Ireland

Ballyliffin Golf Club
Glashedy Links

The Glashedy Links has hosted the European Tour 2018 DDF Irish Open, the 2016 Irish Close Championship and Boys Home Internationals, The Interprovincial Championships in 2006, the European Tour North West of Ireland Open in 2002 and the Ladies Irish Open in 1998. Although it shares the same fantastic scenery and magical isolation, the Glashedy Links (named after a striking rock formation offshore) has little in common with the classic Old Links at Ballyliffin. It will be a great way to start the tour and get a feel of some Irish charm.

Portstewart Strand

What can be said of the mighty Strand Course? Dubbed as ‘the sleeping giant’, do you dare to tackle it! It is without doubt one of the very top true links golf courses in Ireland. It easily stands alongside the two Ulster Royals, Portrush and County Down. The brainchild of Willie Park Jr and Des Giffin (in whose honour the 6th hole has been renamed), ably assisted by undulating dunes, the run off bunkers, rolling fairways and tricky manicured greens. The views from almost every hole are quite simply, magical. The Atlantic is never very far away and the beauty of the course has to be seen to be believed. It is a treat that will take a very long time, if ever, to fade from the golfers memory. The jewel in the Portstewart crown.

Royal Portrush Dunluce Links

The Dunluce Links is rated as one of the most challenging and spectacular links courses in the world. The Links is named after the nearby ruins of the medieval Dunluce Castle located on the edge of a basalt outcropping overlooking the sea between Portrush and Portballintrae. The original architect was the famed Harry Colt who produced a breathtaking golf links opening up views of the Atlantic Ocean. In 2015, in for the hosting of The Open in 2019, redesign works commenced under the stewardship of Martin Ebert. The result is a magnificent layout providing a fair and scenically stunning challenge for golfers to enjoy.

Ballyliffin Golf Club

Ballyliffin is widely regarded as the finest links complex in Ireland boasting two championship links courses – The Old Links and Glashedy Links. They pride themselves in having world class presentation standards all year round and Ballyliffin is renowned for its hospitality, spectacular setting and outstanding facilities. The Glashedy Links (named after a striking rock formation offshore) has little in common with the classic Old Links at Ballyliffin and was built by a quirky Irishman by the name of. Pat Ruddy. He has lent his hand to many layouts in Ireland. and owns The European Golf Link.

County Louth Golf Club

The links land now known as County Louth Golf Club “Baltray” was first discovered by Messrs Pentland & Gilroy back in 1892. They had already laid out some holes at nearby Mornington when one day they rowed across the river only to discover what was later proclaimed “one of the best pieces of golfing ground in the world”. Nevertheless it wasn’t until the middle thirties when Tom Simpson weaved his spell that it earned its championship spurs. The new course was opened in 1938 by the Irish Open Champion James Bruen and despite some refinements and the repositioning of the Clubhouse much of Simpson’s work is recognisable today.

The Island Golf Club

The Island Golf Club has fifty-four links holes and is located across the estuary from Malahide and just around the bay from Portmarnock. It is surrounded on three sides by the Irish Sea, Donabarte Beach and Broadmeadow Estuary. For close to one hundred years the only way to get to The Island was by rowing boat. And for the first half-century you needed an invitation. Martin Hawtree (it’s that man again) has made modifications over the last twenty years and made The Island “the best course in Ireland no one had heard of” .

Royal Dublin Golf Club

Not all coastal golf courses can be classified as a true links course. Characteristics of a true links golf course are sand dunes, fescue grasses and few trees or water hazards. Though common in Ireland, there are only 246 authentic links courses in the world. The Royal Dublin Golf Club is proud to be a member of this exclusive group and was recently ranked in the top 10 in a list of 58 true Irish links courses. The Royal Dublin Golf Club is steeped in golfing history and presents a stern golfing examination on what is widely accepted as one of the greatest links courses in the world. The links was originally designed by H.S.Colt, the world famous golf architect from Sunningdale.

Portmarnock Jameson Links

Designed by Bernhard Langer in association with Stan Eby of European Golf Design. Legendary German golfer Bernhard Langer is no stranger to these parts, he won the Irish Open no fewer than three times at the nearby Portmarnock Golf Club and The Royal Dublin Golf Club. When he became a golf course designer with European Golf Design in 1992, it was little wonder that he chose our course as his first links design. Along with renowned American architect Stan Eby, Bernhard has come up with a course that has been described by Golf World magazine as “everything a links course should be” with rolling fairway and unforgiving rough. In 2023 Portmarnock Links was renamed as the Jameson Golf Links.

Portmarnock GC

Founded in 1894. The links is consistently ranked amongst the top golf courses in the world. With a rich history closely aligned to the progression of golf in Ireland, Portmarnock has hosted many major professional and amateur events including multiple Irish Open Championships, the Walker Cup, the Irish Amateur Close Championship and the British Amateur Championship. From Sam Snead to Seve Ballesteros, some of golf’s best known names have tested their skills here on the north Dublin peninsula. Considered by many as one of the fairest links courses in the world it delivers an incredible challenge and true test of golf. Tom Watson (Open Champion on 5 occasions) summed up the links during his visits by saying “There are no tricks or nasty surprises, only an honest, albeit searching test of shot making skills.”

Doonbeg Golf Club

Spanning 1.5 miles of crescent shaped beach and sand dunes, the Dr Martin Hawtree re-designed course at Trump International Golf Links Doonbeg is a stunning sight to behold and offers views of the Atlantic from 16 of 18 holes. The par-72 layout features a single loop of nine holes out and nine back. The most natural route was taken in laying the course out through the sand dunes. As a result, the course has a unique combination of five par 3s and five par 5s.

Adare Manor Golf Course

Fully redesigned and rebuilt. in 2016-2017 to championship-worthy specifications, The Golf Course at Adare Manor offers a spectacular golfing experience amid the breath-taking surroundings of our parkland estate. Legendary golf architect Tom Fazio has created a golf course which thoughtfully explores the true character of the terrain, revealing new levels of discovery at every turn.

Ballybunion Old Course

Ballybunion was almost unknown forty years ago, but is now a legend, receiving almost as many visitors as St Andrews. The attractions of Ballybunion are found entirely on the links, which weaves its way through some of golf’s most stirring terrain. Its the way the course is routed over, through, across and along the dunes that makes it so famous. Despite the occasional journalistic raptures, Ballybunion remained obscured for years and it was not until Tom Watson arrived to play the links in the early 1980’s that the course became as famous as it is today. He often used Ballybunion and the other famous Irish layouts to get ready for the British Open a trick that Tiger Woods still adopted.

Lahinch Old Course

Located a mere two miles south from the spectacular Cliffs of Moher, [one of Ireland’s major tourist attractions] Lahinch underwent renovation by Alister MacKenzie in 1927. To bring the layout into the twenty first century the golf club invited English architect Martin Hawtree to give the design his free hand. What he produced was a ‘restored Mackenzie layout.’ Half the holes have actually been reconstructed, the greens re-contoured and in some cases enlarged. Bunkers, which had deteriorated, have been restored, a number of new bunkers have been built and some old ones removed. Overnight – Trump International Doonbeg