Royal Portrush (Valley)

‍Royal Portrush can also boast a second course and a very fine one The Valley Links is too. The first tee is located around 700-yards from the main clubhouse (you can drive or walk down the old 18th fairway) where you will find a starters hut and buildings for the Ladies Branch of Royal Portrush Golf Club and the clubhouse for Rathmore Golf Club.

Following an innocuous, but perfectly acceptable start, the round really gets going at the 6th from where we enjoy a run of holes until the 10th which are quite excellent. The 6th, 7th and 8th in particular offer much shot-making opportunities - I simply loved the short par-four 7th ‘Cradle’ where you have a number options on how to find the putting surface with your approach and the 8th is a bamboozling long hole.

We must then find some big hitting for the up and down nature of the flatish 10th, 11th and 12th before a wonderful run for home which contains some full blooded links golf.

The Valley course, also originally designed by Colt, recently lost two holes (5 & 6) to the main Dunluce course but created some new ones towards the end of the round to compensate and tweaked a couple of others. The slightly altered 16th (now a par five) is the highlight from this rousing closing stretch which also contains a couple of very good short holes and a fun finisher over bumpy ground.

The course in its own right is a very fine links and one that makes a fine bedfellow for the Dunluce. It’s no pushover either at 6,346-yards, the par is 71.

Read the review of Royal Portrush (Dunluce) here.