Step back in time with 1899 course experience at RCD

There was a step back in time at Royal County Down last week as members and the green staff tipped their hats to times of old and set up a nine-hole course that replicated the 1899 layout.

Over the weekend, members from all three clubs on the RCD campus took to the course that was extremely well marshalled (which it needed to be) as intrepid golfers were guided to places on the course they had never set foot on before.

It was a short loop of exceptional fun where members donned their plus fours and tweed jackets to play the historic nine-hole layout with persimmon woods and mashie niblicks. Mourne members got their chance to play last Sunday in what turned out to be glorious, benign conditions.

There were plenty of blind shots and treachery over the 1899 course, particularly the two blind par threes at six and eight where you had to trust the yardage and aim dead centre of the marker post.

Course Manager Eamonn Crawford, his assistant Noel Crawford and the team, went to great lengths to set up new temporary greens and tees to recreate an authentic nine-hole routing from 1899.

On the dedicated competition scorecards, a summary history was provided by Royal County Down, it read:

“In 1895 the 1st and 18th holes of the original course were given up to build the clubhouse and the Slieve Donard Hotel. The course started on the current 10th and finished on the members’ putting green. Over the next six years nine amateur and professional championships were played before George Coombe’s major changes were introduced in 1901.

“The map of the course was specially prepared for the British Ladies’ Amateur Championship in 1899 and played approximately 1,000 yards shorter than the men’s course. The nine holes on the card play over the 2nd to 7th, 16th and 18th holes of the 1899 layout.”

It really was a treat for members to get the chance to step back in time and experience the 1899 course. Those who took to the course got into the spirit of the occasion, not least Noel Crawford who even donned an Old Tom Morris beard in memory of the Championship Links’ original designer.

In Mourne’s Sunday Fourball Better Ball competition, there was some exceptional scoring given the unfamiliarity of the 1899 course. Kieran Poland and Stuart Hamilton teamed up and won with a sensational 25 points, one better than Neil Gallagher and John O’Boyle in second. Francis McIlmurray and Chris Keag were third with 23 points.

Last Sunday was a special day, a look back to a different time. Members of Mourne thank RCD for the opportunity to play and experience the 1899 course.