We packed up our Derry digs and headed back to the north coast for one last round in Northern Ireland. Unplanned but extremely fortunate scheduling meant we missed the start of the Northwest 200 by 12 hours. This massive motorcycle racing festival attracts over 120,000 spectators. Held on the roads between Portrush, Portstewart and Colraine the entire area is effectively shutdown. We managed to get in, golf and get out before the roads were closed.
Portstewart is a Willie Park Jr design from 1894 although the club is in the midst of a significant renovation of a number of holes on the back nine.
The course is a tale of two distinct nines. The front nine is played amongst some of the largest dunes and narrowest fairways of any Irish course.
The ladies faced an equally difficult task and sometimes, things went a little wayward.
The front nine included some serious elevation changes with very little margin for error. A shot coming up 10’ short became a 25 yard pitch.
The back nine is much more open, flatter and less imposing. Recognizing this, the club is making a number of changes to holes 13, 14 and 15 to increase the challenge. In particular, the 15th green will be lowered 7 feet given its abrupt upslope and tabletop design.
As you can see it was a short sleeve or one layer day for the most part. 23C/73F, sunny and just enough wind to make one question whether you held the right club. Very un-Irish May weather. A very pleasant day all around.
From the club we heading south west, back past Derry and into Ireland arriving at our hotel in Sligo around 9 pm. This last minute change was done to reduce the driving time on Saturday to the Cliffs of Moher where, despite it being a Pit Day, we will no doubt put in many more thousand of steps seeing the sights.
The Bennetts On Tour 