Royal Portrush Golf Club in County Antrim, Northern Ireland is the only golf club outside of Great Britain which has hosted The Open Championship, the oldest of golf’s major championships. It is considered a highly testing course, with a particularly scenic setting. The Dunluce Links course is rated number 4 of “The 100 greatest courses in the British Isles”, Golf World 11/96. It was ranked number 12 in the world in Golf Magazine’s biennial rankings of the Top 100 Courses in the World, often considered the gold standard of course rankings. Additionally Golf Digest ranks it as the third best course outside the United States.

Situated on the beautiful North Antrim Causeway Coast, Royal Portrush occupies a triangle of giant sandhills with views of the hills of Donegal in the west, the Isle of Islay and Southern Hebrides in the north, with the Giant’s Causeway and the Skerries in the east. The course is overlooked by the ruins of 13th century Dunluce Castle and this gives its name to Royal Portrush’s famous Dunluce course.

This beautifully natural golf course is one for enthusiasts of the game but it is a difficult challenge for high handicappers and anyone who is liable to stray of the straight and narrow. From June or July on the rough is well named and discretion rather bravery should be your watchword. Highlights of the course include the famous 14th, Calamity Corner[2], a Par 3 in excess of 200yds requiring a full carry to the green over an imposing ravine.

The club was founded in 1888 as “The County Club” it became “The Royal County Club” in 1892 under the patronage of the Duke of York and assumed its present name in 1895 under the patronage of the Prince of Wales. In 1947 a club member Fred Daly, became the first Irishman to win The Open Championship until Pádraig Harrington’s victory at Carnoustie in 2007. Four years later, when the club hosted the Open, the victor was the Englishman Max Faulkner. More recently the course has hosted the Senior British Open Championship in 1995-99 and 2004.

It has an agreement with a second club, Rathmore Golf Club, when members of Portrush can play the Rathmore course, “the Valley”, at any time and members of Rathmore may play the Dunluce course at any time.

There is also a driving range, open to members only, where the club professional Gary McNeil and his assistants give lessons.

There’s an old Irish adage that states ‘an ounce of breeding is worth a pound of feeding’ — in essence it translates to mean that thoroughbreds are born not made, pedigree can only be refined it can not be created. And so it is with golf — great golf courses, great golf holes are born from a fusion of natural forces, refined only by the subtle hand of an Arnold Palmer or a Tom Morris. Nowhere has golfing pedigree like Ireland and nowhere can the task of picking a signature 18 be more challenging.

While our selection displays a penchant for links golf — in the land of Ballybunion & Lahinch, Portmarnock & Royal County Down we feel more than justified in our selection.

Hole No. 1 (Doonbeg) – As you approach the first on this Greg Norman creation your eyes begin to wander. As you look seaward, one and a half miles of crescent shaped beach acts as a fitting backdrop to the imposing maran grass dunes. The first fairway runs gently from the tee — an accurate drive will set you up for the second which has to avoid some fairway traps before playing into the large green protected on all three sides by monumental dunes. (Click here to read the article in full)

Since 2000, Carton has undergone a rebirth as a premier golf resort and hotel. The house was extensively restored and preserved, with the adjoining hotel hidden into the local wooded landscape to maintain the original aspect of the main house. Carton’s famed historic parkland was largely preserved with the addition of two golf courses designed by Mark O’Meara and Colin Montgomerie.

The Montgomerie course was recently ranked 10th in Ireland by Golf Digest magazine, the world’s largest golf publication. As a mark of its success, Carton House Golf Club was the venue chosen to host the European Tour’s Nissan Irish Open in 2005 and 2006.

The Golfing Union of Ireland, the longest established golf union in the world, have since located their national headquarters on the estate. This facility also comprises the GUI National Academy, a 22-acre teaching facility for up and coming golfers as well as being a facility available to all golfers in Ireland.

The Kildare Hotel and Golf Club (abbreviated The K Club) is a golf and leisure complex located at Straffan, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland. It is built on the old grounds of Straffan House and at present is jointly owned by Michael Smurfit and Gerry Gannon. A detailed history of the house and estate can be found by consulting the Wikipedia entry on Straffan.

The K Club is one of only four Irish 5-red-star hotels (as rated by The Automobile Association). The hotel contains two world-class golf courses designed by Arnold Palmer.

Golf courses
The Palmer Course (7,337 yd), also known as the North Course or Old Course.
The Smurfit Course, also known as the South Course or New Course.
The Palmer Course has hosted the Smurfit European Open since 1995, except in 2004 and 2006 when the event was played on the “inland links” Smurfit Course. The Palmer Course also hosted the 2006 Ryder Cup, the first time the event had been staged in Ireland. This years European Open (2007) will be played on the Smurfit Course.