a request @ best. Most of the caddies in N. Ireland are actually members of the club. Don’t expect white gloved service, they don’t offer to clean your ball or wipe your clubs like American caddies. They do hump your bag, help with yardages, and generally add a lot of charm to the experience. But most importantly, they help you look for your ball. The rough at all the courses we played could only be described as severe. The caddy fees range but a good average is 25 pounds sterling (currently $54) plus tip. Speaking of tip’s, here is one for you, ask the pro before teeing off what the caddie fee is, and what is the range of tips. We had a few in our group who asked the caddies at the end of rounds how much they should pay and astonishingly enough it was about double what the pro said. No wonder they love American’s so.

We stayed in Derry the first two nights @ the City Hotel. Certainly adequate enough, but on the lower end of 4 star hotels I’ve stayed. The location in Derry is great though. You are in walking distance to lot’s of resteraunts and plenty of bars. Our plan included a full –Irish breakfast which are big meal. The City Hotel had an extra good breakfast buffet. Our next day was a trip to Ballyliffen. Ballyliffen is a great spot, with two great golf courses, the Old and the Glashedy. We were scheduled to play @ the Glashedy course, but as luck would have it, we ended up playing the Old Course which our caddies said was slightly better than the other. This is another outstanding links course that is set on the Northern most tip of Ireland. The views are tremendous and the course is great. I’m not sure why this one isn’t ranked on the top 100 world courses. Our next course is currently ranked 12th in the world according to Golf.com http://www.golf.com/golf/courses_travel/topcourses/top_100_world/2007/0,29923,orig-10,00.html and it is Royal Port Rush.


RPR is a very proper club, with a great facility. This was probably the most elaborate clubhouse of all the courses we played. Port Rush is a spectacular area, with lot’s of great vistas. They say you can see Scotland on a clear day from the club. This is a very difficult golf course, the rough is very penal, it’s a must to have a caddie here. There are several blind shots, that could ruin your day if you don’t know where to hit it.

From here we drove to just outside of Belfast and stayed at the Culloden estate. This is great property; it’s an old manor house converted into a four-star property. Unfortunately, we arrived late and left the next morning and didn’t get a great deal of time to enjoy the facility. Our next morning took us another 80 minutes down the road to the jewel of Ireland, Royal County Down.

Our timing couldn’t have been better, the Walker cup had just concluded from being played there five days prior, and their Club Championship was held just the day before. Needless to say the course was in great “nick”, and we Americans had a lot to be proud of since our boys had just won.


The weather was refreshing cool, and the winds were gusting up to 50 miles and hour. Oh, did I mention the greens were “stimping” at 14 before the winds picked up. The course was brutal, the fairways were intentional very firm and running fast. All but the most accurate, controlled tee-shot would wind up finding 12-18 inch rough. The greens were very firm on top of being lightning fast. I actually had a ball blow off the putting surface and back down a short-sided swell, after it had come to rest for a couple of minutes. In most cases you would need to play a wedge shot ten yards short of the green to hold it. Even though the conditions were extreme (no one came close to breaking 90 in our group), it is a spectacular course in a breathtaking setting. I’ve had the good fortune to play many of the top courses around the globe and I can’t think of one any more special.

We left shortly after our round (2 Guininess) for another 1.5 hour bus ride down to Portmarnock, which is just outside of Dublin. The Portmarnock hotel is on the grounds of the original Jameson (of whisky fame) home. It’s a good property, with adequate but limited facilities. It was definitely a step down from the Culloden. We played Portmarnock Golf Links the following day which is another top rated course. One bit of warning, there are two courses with very similar names. I would recommend playing both, but if you only have time for one make sure you play Portmarnock Golf Links.

All in all probably the best golf trip I’ve taken, and a must for any avid golf traveler.