Dunluce Dreams

Go ahead, place the cat nip right under my nose again...

At the Irish Golf Desk, Brian Keough posts an update on the possibility of bringing the Open Championship back to Royal Portrush.  I would absolutely love to see this come to fruition for a number of reasons, primary of which is that Portrush's Dunluce links is one of the best to be found.  It most recently hosted the 2012 Irish Open, considered by many to be the equivalent of a Broadway show opening out-of-town.

I'll link you back to this post of mine from our 2012 trip for my long dissertation on the Dunluce.  In it I deal briefly with the subject of this post, namely the 17th and 18th holes.  My good buddy Lowell Courtney has long maintained that they are unsuitable for finishing holes, and the routing should be adjusted to open on No. 17 and finish on No. 16.  And while I generally agree with Lowell's thoughts, a couple of caveats.  First, while these are the less visually pleasing of the holes, they are in no way walkovers, being equally stout tests. 

Secondly, weak opening and finishing holes are the rule with links, as clubhouses are invariably built on the flatter land closer to roads.  Invariably, the architect has to traverse less interesting ground before the fun can begin... I'll offer Turnberry as an obvious example of this where the opening and closing stretches are surprisingly mundane, though what comes in between is admittedly sublime.  

But now we have a new spin on this, as per Keough:  

While Northern Ireland's First Minister, Peter Robinson, felt compelled to reveal recently that talks with the R&A being well beyond the early stages, the members are waiting for some official news and a look at the plans. 

However, virtually no information has been given out and no-one has seen any maps or charts of potential changes the golf course. 

The latest "news" is that two entirely new holes may be required in the area adjacent to the current fifth and sixth holes on the adjoining Valley Course. 

As many have speculated, the par-five 17th and par-four 18th on the Dunluce links could be eliminated from a possible Open layout with the championship ending on the current 16th hole, where there may be more space for a grandstand.

Let's see if a visual helps you understand the routing issues:

OK, this has me puzzled for a number of reasons, including the quite obvious question of why they don't use the Valley Course for their damn tents.  Not only is the construction of new golf holes quite an undertaking, but the purist in me is a tad offended at the image of Peter Dawson applying an upgraded version of his "treatment" upon Harry Colt's masterpiece.  

Second, if you take No. 17 out of play and convert Nos. 9 and 10 to two-shotters, one of your new holes needs to be a Par-5, no?  Yet, per the arrows drawn below, they would seem to of approximate equal length.  The prevailing wind comes from the bottom-left of both these graphics, so both Par-3's that head inland (Nos. 6 and 14, the latter being the famed Calamity Corner) play into the wind.  

Thus I believe the proposed new holes would play with crosswinds, left-to-right on the new 7th and the reverse on the new 8th.  One wonder why they've focused here, instead of on the inbound nine which more frontage to the Valley Course.  Admittedly the terrain might be more interesting out at the end of the property, though I'm not sure where exactly the wannabe Harry S. Colt will put the new 8th green.

One also wonders if this is all a continuing head fake on the part of Mr. Dawson and the R&A.  I'm not deeply versed in the politics of Northern Ireland, but even my passing familiarity was sufficient to conclude that the underlying impediment to a return to Portrush is that July, the traditional date for the Open Championship, is the height of marching season.  As Wikipedia fills in for us:

These typically build up to 12 July celebrations which mark Prince William of Orange's victory over King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Although the term 'march' or 'parade' is widely used in the media, the Order prefers terms such as 'walk' or 'demonstration'.

While things have been calm in recent years, awarding an Open to Portrush represents a bet that the calm will remain for many years into the future.  But still we hope...