First time of course in more than 50 years it's been played in Northern Ireland. Watched the Golf Channel show about it last night. They acknowledged that the "troubles" were the main reason they haven't been back in so long. The history of Royal Portrush is interesting, it's an old course with a great history, but fell into problems due to the troubles and lack of any tourist coming to visit and play. Membership declined, etc. The N.Ireland govt gave them the money to fix up the place to be able to meet the standards of a Open Course. They seem to have done a great job, the views they showed last night were spectacular.
While they didn't sweep the "troubles" under the rug, they naturally didn't go really deep into them either. But today's ESPN has an article on the situation today. While there isn't the violence that occured in the past, there are walls in Belfast separating Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods. They call them peace walls.
Is N.Ireland making progress towards having an integrated population or is it still mainly Catholic neighborhoods and Protestant neighborhoods and if you're Catholic don't even think about moving into a Protestant neighborhood?
and it was an eye-opener. We spent time on Shankill Road on the loyalist side, time along the wall (3 miles long and up to 40 ft high), and then time on Bombay Rd on the nationalist side. It was peaceful, but the murals were unsettling. We later went to Londonderry for a wallking tour and looked down on the bogside. We were warned not to go down there... Both tours were worth it.
Oddly enough, Northern Ireland may be more in line with Catholic teaching than the Republic, as abortion is banned in the north.
on the bogside. I think you were a victim of tour guide bias.
I’m going back next year, and will venture down there.
'is it still mainly Catholic neighborhoods and Protestant neighborhoods and if you're Catholic don't even think about moving into a Protestant neighborhood?' - Yes 100% - zero integration in Ulster.
Maybe 15 years ago. Bushmills was sponsoring a three-day tournament. Played Portrush, Royal Portrush, Castle Rock, Bally Castle, Port Stewart.Royal Portrush has some fantastic views.
I think it was Bally that kept the clubhouse doors locked since it was firebombed twice. We were there during parade season when the Orange parade through the town banging drums and dragging their grandsons through the streets with them. Sad and intimidating. The next morning we went to Mass at what I believe was the only Catholic church in the town (St. Patrick's?). The church was in pretty bad shape.
NSFW
Something to note:
While very few of the players have played this course, Brooks Koepka's caddy has been a Royal Portrush member for over 30 years and has said he has played over 1500 rounds there. Not that Koepka needs an advantage the way he has played majors.
At my annual conference. It was pretty impressive for their age and worth a watch. I didn’t know there was still such a divide.
Each street has flags on the light poles signifying where they stand.
Most locals told us its basically left to traditions at this point. The north county never had much troubles compared to the borders, at least thats what we were told.
My trip there was full of wonderful surprises. Its absolutely beautiful country, no doubt thats why Game of Thrones made it their home... also because much of the books were derived from local stories.
They are still about a decade behind in terms of accommodating tourism "speed." Ordering food in a restaurant reminded my Dad of eastern europe after the fall of communism. Slow, people confused about the order of business, expediting... etc.
I met Darren Clarke's son in the pro shop. Very nice family and I only found out who he was after the caddy told me about an hour later. Didn't have a complex or entitlement. His kids have been through hell and they seem like they are years ahead of their age.
I hope the tournament is flawless... looks like the players will get the traditional Portrush shower that we also had to endure.
I was working, but my wife came over and toured the city/country while I was at the office. Yes, there are still walls in Belfast, they have open gates during the day that close at night. My wife went on a political tour up one side of a wall with a former IRA militant and then down the other with a Unionist. She said it was fascinating, and left feeling that while both sides still hold resentment, and claim to be victims, neither has any desire to restart the troubles. With that said, according to my co-workers, there is a small segment of the population in which the fire is still smoldering. And as was mentioned below, they have a real fear that Brexit is going to unleash violence once again.
The end of the troubles was lost business for some folks. The Armalite and Semtex "importers" made out pretty well for themselves financially, although being involved in any weaponry trade always carries a danger of getting one own limbs blown off by other lunatics in the party.
The provies in particular were a pretty reactionary bunch, and a fairly unstable trade partner. The old adage about never wrestling with a pig is apropos here.
future, but Brexit is going to put a stop to that real quick. They'll be backsliding into the Troubles before the year is out, I'm afraid. I'm glad they are getting "The Open" in now. It won't be back for another 50 years at this rate.
In my time in Europe I've known a few of the Northern Irish ... it's an interesting subculture. One of them grew up in Belfast right in the thick of the Troubles in the 80s. He tells a story of the police coming to his house and telling his Catholic family to pack up and move in the next 3 hours. Six hours later, his house had been burned to the ground.
It's remarkable how little bitterness he retains from that time; nonetheless, he is deeply concerned that the Troubles will flare again once Brexit goes through.
And will report back. In fact, we're staying two nights in Portrush, then one in Belfast.
As to your questions as I understand it, yes, the neighborhoods are still Balkanized in the larger cities (Belfast, Derry, etc.), which they weren't so much before the Troubles started in 1969. And some cities and towns have been one side or the other practically forever. But many rural areas and small towns aren't as much for various reasons.
Case in point: Portrush. It's in Antrim, a heavy Protestant majority county. But the town (of about 6,000) is a quarter Catholic.
On the Troubles, the violence has stopped and the paramilitaries have laid down their arms, thank God and the the Good Friday Agreement, but there are still the stupid marches, bonfires etc. Which we're avoiding like the plague. I purposely scheduled the trip around it, and we're crossing into the north the day after the last march, the Apprentice Boys March in Derry that takes place that takes place this year on August 10. I have absolutely no interest in seeing anything relating to the Troubles, like wall murals and that crap. There are tours of such things. No thank you, it's not to be celebrated.
Would that more people be like the three major-winning golfers from Northern Ireland (McIlroy, McDowell and Clarke) who want no part of the divisions and stay completely out of politics. McIlroy is Catholic, Clarke is Protestant, and McDowell is the Protestant son of a Protestant father and a Catholic mother. And they are all close friends. Clarke in fact was asked yesterday who he thinks is going to win this week. His answer? "Obviously Rory."
Wasn't sure if we had enough yinzers on the board.
I would have been Churchill (Woodland Hills) class of '84. If I am any good at discerning things from handles, I guess you graduated that same year. Do you mind sharing?
Also, IIRC, you've settled in my current hometown.
Jefferson-Morgan. Named for the two townships it serves. 1984.
I have retired to Granger, at least for the foreseeable future.
Emmonak Airport in Alaska is assigned ENM by the FAA and EMK by the IATA
Quad Cities Open still slips out of me from time to time. Old habits of a native are hard to break.
I mean like in the 50's type "one time". There were several tournaments like it around the southern Indiana-Illinois-Kentucky-Ohio area at the time, all played in late summer-early fall so many of the club professionals could get away from their own club jobs to play. Evansville had two good ones, one at Hellfrich the other at Fendrich. Good money for the pros at that time and decent prizes for us amateurs. I only played at Robinson once because we were already in class at ND.
Edit...Forgot, the Robinson Open got PGA Tour status for a few years after it was the mini tour event I referred to.
A bit of trivia, the Heath bar originated in Robinson, IL. It was made by the L.S. Heath Company.
well, they don't play football in SCOTLAND!!"
else it's The Open.
It was the British Open for a very long time. Only since ESPN got the gig, did they start pushing The Open Championship stuff.
Look, we're not idiots here, we know what they are talking about, but we also shouldn't act like calling it the British Open, which we did in this country, and they advertised as much, for decades is some sort of shortcoming or misnomer.
The change back (yes, they changed it back) to The Open Championship is recent, and I believe, driven by ESPN. I know the R&A jumped on the bandwagon in the past few years as well. It's silliness. Check the link, that's from a British newspaper. They called it the British Open themselves going back decades. This notion of purity from them is bullshit. I'm with Cross here. This is all just recent branding nonsense.
And Michigan sucks.
They do have it as "The Open" as noted...but the Women's event is officially..
The AIG Women's British Open. As far as I can tell it's the only R&A sponsored event that uses the designation "British", and includes the name of a title sponsor. Sellout?
on the No Laying Up Podcast this week. When ESPN covered the event, there was never any formal directive of any kind to make it The Open vs. The British Open. He said those on the broadcast and production crews made the simple call to refer to it in the same way that those who put on the tournament do. The R&A called it the Open, so they called it The Open on the air and in advertisements. It may be true that the R&A didn't always call it that themselves, but that's what they do now, so why put up a fight about it?
SVP likened it to how when covering the Masters, the broadcast refers to the fans as "patrons", the rough as "second cut", the first and second nine holes etc. It's simply being deferential to those who organize and put on the event.
I don't get bothered by hearing it either way but I find it dumb to that it matters to many people here in the states. What is so threatening that one has to go out of their way to distinctly specify it as British? Who cares?
made them say stuff they didnt believe all of the time.
Like we should bend the knee to the Crown.
I like the British. So I'll call their tournament something nice like 'The British Open' instead of 'The Limey tourney'. Good enough.
I doubt it will have much impact, given your response.
Which has always done that, versus the recent stridency from the R&A are two different things.
I don't care if people call it The Open, but I'm also totally fine with anyone and everyone who calls it the British Open, as people have since the day I was born (and decades before).
That's my biggest problem with all of this, is the stridency of the R&A to try and cleanse the term British Open from the earth. No matter what they do, guys like Faldo and Monty and others will still call it the British Open. There is absolutely nothing wrong with calling it that.
I call it the British Open myself, but if people want to call it The Open, have at it.
However, I also don't like the all of a sudden, strident demands to scrub the term from all vocabulary, and think it's stupid. So maybe I don't agree with Cross in totality, but I've found the R&A's stridency pretty dumb, when you consider that everyone and their mom, including some of the great British golfers, have and still do call it the British Open.
I'm basically fine if you want to call it either way. But I prefer British Open, and find people trying to push The Open like some of the folks at the R&A, wankers.
they're entitled.
But I’m not going to lose sleep over this.
I mean, even Monty calls it the British Open
Monty's take
Personally, I love Faldo's take on the nonsense:
"The Open Championship is incorrect. It's now The Open," the Englishman said. "You see? It's gone from the British Open, the Open Championship, now it's The Open...In another five years it will be just called 'The.'"
