Skipper Robertson wants Lahinch to blow up a Walker Cup storm
Ian Poulter, father of Luke Poulter, with Dean Robertson, Captain of Team GB&I during a practice round prior to the Walker Cup at Lahinch Golf Club on September 03, 2026 in Lahinch, County Clare. Pic: Oisin Keniry/R&A/R&A via Getty Images
As the wind gusted through the Old Course and the temporary buildings erected for this Walker Cup weekend creaked, rattled and groaned on the eve of this match-up between Great Britain & Ireland and the USA, the reality hit home that Lahinch itself will be just as much a player in this Walker Cup.
For GB&I captain Dean Robertson, whose side will tee off on Saturday for the morning’s opening session of alternate-shot foursomes as heavy underdogs against terrifyingly strong adversaries, the unpredictable weather on the Co. Clare coast was as welcome as the prospect of a heavily partisan and sell-out home crowd.
The winds which demanded conservatism in terms of practice holes played on Thursday were not forecast to be as strong over the two days and four sessions of matchplay competition, but there will be rain and all are being encouraged by the Scotsman as he attempts to deliver a first GB&I victory since 2015 and stop a sixth American victory in a row.
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“In terms of the weather and the wind, am I happy about it? I'm very happy about it,” Robertson said.
“I think when you come to Lahinch, you're always going to expect it to be blowing. Getting here in July for the South was fantastic, and they had unusual winds blowing there that came from the north, which we haven't seen.
“But the wind is going to change tomorrow and it's going to come from the south, and that's not a wind that we have seen at any time during the South or during the practice this week. That's going to bring entire new challenges.”
Those fresh demands, it is hoped, will serve as a leveller between the two teams with the USA fielding a 10-man team all ranked inside the World Amateur Golf Ranking’s top 25 while GB&I’s positional WAGR average is 40.1. Yet Robertson also knows the Lahinch layout conceived by nature, laid out by Old Tom Morris in 1894 and polished by the great Alister MacKenzie in 1927, needs no tinkering to make it the stiffest prospect imaginable for these elite amateurs.
“I requested for the golf course to play naturally as it would be. You don't have to do anything to Lahinch. It's an absolute masterpiece.
“In terms of the green speeds, I think the conditions are dictating exactly what the green speeds are going to be. If the rain can subside and the wind lessen a little bit, it would probably be best for the event itself, but walking down even this morning, walking down the last few fairways there with Raymond and referring to our careers and the experiences we've had over the years of playing in Open Championships, this is just really special.
“The Walker Cup is, I can't tell you how proud I am to be leading these players. It's exciting for everyone. It's going to be exciting for the fans. It's going to be a great spectacle across the world. There's truly going to be times that the boys from both teams are going to look back on and cherish forever, but it's going to be fiercely competitive over the weekend.
“We are well-prepared but excited, and we're ready to put our best foot forward.” Such was GB&I’s level of readiness they could afford to play just one hole of practice on Friday as the wind howled ahead of the late afternoon Walker Cup opening ceremony.
“I think last night (Thursday) after the Walker Cup dinner, we were already in the mindset to go from yesterday,” Robertson explained.
“So today has really been about staying as relaxed as possible, and then this evening after the opening ceremony, everything is going to get real when the foursomes are announced, and then we're going to congregate in the team room.
“We'll keep it fairly relaxed, and I'll have a few words to say to the team but nothing that I haven't already said before.”
His USA counterpart, three-time former Walker Cup player Nathan Smith, feels equally confident in his team, spearheaded by world number one Preston Stout and featuring six other top-10 ranked golfers. The skipper, who bested Robertson and GB&I 17-9 at Cypress Point 12 months ago by winning the Sunday singles session 8.5-1.5, believes he has 10 team-mates ready to stand up and face both the conditions and crowd.
“When you go on the road, there will be a great crowd out there for GB&I, and I think that it's pretty much, we feel that it's kind of the guys in the room,” Smith said.
“We've got to get it done… to me it's probably one of the closest teams I've ever seen because you're kind of forged that way with the travel, maybe with the crowds, maybe just going through everything together, rather than if you're home and you all kind of show up there and do it… you almost feel like at times it's you guys versus a little bit of the world.
“It's a very close team, and we'll need that this weekend to hang with them because they're a really deep team, and the crowd is going to be rocking.”
With the 30-foot dune known as Klondyke Hill stretching across the middle of the fairway, 340 yards from the tee, most second shots from the wrong side of the green are as blind as the first. Unless you’re Team USA’s world number one-ranked Preston Stout, who simply drove over the top of the dune during practice this week. And there is the strategic decision, early in the match: go for it and potentially steal a march with a second shot onto the green of this unique par-5, or keep one’s powder dry for the many challenges ahead.
Another “do you feel lucky, punk?” hole off the tee to a slinky fairway which bends left and tapers at 310 yards. Most hit right, to the high side of the hole, 290-300yds leave around a 120-yd approach. Braver souls take a bigger tee shot, 325yds over a dune on the inside corner for a considerably shorter approach.
The big decisions keep appearing at Lahinch and another presents itself here on the back nine. Play it safe off the tee and aim for the widest point of the fairway at 270yds for a pitch shot from 70yds to the hole, or take on the green at 310yds and dally with two fairway bunkers, risking the outcome of the matchplay hole.
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