Portstewart, a small town in Northern
Ireland, suffered from a large inferiority
complex in the late 19th century. Separated by only three miles of rugged Ulster
coastline from the neighboring resort town of Portrush, Portstewart had been
losing ground to its more fashionable and popular rival since the early
Victorian era. When it came to golf, Portrush was also in the forefront, having
introduced the game in 1888.
Portstewart began its efforts to catch up in 1894. It took
the better part of a century, but Portrush has finally been transformed to the
first rank of seaside golf. In 1990 Portstewart added seven new seaside holes
that dramatically reconfigured its old Strand course and brought it into the
vanguard of the great links courses of the British
Isles.
The man principally charged with designing the new holes was
Des Giffin, a math teacher at the local Coleraine grammar school. Giffin laid
out seven holes through the Brobdingnagian, a set of billowy barrier dunes that
are brocaded with dark green buckthorn bushes. The result of these efforts is
nothing short of spectacular.
The front and back nines at Portstewart are quite different
in character and terrain from one another. The front nine cavorts up, down and
around the oversized sandhills, while the more open, lowland back nine wanders
along the broad banks of the River Bann. This combination of seaside and
riverine holes makes for an unusual and eclectic course that is also a marked
contrast from nearby Portrush.
The ast hole at Portstewart is indisputably one of the finest
openers in links golf. From a parapet tee, the fairway runs away from the
clubhouse and the town, coiling left to right through the tricorn-shaped dunes.
To the right are the wide, smooth, pale sands of Portstewart Strand, on which
hundreds of beachgoers park their cars on those all-too-brief sunny summer days.
In the distance, beyond the inlet of the Bann, is the cylindrical outline of
Mussenden
Temple. Perched on the
bluff above the sea, the temple was once the summer library of the Earl of
Bristol, later Bishop of Derry, and was inspired by the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli. Still further in the distance is the
silhouette of the vast blue-gray hills of Donegal.
The fact that these new holes, Nos. 2 through 8, are of such
a high standard, yet were designed by an amateur architect working on a
shoestring budget, makes one wonder whether professional course architects are
overrated or whether Des Giffin is simply an exceptionally gifted amateur. It is
clear that what Mr. Giffin had working in his favor was both a keen
understanding of the game and an intimate knowledge of the wondrous linksland
with which he was given to work
Like all great links courses, Portstewart is more than just a
collection of fine golf holes. It is a tableau vivant of roiling, windswept
dunes, unfettered ocean views and the sluggish sweep of the Bann as it makes its
way to the sea beneath the promontories of Derry and Donegal.
