VISIT IRELAND ENA 2023

The Ryder Cup returns to Ireland in 2027 – and with so many clubs available here, that perfect golf course is waiting to be discovered

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Long view Benbulben mountain overlooking County Sligo Golf Course

shades of green

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Top of its game Frequent Irish Open host Portmarnock boasts a serious world-class pedigree

Big ideas The Jack Nicklaus-designed course at Killeen Castle

Field of dreams The K Club, in Co Kildare, renowned for Europe’s Ryder Cup victory

Snaking down the west coast, the Wild Atlantic Way is the longest coastal touring route in the world and it’s lined with beautiful golf courses. Starting in the northwest, Co Donegal is a remote region with gorgeous bays and beaches and some of the highest cliffs on the island, at Sliabh Liag. There’s a cluster of clubs here that together rate as a knockout golfing package. Cruit Island Golf Club is a delightful nine-hole course and, known as the “Muirfield of Ireland”, Donegal Golf Club on the Murvagh Peninsula features two demanding loops of nine holes. Currently ranked in the Top 25 courses in Ireland by Golf Digest, Portsalon’s exhilarating links weaves through sand dunes and narrow fairways. Set on the Inishowen Peninsula, Rosapenna Golf Club has no less than three top courses – the recently opened St Patrick’s Links leapt straight into Golf Digest’s World Top 100 at 55.

Long, long ago, the east of Ireland was populated by ancient peoples whose past is now shrouded in myth and legend. Just like some players’ scorecards. County Louth Golf Club in the village of Baltray – which offers panoramic views of the Cooley Mountains – dates back to 1892. As with a golf trip anywhere across Ireland, there is as much to be inspired by off the course as on it. Brú na Bóinne, just west of Drogheda, is of huge significance thanks to three ancient neolithic passage tombs at Knowth, Newgrange and Dowth that are older than the pyramids. Regarded as one of the finest contemporary links anywhere, The European Club is situated on Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow. Opened in 1993, the Pat Ruddy-designed course features rugged dunes and marshland. The seventh hole is consistently rated among the Top 100 holes in the world.

Ireland’s midland counties are distinguished by lush countryside, sparkling rivers, loughs, waterfalls, forests and rolling hills. Life moves at its own pace and the welcome is as warm as ever. Starting close to the border, you’ll find Concra Wood Golf Club. Slieve Russell, in Co Cavan, is a hotel and country club with a tough championship parkland course set among 300 acres of lakes and drumlins. Don’t miss the fairytale Clough Oughter Castle, on an island in the middle of nearby Lough Oughter. In Co Westmeath, Glasson Golf Club sits almost right at the centre of Ireland. Designed by Irish golfing legend Christy O’Connor Jr, the first nine holes of the internationally recognised championship parkland course overlook Lough Ree, the latter nine, Killinure Bay. Off the course, you can paddleboard, swim or fish on the lough or take a walk in Portlick Millennium Forest.

It’s fair to say that Ireland’s parkland courses are overshadowed by its vast array of links but many are world-class. Built in 1991, The K Club has gone down in golf folklore as the scene of Europe’s triumphant 2006 Ryder Cup romp. There’s a five-star hotel and two excellent parkland courses including the huge American-style Palmer North with the River Liffey regularly – and perilously – in play. Contrasting the old with the new, and also within easy reach of Dublin, the 15th-century Luttrellstown Castle has a superb, manicured 18-hole championship golf course set within a walled estate. Carton House is a luxury resort set in 1,100 acres of private parkland in Co Kildare with a brace of championship courses. The traditional Montgomerie has hosted three Irish Opens and is noted for the depth of its bunkers; the dynamic O’Meara has its own Amen Corner.

Encircled by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea, Ireland’s spectacular coastline boasts many magnificent golf courses including a third of the true links that exist worldwide. On the Atlantic coast, the remote and wild Lahinch Golf Club is one of those courses that regularly tops players’ bucket lists. Currently ranked at 33 in the Golf Digest Top 100 courses in the world, it’s distinguished by its towering sand dunes, undulating fairways, rolling greens and plenty of blind shots. Nearby, the Cliffs of Moher offer stunning views across to the Aran Islands on a clear day.

The Wild Atlantic Way

Find out more at ireland.com/golf

Grand view The luxury Carton House resort in Kildare

Wood drive Portumna Golf Club’s forested course

Beautiful start Sunrise over the Royal Dublin Golf Club’s 12th green

Presidential address 1893 Ballybunion Golf Club, Co Kerry, home to Bill Clinton’s favourite course

Further south in Co Kerry, the historic 1893 Ballybunion Golf Club is set on a rocky headland of sea stacks and caves overlooked by Ballybunion Castle. Famed as Bill Clinton’s favourite club – there’s a statue of him in the village – the Old Course is notable for more monolithic dunes. The world-class course at Portmarnock Golf Club is set on a two-mile-long peninsula that cleverly weaves a serpentine route of two loops of nine, with the last five such a serious test of technique the course has hosted the Irish Open Championship 19 times. A distinctive links course set on a spur of land with the sea on three sides, the Island Golf Club, ten miles northeast of Dublin, has large dunes that form natural amphitheatres to many holes. A 2016 overhaul to the front nine modernised the course for a new generation of players. Situated on Bull Island in Dublin Bay, Royal Dublin Golf Club is a historic links course dating to 1889, now with a contemporary layout. The terrain is flat but the fairways narrow with lengthy stretches of out-of-bounds and some crevasse-like bunkers.

Ireland benefits from quick and easy access from Great Britain with plenty of air and sea routes to choose from. What’s more, the continuation of the Common Travel Area means British and Irish citizens can travel between the two islands without a passport or visa restrictions, subject to ID requirements from the travel provider. See ireland.com for more details.

Designed by Jack Nicklaus, Killeen Castle is another vast championship parkland course set among 350 acres of lush woodland and numerous ponds, and noted for its long, undulating fairways and quick greens. Set among 180 acres of rolling countryside with an elegant 18th-century manor home as a club house, the highly rated parkland course at Mount Juliet hosted the Irish Open in 2022. Nearby, in the charming medieval town of Kilkenny, take in the Smithwick’s Experience, where you can tour the 300-year-old brewery. Located in Killarney National Park, Killarney Golf and Fishing Club has hosted the Irish Open six times and has two of the most beautiful parkland courses: Mahony’s Point is overlooked by the McGillicuddy Reeks, Ireland’s tallest mountain range, while the Killeen, located on the shore of Lough Leane, sees water in play at every hole.

Golfing heart Glasson Golf Club lies almost at the centre of Ireland

Country life Slieve Russell in Co Cavan is set in 300 acres of parkland

A few miles southeast of Athlone at the foot of Lough Ree, Esker Hills Golf Club is the home of 2019 Open winner Shane Lowry. It’s a challenging inland course full of lakes, sweeping valleys and natural sandhills given a links theme by designer O’Connor Jr. South towards Co Limerick, the handsome championship course at Portumna Golf Club flows through the heart of Portumna Forest Park, where the River Shannon enters Lough Derg. Birr Castle Demesne, ten miles east in Offaly, is an award-winning garden and historic astronomical centre with its Great Telescope dating back to 1845.

County Sligo Golf Club

Arklow Golf Club in Wicklow might lack the profile of bigger names but has plenty to recommend it. Its traditional but compact course is tightly routed with meandering fairways and fine views of the Irish Sea and the Wicklow Mountains in the distance, and seven holes feature devilish water hazards. Overlooking Wexford Harbour to the west and the Irish Sea to the east, Rosslare Golf Course is home to two challenging and unique golf courses with the championship Old Course using the land’s natural contours and coastal dunes to shape each hole. There are many more fine golfing highlights to try nearby, including Woodenbridge Golf Club, Mount Wolseley Hotel Spa and Golf Resort, and Bunclody Golf and Fishing Club. Just west, 13th-century Kilkenny Castle is the jewel in the crown of a medieval town on the River Nore, and for any whiskey lovers, it’s worth venturing just a little further, to the Jameson Distillery in Midleton.

Co Sligo was the setting of the play The Land of Heart’s Desire, by the poet and dramatist W B Yeats, who is buried at nearby Drumcliffe Church. Co Sligo Golf Club at Rosses Point has grand views of Benbulben and Sligo Bay as the backdrop to its challenging course full of dramatic undulations, elevated tees and raised greens. To Sligo’s west, there is Strandhill Golf Club and Enniscrone Golf Club’s course, which takes you through enormous dunes, making it as demanding as any links you’ll find in Ireland. With views over to Bartragh Island and Moyne Abbey, it’s also one of the most scenic. Or try Carne Golf Club’s brace of splendid, serene courses on the wild, remote Mullet Peninsula and take a trip to beautiful Achill Island where Bafta Award-winning The Banshees of Inisherin was filmed. Heading south, plan an R&R stopover in picturesque Westport, where the pubs are steeped in history and the hotels offer luxurious spa treatments. Then on to the southwest corner of Co Kerry, where the remote Waterville Golf Club offers golfers an almost mystical experience among the estuary waters at Ballinskelligs Bay. For an exhilarating, vertiginous experience, with some tees perched on exposed cliffs 300ft above the sea, Old Head Golf Links, in Kinsale, is located on a headland in Cork that juts out more than two miles into the Atlantic. Wild, indeed.

Muirfield of Ireland Donegal Golf Club's demanding loops

Mystical experience Waterville Golf Club on Ballinskelligs Bay

f you were to remake the 1989 Kevin Costner classic Field of Dreams and set it in Ireland it would have to be a golfing movie, retitled Green of Dreams. The game is a national obsession: add new courses and they will come – from Great Britain, Europe, America and beyond. The verdant isle is a magnet for anyone who loves the sport. Named Europe’s best golf destination at the 2020 World Golf Awards, the Republic of Ireland can lay claim to over 300 golf clubs, including a third of the world’s natural links courses. Plus more lush parkland courses and elegant resorts that attract around 250,000 players each year.

From wannabe Shane Lowrys to the weekend swingers, the courses cater to everyone. Golf aside, there’s also glorious countryside, beautiful, craggy coastlines, a rich heritage and a host of welcoming towns and cities – not to mention the craic. There’s a long history of golf in these parts. The Royal Curragh Golf Club in Co Kildare was founded in 1858. Later, golfers were courted by the railways with cheaper fares to the clubs that were springing up in all four corners of the island, such as Dooks in Co Kerry, founded in 1889. Today Ireland is a world-leading destination for golf and is home to dozens of four and five-star resorts. Amateur players in search of a top quality course with exceptional facilities at the end of a round or two are spoilt for choice.

For example, there’s Adare Manor, an elite course set around a 19th-century manor house in Limerick that will be hosting the 2027 Ryder Cup. Dromoland Castle Golf & Country Club, in Co Clare, is a championship course with a 16th-century castle at its heart. While Rosapenna Golf Resort is a luxury four-star hotel located on an idyllic peninsula in Donegal. Rosapenna has been run by the Casey family since 1981. Asked to define what it is that makes Ireland such a fertile place for the game, John Casey, who runs the resort and its three courses with his brother Frank Jr, has little doubt. “We’re blessed with a near perfect landscape on the northwest corner of Europe and a climate that lends itself to a style of golf that people just love,” he says.

“Here at Rosapenna, you’re playing through the dunes on the edge of the North Atlantic, looking at the mountains and the hills on one side and the bay on the other. I’ve grown up here all my life and I still look on it with awe, so I can only imagine what it’s like for folk that live in cities or miles from the coast when they first come.” Yet that only explains part of the appeal. For Casey, it’s also about an experience that only Ireland can offer. “Today, you can build golf courses pretty much anywhere in the world with modern engineering. And some offer fantastic challenges. But when you come to Ireland, we have a culture and a heritage that is special,” he says. “Our hotel has been here since 1893. The Olde Glen Bar down in the village where guests can go for a drink or a bite to eat is 250 years old. The Harbour Bar in Downings is well over a century old. That’s something that can’t be recreated. And that holds true all over Ireland. There’s a tradition of welcoming people that’s unique.” Rosapenna now boasts 62 bedrooms, a spa, pool and three links, the most recent of which, St Patrick’s, went straight into the Golf Digest World Top 100 courses. And yet that quality of the resort’s courses is matched by two clubs just around the Inishowen Peninsula: Portsalon and Ballyliffin – you have an incredible golf tour right there.

“I always say to people, base yourself in one place, enjoy the local hospitality, get to know a place and its people, then radiate out and pick a few different courses. You’ll enjoy it much more than packing up your toothbrush and clubs every day,” says Casey. Co Donegal’s riches are mirrored all over the island in regions that combine stunning scenery and world-class courses. They can be found running all the way down the west coast along the Wild Atlantic Way at courses such as Ballybunion and Lahinch, in the picturesque heartlands at Slieve Russell, Glasson and Roscommon, or in Ireland’s Ancient East at legendary venues such as Druids Glen, The European and Rosslare. And for those concerned by Ireland’s reputation for a drop of rain, the constantly fluctuating elements are part of the experience, especially at those exhilarating links courses. Besides, as they say here, if you don’t like the weather, just wait ten minutes.

Ireland’s Ancient East

Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands

Parkland courses

Links courses

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Monumental course Tee off amid ancient history at Ballyliffin Golf Club, Co Donegal

Three for a round John, left, and Frank Casey Jr of Rosapenna, with a bronze of the legendary Old Tom Morris

Fit for champions Adare Manor, Co Limerick, is due to host the 2027 Ryder Cup

Hole in one Diners enjoying a pitstop at Fisk Seafood Bar in Downings

Green and gold Donegal’s spectacular beaches make for a grand backdrop to a day’s play

When you come to Ireland, we have a culture and a heritage that is special

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Some tees are perched on cliffs 300ft above the sea

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IRELAND’S ANCIENT EAST

Links courses

PARKLAND COURSES

IRELAND’S HIDDEN HEARTLANDS

THE WILD ATLANTIC WAY

The Wild Atlantic Way

Snaking down the west coast, the Wild Atlantic Way is the longest coastal touring route in the world and it’s lined with beautiful golf courses.

IRELAND’S HIDDEN HEARTLANDS

Ireland’s midland counties are distinguished by lush countryside, sparkling rivers, loughs, waterfalls, forests and rolling hills. Life moves at its own pace and the welcome is as warm as ever.

IRELAND’S ANCIENT EAST

Long, long ago, the east of Ireland was populated by ancient peoples whose past is now shrouded in myth and legend. Just like some players’ scorecards.

Links courses

Encircled by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea, Ireland’s spectacular coastline boasts many magnificent golf courses including a third of the true links that exist worldwide.

Parkland courses

It’s fair to say that Ireland’s parkland courses are overshadowed by its vast array of links but many are world-class.

Whiskey lovers can venture to the Jameson Distillery

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The club house is an elegant 18th-century manor home

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Don’t miss the fairytale Clough Oughter Castle

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Large dunes form natural amphitheatres to many holes

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Modern master The European Club in Co Wicklow

Rock and stroll An ancient dolmen watches over the course at County Louth Golf Club

Ireland’s greens are waiting – just swing by

Leona Maguire on Ireland’s unique golfing charm

Competitive advantage Mount Juliet, host of the 2022 Irish Open

Parkland courses

IRELAND'S HIDDEN HEARTLANDS

THE WILD ATLANTIC WAY

IRELAND'S ANCIENT EAST

LINKS COURSES

ILLUSTRATION: ELEN WINATA FOR NEWS UK

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