EXPERIENCE NORTHERN IRELAND

There is always lively discussion about which golf course is better than another, but none is more passionate than the debate over the relative merits of Royal County Down and Royal Portrush. Having said that, Royal County Down is ranked number 1 in the World Rankings of golf courses by Golf Digest, so perhaps it wins by a nose.

Royal County Down Golf Club is at Newcastle, a small vacation town nestled at the feet of the Mountains of Mourne. It’s a visually exhilarating location for a classic links golf course where the Bay of Dundrum sweeps out into the Irish Sea and where the mighty peak of Slieve Donard (3,000 ft.) casts its shadow over the golf course and town.

A Scottish schoolteacher originally laid out the first nine holes at Royal County Down and they opened for play in 1889. Later that year, Old Tom Morris extended the course and 18 holes were ready for play in 1890. Harry Vardon modified the course in 1908, the same year King Edward VII bestowed royal patronage on the club. In 1926 Harry Colt was commissioned to make further alterations to the course which included addressing the gathering nature of the original greens and reducing the number of blind drives.

However, Old Tom Morris deserves most of the credit for the layout, as his routing took full advantage of the piece of ground he was handed. The sand dunes are rugged but beautifully clad in purple heather and yellow gorse, the fairways are naturally undulating, shaped by the hands of time. The greens are small and full of wicked undulations.

Measuring nearly 7,200 yards from the back tees, Royal County Down can be a brute. It’s a mystery that this fantastic course, with one of the finest outward nine holes in golf, has never hosted an Open. Factor in the ever-changing wind and you have as stern a test as any Open Championship venue.

The 4th and 9th holes are both universally admired. The 4th must be one of the most scenic long par threes in golf described as follows by one commentator: “Innumerable gorse bushes, ten bunkers, three mountain peaks, and one spire equal the most magnificent view in British golf”. The 9th, a long par four, is perhaps one of the world’s most photographed holes, the line from the elevated tee is directly at the Slieve Donard peak and the sweeping fairway lies eighty feet below the tee.

If a measure of a great golf course is the number of holes that you can remember, then Royal County Down is one of the greatest courses of them all.

Royal Portrush is a classic seaside links, located in a breathtaking setting on the north Antrim coastline, blessed with magnificent ocean views. On a clear day (from the 3rd tee) you can see the Paps of Jura and the island of Islay.

In 2014 it was confirmed that Royal Portrush will return to the Open Championship Rota in 2019. Royal Portrush is ruggedly beautiful and has one of the most dramatic entranceways to any course in the world. As you wind your way towards the course along the coastal road, the crumpled, undulating links land suddenly appears in front of you, flags fluttering in the breeze, views of the challenge that awaits in plain sight.

Since its founding in 1888, Royal Portrush Golf Club has undergone multiple transformations. It was originally a 9-hole course, known as the County Club. In 1889 it was extended to 18 holes. In 1892, its’ name changed to the Royal County Club, with the Duke of York as patron. In 1895, the Prince of Wales came along and the name was changed to Royal Portrush.

The Championship course, called The Dunluce Links, is named after the ruined Dunluce castle that overlooks the course. It was the venue for the first professional golf tournament in Ireland in 1895. The Open Championship has been held outside of Scotland and England only once; that occasion was at Royal Portrush in 1951 when Max Faulkner triumphed.

In preparation for the return of the Open in 2019, architects Mackenzie & Ebert proposed a number of changes to the course, the most significant of which is the replacement of holes 17 and 18 with two dramatic and challenging new holes, located where the current 5th and 6th holes lie on the second course, The Valley Golf Club. Although a master challenge for the tour professionals, Royal Portrush, from the proper set of tees, is fun, charming and fair for all golfer skill levels.

The Valley Links, as the name suggests, lies between the East Strand and the higher ground of Dunluce Links, and is the traditional home course of Royal Portrush Ladies Branch, and Rathmore Golf Club whose members live in the Portrush area. It is an outstanding links originally designed by the famed Harry Colt, and which has also undergone major changes under architect Martin Ebert’s supervision.

Valley Links unfurls in the bottom of a bowl of dunes. Its more mundane holes march parallel to one another – in opposite directions - with a few notable and interesting exceptions along the way (specifically nos. 5, 7, 8). It's the new heroic shots coming that sends players home feeling satisfied. The new 171-yard 15th hole plays off an elevated tee into a heavy breeze. The 16th hole, the old no. 17, stretched from a par 4 into a 493-yard, dogleg par 5. Another new par 3, the 194-yarder at no. 17, incorporated a green from the Skerries pitch-and-putt course that just happened to be one of the original greens dating to the club’s earliest days. The finale is 333 yards of downwind fun. The elevated tee, overlooking the Irish Sea, feels like a launching pad with the gale at your back. Driving the green isn’t just a possibility. It should be the expectation.

Even though this course tends to be overshadowed by The Dunluce Links, the Valley has been critically acclaimed by visitors and golf writers from across the world. They hold the belief that no visit to Royal Portrush is complete without playing the Valley Links as well.

Ballyliffin Golf Club consists of two outstanding, contrasting links courses and 36 wonderful holes, making up one of the finest golf resorts to be found anywhere in the world. The expansive panoramic views of countryside, coastline and ocean afforded by these magnificent links courses will not easily be forgotten.

Ballyliffin is Ireland’s most northerly golf club, located off Tullagh Point on the Atlantic edge of the Inishowen Peninsula. It’s difficult to pin a date on the earliest origins of the game of golf at Ballyliffin, but it is clear that the Ballyliffin Golf Club was founded in 1947. The Glashedy Links is much younger, having been built and opened in 1995 to relieve pressure on the busy Old course. Pat Ruddy and Tom Craddock were commissioned to design Glashedy Links on the finest links land they had ever seen. The name is derived from Glashedy Rock, Ballyliffin’s equivalent of Turnberry’s Ailsa Craig.

Ballyliffin is often described as “the Ballybunion of the North” or “the Dornoch of Ireland” and the reason is simple; all the aforementioned are set amidst towering natural sand dunes. These two courses are no exception, except that the Glashedy links has actually been flattened somewhat to ensure that the fairways are relatively even and capable of hosting a premier championship... there's a parallel here to the fairways of Royal Birkdale. Playing these 36 holes will be one of the most enjoyable golfing days you probably will ever experience.

Golfers have been travelling to Rosapenna since the late 19th century when the Old Tom Morris Links was ranked 3rd in the British Isles behind only The Old Course at St.Andrews and The Royal County Down Golf Club. With the addition of the hotel soon after the Old Tom Morris Links opened in 1893, Rosapenna is the true first golf resort in the world.

Back at St. Andrews, Old Tom was quick to tell of his discovery and so it was that Rosapenna became a place of pilgrimage for golfers at the turn of the century. Amongst those to follow were two other great golfing champions, Harry Vardon and James Braid (in 1906) who won 11 Open Championship titles between them. They added length and more detailed bunkering but were wise enough to leave those wonderful natural greens untouched. Further changes were made by the great Harry Colt of Sunningdale in 1911.

The Sandy Hills Links at Rosapenna opened for play in June 2003 and has matured into one of Ireland’s finest modern links courses. Where Old Tom settled for a course alongside the dunes, Pat Ruddy has gone straight through them from start to finish and created an awesome course that will test any golfer, yet somehow still seduce those that cannot live with it. Each hole is spectacular and the views across the Old Tom Morris Links toward the beautiful Sheephaven Bay will salve any wounds inflicted by this incredible golf course.

Sandy Hills is in many ways the ideal of a modern links. Intended for the serious golfer, its narrow fairways appear constricting from the tee, but the landing areas sculpted from the dunes are deceptively wide. Above all, the appeal of Sandy Hills lies in its beautifully balanced routing through the high dunes cloaked in marram grass. These sandhills bear a striking resemblance to the ones near the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland that form the spine of Royal Portrush, Portstewart and Castlerock. Many of the holes feature elevated tees and greens, with drives into natural bowls on the dune floor.

Both the Old Tom Morris Links and Sandy Hills Links are ranked in the Top 50 of Golf Digest Ireland’s Top 100 Courses. The Sandy Hills Links was ranked No. 11 in Golf Worlds Top 100 courses in Ireland List 2015.

Portstewart Golf Club was founded in 1894, but the origins of golf being played here date back even further to 1889. The Strand course is a bit of a hybrid, a mix of the old and the new. Major development took place in the late 1980s when the layout was updated and seven new holes were constructed in the virgin sand dune range called “Thistly Hollow”. The new Strand course, designed by Des Giffin, opened for play in 1992.

The Strand course is exhilarating golf course, set amidst imposing, gigantic sand dunes with panoramic views across the Atlantic to the Inishowen peninsula beyond. It is also incredibly challenging, with one of the best opening nine holes in golf.

The front nine is carved out of some the largest dunes you will have ever seen. Each hole is a spectacular experience through an amphitheater of sand. The dunes frame the holes beautifully and consistently dare you to hit heroic shots. The 1st is an absolute stunner, a downhill 425-yard par four through the dunes. And the stunning holes keep coming... especially memorable are two of the new par threes, the 3rd and the 6th. The 3rd measures 207 yards, while the 6th, measures a mere 140 yards with a plateau green.

The back nine is flatter without the dunes and meanders down the river, offering some great holes, with the 11th and new look 14th both worth a mention.

A golfing trip to Northern Ireland would not be complete without a round at Portstewart on the Strand course. The members here are very warm and welcoming and if you add this course to your rounds at Royal Portrush and Royal County Down, you will have played three of the world’s finest links courses.

Royal Belfast Golf Club is one of only a handful in Ireland to have ‘Royal’ prefix their name – the others are Royal Portrush, Royal County Down, Royal Dublin, Royal Curragh and Royal Tara. Royal Belfast Golf Club was formed in 1881 and was one of nine Ulster clubs who founded the Golf Union of Ireland in 1891.

Members first played on an 18-hole course at Kinnegar, Holywood in 1882 but within 10 years the course became so busy, and the land was being used as a rifle range, that they moved to Carnalea near Bangor, this time playing on a 9-hole course. In 1925, the club finally relocated to its present 140-acre site on the south shore of Belfast Lough at Craigavad, Holywood where the views across the water to the Antrim hills are magnificent.

Heritage and tradition are bywords at Royal Belfast Golf Club. The magnificent former manor house that is their clubhouse has golfing memorabilia tucked in corners everywhere – from an Old Tom Morris driver to an original scarlet golfing coat worn by a founding member, and the club is extremely proud of their position as the oldest club in Ireland.

The Royal Belfast course was designed by Harry Colt, one of the leading golf course architects of his day. Assisted by W.A. Murray, Colt routed the holes over rolling parkland but kept it within view of the vast expanse of water just off its’ shores. Stands of trees, lush fairways, gentle elevation changes and intelligent bunkering all combine to make the course an absolute charm to play. Holes 9 to 11 are directly on the shoreline and are particular favorites of the members.

Castlerock is a seaside village, located on the Irsh Causeway Coast. The course lies at the mouth of the River Bann, where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. On a clear day, the Isle of Islay is visible to the north, and to the west, the rolling hills of Donegal.

Castlerock Golf Club was founded in 1901, originally as a nine-hole layout. The famous Scottish club maker, Ben Sayers, extended the course to 18 holes in 1908. In 1925, Harry Colt made further modifications. Living in the shadow of its famous neighbors, Portstewart and Royal Portrush, Castlerock Golf Club is every bit as good, and should not disappoint. This is one of the toughest links courses around, with some fantastic holes. Play close to your handicap and you are doing exceptionally well.

The wind is a huge factor and when it blows, it wll no doubt affect scoring. So much so, that in 2001, during the Ireland PGA International at Castlerock, Paul McGinley registered the course record of 64 on a calm day. The previous day, when the wind was up, the eventual winner Des Smyth, was the only player to score better than par.

The entire course lies squarely between the railway line and the river and sea. Many holes meander through inviting dunes, but equally many occupy less rolling ground inland.

Castlerock also has a 9-hole course called the Bann which is routed through majestic sand dunes. The layout is similar to the main Mussenden course, and the par five 5th is considered to be one of the most scenic holes in Irish golf. We recommend 27 holes when you visit to take advantage of all the Castlerock has to offer.

Ardglass Golf Club is, quite simply, one of the most spectacular courses on the Irish coastline, with dramatic elevation changes offering views of the Irish Sea from every hole along the cliffs to a craggy headland then back again.

Ardglass was formed in 1896 when members fashioned a 7-hole course, very soon after extending it to 9-holes. It wasn’t until 1970 that the course was extended to its’ current 18-hole layout.

Shortly after the club’s Centenary in 1996, a decision was made to remove three holes, the back-to-back par five 5th and 6th, along with the short 17th, and replace them with three exciting new holes at the furthest point from the clubhouse, creating a wonderful new and dramatic loop of holes.

Six holes are authentic undulating linksland, the other dozen are meadows and parkland. But virtually the entire eighteen is routed over high ground, with views across the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man, down over Coney Island Bay, and south to the Mountains of Mourne.

The signature hole on the course is played early – the 167-yard par three 2nd, called “Howd’s Hole” where the tee shot is played across a rocky inlet to a seemingly small, distant putting surface. Another thrilling par three is the 12th, called “Cathlin” which is played from an elevated tee way above the green located 198 yards away on the edge of the rocky headland.

The clubhouse is historic and special as well. A 14th century castle that was once the home of the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Kildare. It now stands as the oldest golf clubhouse in use in the world.

Ballycastle Golf Club was formed in 1890 and is one of nine founding members of the Golf Union of Ireland. The course was updated in 1906 and extended to 18 holes twenty years after that.

Every June, there is a major four round amateur golf competition held on the Irish Antrim coast. Competitors play Castlerock, the Strand at Portstewart, Portrush and Ballycastle. The club is justifiably proud of their involvement in this prestigious tournament and proud to be in such great company as the other courses that are played.

Measuring 5,876 yards, it is regarded by some as a quirky course with many changes in elevation. Quirky it may be but Ballycastle is never uninteresting! The first five holes are played on parkland beside the Margy River and the ruins of the Bonamargy Abbey. The remaining holes are laid out along the coast, holes 11 to 17 run up one side of a cliff, along the top, then back down the other side.

Views across to Rathlin Island, and the Mull of Kintyre on a good day, are simply sensational and are an important factor in the golfing experience at Ballycastle. The stunning view from the tee of the par 3 17th, with the green lying over 100 feet below, is one of dozens you’ll experience as you play Ballycastle. Enjoy!