Royal County Down doesn't need an introduction if you've spent any time around golf media, but Fore Play gave it one anyway. The crew rolled into Newcastle, Northern Ireland to tee it up at the links course that's been parked atop Golf Digest's World's 100 Greatest Golf Courses ranking for 6 straight editions running. That's not a hot take, that's the actual consensus pick from the people who rank this stuff for a living.
The pod hyped the stream before a single ball was struck.
Fore Play built its whole identity around the idea that golf hits different when the scenery is absurd, and Royal County Down might be the most absurd backdrop they've ever filmed. Dunes, gorse, a stone seawall, the Mountains of Mourne looming over every tee box, that's the sales pitch for Irish links golf in one frame. This is part of their International Travel Series presented by Adidas, the same partnership that's had the crew everywhere from Adidas Golf HQ to now the actual cathedral of the sport.
Drone footage of the coastline and dunes opened the full video release.
The drone shots do the heavy lifting for a course like this, because photos genuinely undersell it. Royal County Down dates back to 1889 and has hosted its share of championship golf, but its reputation isn't built on tournament history so much as the raw terrain, blind tee shots over dune ridges, bunkers that look like they were carved by the wind itself, and a routing that never lets you forget you're playing golf a few hundred yards from the Irish Sea.
Once the actual golf started, the content did what Fore Play content does best. Frankie and Francis both made birdies on the first hole, and naturally the group had jokes ready to go about the Adidas gear getting the credit.
Frankie and Francis celebrated birdies on the opening hole, with the crew joking the sweaters deserved the assist.
"Must be the sweater" is exactly the kind of bit Fore Play's built a media empire on, half sponsor plug, half genuine chirping between guys who've clearly played a lot of golf together. It works because nobody's pretending it's serious analysis. It's a walk-and-talk podcast that happens to be standing on the best piece of golf real estate on Earth, and the tone matches that.
The full video is out now, and for a podcast that's made bucket-list golf trips its whole brand, this one hits different than the usual stops. There's a difference between playing a nice resort course and playing the actual No. 1 in the world, and the reaction from the crew throughout makes clear they knew which one they were standing on.