My excitement levels start to peak as we pull into the car park at Portstewart and I know exactly why as I have played this course before. Home to the 2017 Irish Open and I bet when every professional golfer walked on to the first tee for the first time just said wow, it is such an impressive view it’s hard not to be taken in.
With the ocean on your right and the fairway some 60-feet below you it certainly is one of the best opening holes anywhere on the planet. The course then starts to move through the dunes with the second hole played from an elevated tee and from the fairway you play up to a very thin raised green that sits in between two dunes, which again gives you another elevated tee shot for the first of the par 3s on the front nine.
Top: Amazing views from the 1st tee. Above LtoR: 2nd, 3rd and 12th holes
Make sure you go and have a look at the championship tee on the 4th hole – or at least check out the video with this review – it measures 583-yards and sits high up in the dunes with the fairway stretching out below you and the river Bann as a backdrop, it’s an impressive hole. The course continues to meander through the dunes where Mother Nature and the dunes dictate the shape of each hole. The 6th brings up the other par 3 on this nine and is played to a green that looks like an upturned saucer with two pot bunkers protecting the front.
Be careful of the 8th, it’s a ninety-degree left turn, for the longer hitters it is certainly drivable but if you are off by an inch your ball will get caught up in the dunes and the chances of finding it are slim, it’s a real risk and reward hole.
The back nine takes you down towards the River Bann where the course starts to come out of the dunes this is the original Willie Park Jnr design. Des Giffin added seven new holes when the golf club purchased the dunes known as the Thistly Hollow in 1986 and the new Strand course opened for play in 1992.
Depending on the wind the last three holes can be a real test and are potential card wreckers especially the 17th with it raised green anything short, long or wide will end up back down the sloop and at 436-yards into the wind it will take two of your best strikes to not only reach the green but keep your ball on it.
Above: Make sure you go and take a look from the tournament tee at the par 5, 4th hole
