After a windy demanding morning round at The Dunluce Course and a short coffee at the great Club House we walked to the first tee to add my 458th course chasing the 500 which would hopefully come in 2023. The course plays away from the Ladies Club House 1-2-3 and then to the “Valley” with permanent views of Calamity Corner (Dunluce 16th hole) from 4th to 12th to then go parallel to the sea and dunes back to the Club house except 14th which is a dogleg left and then 15th a nice 3 towards the dunes. The Valley is a course that will always be overlooked by Dunluce, Castlerock and Portstewart and I have to say that it easily plays in the same league as these last two with no less than 6 phenomenal golf holes, challenge and fun but not as hard as Dunluce and the perfect Combo for a 36 holes day. The only change I would have made if I had the chance would have been playing earlier Dunluce and try to enjoy lunch at the Club House considering the Dunluce can be a very tough morning as it was for us with gusts over 30km/h.

I don’t have to be a genius to point this one is way “easier” than Dunluce but that doest not take fun and challenge out of the picture with some very demanding tee shots and some other greens which will demand intelligence and wise choices to avoid missing on the bad side.

One strong feature of the course is the set of five par 3s, none of them too long and a couple quite short but all of them to different sized greens and in varied directions:

3rd is short but from tee you don’t see a wide landing area if you wish to hit a low one and make it roll to the gree.

9th again short and downhill, also played downwind and it was not easy to hold the ball.

13th with green small and elevated needs a high shot but that is a risk when wind blows left to right as we had.

Loved 15th from elevated tee downwind to the biggest green, one of the best images of the course.

17th elevated green with false front played wuite similar to Castlerock’s Bann Course 4th hole.

It is a course that will allow you to score (if you play well), there is space to miss off the tee and after the test at Dunluce, having the chance to end the day on a high note is always a good reason to make the 300yds walk from Club House to the 1st tee, even more if you consider it is 20GBP extra if played on the same day.

Best holes?

Short par 4 7th to a well protected green around mounds … driver is not the best choice.

Difficult 5th demanding a well placed tee shot to a sort of punchbowl green.