LINKS75 has spent months trawling through lists and reviews that acknowledge Royal County Down as the best course outside North America. How good is it really? Masses of gorse, skyscraper sand dunes, marathon long par 4s, and fairways as thin as Iggy Pop’s legs. Can all this be true? Written in as guests – received like members. Inside the clubhouse we look out over landscape that is like no other. Old Tom Morris, Harry S Colt and lastly Donald Steel – a new and an old friend, and a legend. While waiting for the action to start we buy candy and hit a few nervous putts. Our turn. With great expectations we tee off with classic caution on the opening par 5, which is shaped like a half-pipe. In the clubhouse we have seen Rory and Greame do the same, framed in glass. Dundrum Bay on our right. We are immediately captivated by the unique combination of a championship course and the surrounding landscape in harmony, yet each separate from the other. Like a pathway formed by nature on a journey to the next experience, nature encourages the course onward at a steady pace. Sensational. On the 2nd we encounter the first of the infamous sighting markers, with real sand dunes to be conquered. Behind every sand dune lurks a moustache-fringed bunker – like a gnarled old pirate who sleeps with one eye open, always on his guard. To finish there is a finely-mown surface that does everything it can to shake off intruding balls. The 4th – a par 3 – was in the beginning a long par 5 from which Colt created the 4th and the 5th, is a fantastic monster with gorse and bunkers the whole way – inspirational! We lag up for a birdie.
4th, Royal County Down
Above Mourne constantly keeps a watchful eye on us. On the 6th there is a new sighting marker. We relax and the course swallows only half of LINKS75 white gold, while we hit the other half as close to the hole as quickly as possible – birdie! We are dazzled by the bright yellow gorse. Pathways have been cut as if King Kong has been wading through the vegetation. Already by the 7th we have the greatest respect for one another. High LINKS75- standard – extremely high. An evil pirate guards the green and we sneak past with surgically applied irons. The 8th restores order and is a hole of typical County Down class – LINKS75 class – or as they say “hard, harder, Royal County Down.”
8th, Royal County Down
Before our links soul can get a little peace we must knock off the 9th hole, one of, if not the most famous closing holes of a front nine. Tee off 260 yards over a 60-foot high sand dune to get a clear shot at the green. We wind down on the 10th tee and look longingly out over links heaven. It doesn’t get better than this. The 10th – a par 3 – is unusually visible and accessible. On the 11th order is again restored with a blind drive. On the 13th all our prayers are answered; a gorse and heather lined corridor; a pirate lurking on the edge; and suddenly a fairway that curves to the right towards an incredible finish, an amphitheatre clothed in bright yellow costume with an enormous sighting marker that shows the way. Behind the green is a stairway to links heaven. LINKS75 sinks a monster putt for par – sheer links joy.
13th, Royal County Down
Euphorically we expect a finale of corresponding beauty and find it when a pond, as unexpected as it is hair-raising, appears on the 17th in the middle of the fairway of County Down. Bathed in contentment we make our way down Donald’s 18th. County Down has delivered and how.
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