The post Southwest Ireland golf-trip planning guide: Best places to play, stay, eat appeared first on Golf.

The post Southwest Ireland golf-trip planning guide: Best places to play, stay, eat appeared first on Golf.

It sure seemed that way this week as Rory McIlroy celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by recording his second Players Championship title.

Meanwhile, far from the grounds of TPC Sawgrass, there was plenty of good fortune to go around. It extended to an episode of the Destination GOLF podcast, where I lucked into a chat with my co-host, Simon Holt, about the glories of golf on the Emerald Isle. 

At roughly the size of South Carolina, Ireland punches well above its weight in the game. Great courses can be found in every corner of the country. To get the most out of trip, though, Holt recommends focusing on a region, which limits travel between tee times and gives you ample opportunity to soak up the experience on and off the course.

In this conversation, we trained our attention on the Southwest, following Holt’s suggestions for best places to play — and top spots to sleep and eat — on a regional getaway. Here’s a distillation of what we discussed for a dream golf trip to Southwest Ireland.

How to fly to Southwest Ireland

The choice pretty much boils down to two commercial airports: Shannon and Dublin. While Shannon is closer to your target courses (it’s about an hour’s drive to your first tee time, compared to roughly three hours from Dublin), Dublin welcomes more nonstop flights from the U.S. As with a lot of travel, the calculus revolves around cost and convenience. Not all travelers prioritize these factors in the same way. Price out the options, and make your decision accordingly. 

Getting around Southwest Ireland

What’s true in golf applies to travel within Ireland. Distances can be deceiving. Given narrow, winding roads and the vicissitudes of weather, drives can take longer than they appear on the map. For golfers unconcerned with costs (and unbothered by the fact that not all local golfers look kindly on whirly birds touching down near the first tee), helicopters are a popular option. But if you’re sticking with ground transport, Holt recommends hiring a driver, which guarantees smooth travel while giving you the freedom to enjoy a pint or two after your round.

The best golf courses in Southwest Ireland

Rates are approximate after conversion.

Trump International Golf Club – Doonbeg Resort ($465-575)

There’s no ignoring the polarizing elephant in the room. But setting politics aside, Holt says that Doonbeg makes a pleasing and pragmatic first stop at the gateway to the region. The amenities here are primo, and the Greg Norman design is a kind of palate-teaser to the more classical links that await.

Lahinch Golf Club ($410)

Don’t be misled by the modern-looking clubhouse. Designed by Alister Mackenzie and a fixture on GOLF’s ranking of Top 100 Courses in the World, Lahinch is throwback golf in the best sense of the word, a pure links replete with formal challenges, charming quirks (behold the crisscrossing fairways) and compelling templates holes like the 5th, the Dell, an iconic par 3 that plays blind over a towering dune.

Adare Manor ($550)

When you picture golf in Ireland, a parkland design by Tom Fazio is probably not the first course that comes to mind. But Holt considers Adare Manor a must-play for both the quality of the architecture and the impeccability of the conditions, which are widely regarded as the finest in the country. Given the five-star accommodations, Holt says the property is a must-stay, too. Availability can be another matter. Starting in August, Adare Manor will start placing limits on resort play as it begins preparations to host the 2027 Ryder Cup.

Ballybunion Old ($440)

Wedged between huge dunes and the Atlantic, this grand links was heralded by the famed golf writer Herbert Warren Wind as “nothing less than the finest seaside course I have ever seen.” Five-time Open Champion Tom Watson probably wouldn’t quibble. He described Ballybunion as “one of the best and most beautiful tests of links golf anywhere.” That test begins with a mid-length par-4 guarded by a cemetery on the right. You won’t forget the graveyard. And yet, Holt says, it’s at the 6th hole, as they layout curls through a heaving coastal dune scape, that Ballybunion really starts to come to life.

Tralee ($410)

Design credit here goes to the King, and though some Tralee members have been known to question how much work Arnold Palmer really put into the place, there’s no denying the regal results. The course starts scenically enough, with a front side stitched beside the sea. But the back is where the drama becomes heart-pounding, with heroic carries and exhilarating holes cut along the bluffs with the Atlantic crashing all around.

Old Head ($520)

It’s not often that you can stand on a tee box and gaze down at seagulls circling below. But so it goes at Old Head, a course that must be seen to be believed (if you haven’t played it, you’ve probably gawked photos of it), set on a peninsula that points its craggy finger into the Atlantic, with holes cut hard along steep bluffs that plunge some 300 feet to the waves.

Waterville ($385-410)

A drive along the Ring of Kerry, Ireland’s mountains-meet-sea counter to California’s Big Sur, takes you to the southwest tip of the country to a club that was born in the late 1800s and has since been tweaked by modern architects. Even with those recent touchups, the layout retains a classic look and feel, wild and rumpled on a seaside path that builds toward a truly rousing finish. Waterville could be the perfect culmination of your trip, but if you finish early and still have an itch to scratch, consider stopping as you backtrack on the Ring of Kerry for a round at Dooks, one of the oldest courses in the country and a sweet cap to a 36-hole day.

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Where to stay in Southwest Ireland

Early in your trip, Holt recommends bedding down at Adare Manor, where five-star appointments complement a pristinely kept parkland course that will host the 2027 Ryder Cup. As you move toward the southwest, Killarney is a storybook seaside town that understandably attracts its share of tourists. Lodging in Killarney isn’t hard to come by. But among Holt’s go too are the Killarney Park Hotel and the Europe Hotel & Resort, both centrally located with spot-on service and accommodations.

What to eat in Southwest Ireland

Among many Irish golf clubs there’s a quiet competition over which whips up the finest fish chowder. Holt awards high marks to the chowder at Tralee, served with crumbly brown bread. But his favorite example isn’t offered at a course. It’s a signature dish at Vaughans Anchor Inn, in Liscannor, just down the road from Lahinch.

As for other meals, Holt calls out to stops in Killarney: The Laurels Pub and Gaby’s Seafood. And in the town of Kinsale, en route to Old Head, don’t forgo a seafood feast at an aptly named eatery named Fishy Fishy.

To hear more about Southwest Ireland and its golf and non-golf points of interest, you can listen to the entire podcast episode on the region above. Listen and subscribe to Destination GOLF wherever you get your podcasts: APPLE | SPOTIFY | IHEART | AMAZON

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The post After 7 weeks of European golf, this hole stands above the rest appeared first on Golf.

The post After 7 weeks of European golf, this hole stands above the rest appeared first on Golf.

When you visit one course, don’t miss the other. That’s the point. So despite low sleep, low fluids, low everything, we set out to game it around Prestwick, and were delighted by the entirety of it. But there’s one hole that stood out above the rest — and even today, seven weeks after my maiden voyage across the Atlantic, it’s the golf experience I can’t stop thinking about.

My coworker, James Colgan, and I cruised along for 14 windy holes, earning our pars and forgetting about our doubles, when a member and his son played up behind us. Normally, at this point in a round, I’d shy away from company. We were four holes from the clubhouse. They were only going to slow down our journey to dinner. But you’re only allowed to be dismissive of new playing partners when at home. When you’re at someone else’s house, you say yes to vegetables … and ask for seconds. It helps that playing alongside a member at a classic course like Prestwick is often like adding a free caddie. Ours doubled as a quasi-historian. 

They joined us on the 15th tee, which sets you right next to the clubhouse. You can hear the sea, sure. And you can see the 1st hole and the 18th, and the commuter trains ripping by. You can imagine the 1868 Open coming down this stretch of turf, Old Tom Morris rooting on Young Tom. But beyond all that, there isn’t much to glean from the 15th tee. All you know is that it is 353 yards long and earns its name quite literally: The Narrows. 

At first blush, the 15th at Prestwick feels like a lot of Scottish golf. It’s just slightly uphill and flanked by fescue-covered dunes. There’s a bunker up the left that serves as your mental bumper. Don’t go there. Only it’s just off your intended line, according to the yardage book. If you can carry it 180 yards up the hill, our playing-member told us, that bunker is out of sight, out of mind. But importantly, besides that trap there isn’t much for visual boundaries, which is discomforting. There are a number of blind-ish tee shots at Prestwick. There are a number of blind tee shots all over Scotland. You can’t have all the undulations of links turf and seaside dunes without losing track of the fairway once in a while. (Brooks Koepka probably wouldn’t like Prestwick. He’s not a big fan of the blind shot.)

Playing into the prevailing wind, we were guided to hit a 215-yard shot, right up the gut. There is room for a draw and there is room for a cut, but there is no room for a hook nor a slice. Standing on the 15th tee feels a bit like sitting atop a tight black diamond skiing slope. You’ve got to move forward safely, but the obvious path feels too difficult to make happen. But what you don’t realize until you crest the hill is that a set of surprising moguls await. 

Beyond the left fairway bunker is a hollow that collects plenty of balls that hit the fairway. It’s a comforting spot, shielded from the wind by the dunes, but makes the approach mostly blind. Up to the right is a platform of shortgrass about 30 yards long and 20 yards wide. This is where you’re trying to go. A sort of green-before-the-green. So we’ll ask — how many greens do you hit from 210 yards? Not many, even for scratch golfers. 

But part of what makes this hole brilliant is just that — it is essentially consecutive par-3s. A long one (210 yards) followed by a short one (125). And there’s a bunker long of the first “green” that makes for an impossible par, and bunkers short of the actual green that makes life difficult from the the right rough. For the player who can’t keep driver on the planet, it’s great! You wouldn’t want driver. Or 3-wood. Or 5-wood. 4-iron or some sort of hybrid is the proper play, which can always lull us into a sense of comfort. Stubborn players who elect for something longer will find a ravine of fairway that snakes to the green, but at just 15 yards wide, it’s barely worth thinking about.  

From the green-before-the green, you can see the actual green, which banks hard from left to right. So much that most of its left side is completely useless for hole locations but vital for getting your ball closer to the hole. It plays a bit like a redan, where you’re aiming away from the hole to get close to it. Going right at it will only lead to your ball bounding through, a fact that this 7-handicap realized too late. 

Chipping back on for a two-putt bogey, I had no one else to blame. Our playing-member told me to trust his line. After I ignored it, his son stepped up and hit the shot I didn’t, a swift reminder that I was nothing but a Prestwick newbie and that the 15th is the ultimate hindsight hole. Where the view from wherever your ball finishes is the enlightened view. On The Narrows — like a lot of links golf — you’re thinking about how far you hit it, how short you may hit it, how left and how right you’ll hit it, with trajectory and wind as the final ingredients — the combination of which reveals itself only once you’ve played it.

I spent much of the next two months traipsing Europe before recently returning to the American Midwest, wishing I could play the Narrows once more. And to do it tomorrow. Were this hole in northern Missouri, its green would be too soft, pummeled by the summer thunderstorms. Were it in Scottsdale, it would feel even more claustrophobic, with cacti and all manner of parched vegetation in the surrounds. Were it in Florida, it would be a revelation. But your ball wouldn’t skip along the turf quite like it does on the west coast of Scotland. 

Therein may be my favorite part of The Narrows. It can’t exist everywhere. Only here, a wonderfully long way from home.

Ever played the 15th at Prestwick? Feel free to share your thoughts on that hole or your favorite with the author at sean.zak@golf.com.

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The post Dream 18: The ultimate routing of our Top 100 Courses in the UK and Ireland ranking appeared first on Golf.

The post Dream 18: The ultimate routing of our Top 100 Courses in the UK and Ireland ranking appeared first on Golf.

That’s the beauty of golf overseas. Accessible. Affordable. Fun. Quirky. We could go on and on. But to go one step further, we wanted to make a list within out list, one that would circle the best of the best when it comes to some of the top courses in the world.

So here’s the deal. Exclusive for our InsideGOLF members, we tasked GOLF architecture editor Ran Morrissett with coming up with the best 18 holes among the 100 courses on the ranking, and he did one better: he even kept the list true to hole numbers. For example, the ninth hole on our list is actually the 9th hole at that specific course.

No course was listed twice, and this par-72 routing has 10 par-4s, four par-3s and four par-5s, and each nine has two par-3s and two par-5s.

So, without further ado, we present you with the Dream 18 of our Top 100 Courses in the UK and Ireland ranking. Start salivating.

No. 1 / Machrihanish, 425 yards, par-4

We get our Dream 18 underway in the most breathtaking manner possible. Picture a small pro shop, a tee along a cliff, the Atlantic waters some 20 feet below and a beach ahead that you must carry as the fairway swings left and heads up the shore. This opener is one of – some say THEE – greatest diagonal tee shot in the game and dates back to Old Tom Morris in 1879. Alister MacKenzie was a frequent visitor to this links and no doubt was impressed by the roly-poly nature of the 1st green, which kickstarts one of the game’s great sets of green complexes.

No. 2 / Huntercombe, 420 yards, par-4

This Willie Park Jr. design west of London is famous for its paucity of bunkers with this bunkerless hole being a prime example. At the second, Park beautifully exploits the long broad right-to-left slope of the English countryside, both on the tee ball and approach. Should you aim 1, 5 or 10 yards right of the green and watch the ball trundle down onto the open putting surface? By posing such interesting ground game questions, Park showed (in 1901!) how an inland course could require as much imagination to play as a links.

No. 3 / Prestwick, 535 yards, par-5

The merit of a central bunker can’t be overstated on par-5 holes. Be it Hell Bunker at St. Andrews or the Saraha bunkers that Tillinghast routinely deployed at places like Baltusrol and Baltimore CC, the ask is a timeless one: the player must get his tee ball in play to cross a fierce hazard to have a pitch left to a green. Here, the sleepered Cardinal bunker that slashes across the fairway 160 yards from the green is as formidable as a hazard gets.

No. 4 / Woking, 350 yards, par-4

Woking has long been a think-tank for design. Stuart Patton had the wisdom to insert two bunkers akin to the Principal’s Nose at 16 at St. Andrews into the left middle of Tom Dunn’s fairway, exactly where drives like to finish. At the green, he inserted a left bunker and had the green angle from front right to back left. Does the golfer have the guts to hit between the fairway bunkers and the railroad line down the right? If so, he enjoys a fine angle with a short iron into the green. Member Tom Simpson sat up on the hillside behind the tee and marveled for hours on how the central hazard combined with the angle of the green made this a strategic marvel. Simpson went on to contribute mightily to golf course architecture at places like Morfontaine, Ballybunion and Cruden Bay.

No. 5 / Royal Worlington & Newmarket, 160 yards, par-3

Yard for yard, this might be the most taxing shot on our Dream 18. It doesn’t need length, rather it relies on the cunningness of the architect to have draped the long, narrow green on a ridge. Miss it left and the ball peels away into a hollow known as Mog’s Bog and miss it right and the ball is shunted toward a creek. The origin of the expression “the world’s shortest par-5” is murky but applies here!

No. 6 / Cruden Bay, 530 yards, par-5

Par-5s built 100-plus years ago are under siege from advancements in technology, essentially needing to rely on a spiffy green complex to keep the barbarians at the gate. That’s what we find here and this hole actually woos you to go for it in two, which is when the fireworks begin. A burn crosses the width of the fairway just short of the green and the bank of the burn is 15 feet high on the direct line to the green after a big tee ball. Being short is obviously no good nor is long, as the putting surface is severely tilted from back to front. Being prudent is often the better part of valor, thanks to this testy green complex.

No. 7 / Pennard, 350 yards, par-4

Though the 12th century ruin of Pennard Castle is a mere 80 yards to the right of the green, the eye is nonetheless drawn straightaway to one of the game’s lumpiest fairways. Where a tee ball may ricochet to is in the lap of the Gods — just hope it isn’t into a small pit 60 yards short of the green. Extraction from this menace of a bunker in one shot is far from guaranteed, given its near vertical bunker face. The green mimics the fairway with lots of undulations with an upper-left shelf providing the most difficult hole locations. Pure Welsh magic with the Bristol Channel serving as the backdrop.

No. 8 / St. George’s Hill, 180 yards, par-3

No one has ever been better at effortlessly incorporating a shallow valley into the design of a par-3 than Harry Colt. Outstanding examples abound around London. This oft-photographed one is especially gratifying, thanks to its downhill nature that allows you to see your shot play out in full and the satisfaction derived from having your tee ball pass beyond the severe fronting hazards prior to the green.

No. 9 / Lahinch, 400 yards, par-4

Alister MacKenzie made dramatic changes when he worked at Lahinch in the 1920s. The piece-de-resistance might be this 55-yard deep but narrow shelf green. The land forms shunt your tee ball to the left while this green begs for an approach from the high right side. The sloping fairway insists on putting the ball above the right hander’s feet and the resultant draw is likely not the desired outcome as the golfer soon finds himself in a grassy hollow well below the putting surface. The need to make fiddly adjustments to your stance and setup is a major underpinning to the allure of links golf.

No. 10 / Ardfin, 175 yards, par-3

Australian architect Bob Harrison was careful to make the holes at Ardfin play well in all winds, which routinely occur in the Inner Hebrides on the Isle of Jura. Run-up options abound on virtually every hole – but here. Indeed, the only rule in design is that rules are meant to be broken. The tees are along a cliff, followed by a rock strewn pocket complete with canyons left from centuries of coastal erosion, and the green on the far side. The forced carry is – by definition – uncompromising but this one is so epic, its setting along the waterway that separates Jura and Islay so stunning, that the hole simply had to be built. Unseen from the tee, Harrison provides a short grass bailout area right of the green but for those brave enough to successfully take the direct line, the adrenaline rush has few equals in golf.

No. 11 / Royal North Devon, 395 yards, par-4

A variety of hazards lend a course its own unmistakable identity. Westward Ho! (as the course is often referred) throws a lot at the golfer, including the Great Sea Rushes at Nos. 10-12. They can impale most objects so to say they are some of the game’s most feared hazards is no exaggeration! At the 11th, they border both the left and right sides of the fairway, making the tee ball one of the nerviest on these ancient links. Great to see a sub-400 yarder cause such consternation; every course needs a true positional hole like this one.

No. 12 / Sunningdale Old, 440 yards, par-4

It took two design titans to end up with this hole. First, Willie Park Jr. laid out the original playing corridor and then Harry Colt later moved the green 70 yards up and to the left to its current commanding position. This hole enjoys an exalted standing in architecture and so impressed C.B. Macdonald that he patterned his Bottle hole designs after it.

No. 13 / Royal County Down, 445 yards, par-4

The front at County Down is widely considered to be the finest first nine in golf. Yet, for many, the course’s best hole is this banana shaped one that runs through a valley between two dunes. Golfer A may try to drive it left and as far down the valley as possible as the green potentially comes into view around the bend for one’s second. Golfer B may lay back a bit on the right, before hoisting a blind approach up and over a bank of gorse and heather toward the white and black directional marker. Happily, shots can kick in from the right as there is plenty of short grass that feeds onto the open putting surface. Hard to beat a hole that looks and acts tough but that also gives you room to play.

No. 14 / St. Andrews Old Course, 560 yards, par-5

“Option-filled” is an overused phrase in golf but no other phrase is more apt for describing this one. There are more than a dozen ways to plan your way through this long three-shotter. It likely starts by landing your tee ball in the comparatively flat Elysian Fields, and then the golfer debates any number of potential shots, including how to handle Hell Bunker. Even if all goes well, its plateau green acts as a final defense, shedding balls off in every which direction.

No. 15 / Ballybunion Old, 210 yards, par-3

If one view best captures the allure of golf in a foreign country, it is this one standing on the 15th tee at Ballybunion. From its elevated tee, the golfer enjoys an exhilarating view of the two-tiered green in the distance, nestled among dunes with the pounding Atlantic surf just behind. The heart sings as this is man vs. nature at her most unfiltered, dramatic best.

No. 16 / North Berwick, 380 yards, par-4

The game’s most copied hole (The Redan) precedes this one and hogs the spotlight but this hole might possess the single most confounding green in links golf. It plays like a Biarritz green in the sense that the green consists of two plateaus with a valley separating them, cocked at a 45-degree angle to the fairway. Figuring out how to get your ball to stop on the hump that houses the day’s hole location is one of those magic moments where you wish you had a small satchel of balls and could just keep hitting the approach until you get it right.

No. 17 / Brora, 430 yards, par-4

This stout two-shotter follows in the footsteps of the Road Hole in that having the course’s toughest par as the penultimate hole often makes for a thrilling conclusion. Without doubt, this is Brora’s hardest hole thanks to fescue covered in the middle of the fairway. Which way you steer from it is wind dependent, so the ask off the tee shot changes on a daily basis. The high right side allows you to hit an approach from level with the green, albeit from a sloping lie. The safer, lower left side of the fairway is more level but a left-front greenside bunker now becomes problematic. Don’t miss this James Braid course when next in Scotland; some consider it his finest design.

No. 18 / Castle Stuart, 590 yards, par-5

The best finishing holes produce a wide range of outcomes while still leaving the golfer wanting more. This 1/2 hole fits that bill as well as any with its fairway tumbling downhill toward the distinctive white art deco clubhouse. Fifty-plus yards in roll out is commonplace downwind for tee balls and the question then becomes can the golfer carry the broken ground and reach the green in two? It’s an enticing proposition that beckons for return rounds. There is a safe path too in from the left, so golfers of all abilities derive pleasure in playing it.

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The post The best golf courses in Scotland | 2022 ranking appeared first on Golf.

The post The best golf courses in Scotland | 2022 ranking appeared first on Golf.

It’s no surprise that thirty of the Top 100 Courses in the UK and Ireland reside in Scotland, the home of golf. Between the repealed golf ban by King James IV in 1502 and the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews this week, Scotland has golf’s deepest history. Old Tom Morris’ made his architectural contribution at Carnoustie and Dornoch, and Jack Nicklaus described Scotland’s countryside as “the finest parcel of land in the world I have ever been given to work with.” Due to amazing landscapes and course design, Scotland is home to five of the ten Open rotation courses–St. Andrews, Muirfield, Turnberry, Carnoustie, and Troon (Prestwick and Musselburgh no longer host competition). Here are the best courses in Scotland.

Scotland

1. St. Andrews (Old)*

3. Royal Dornoch (Championship)

4. Muirfield*

6. Trump Turnberry (Ailsa)*

10. North Berwick (West)

12. Carnoustie (Championship)*

19. Prestwick**

20. Cruden Bay (Championship)

21. Royal Troon (Old)*

25. Ardfin

26. Kingsbarns

28. Machrihanish

30. Castle Stuart

35. Royal Aberdeen (Balgownie)

36. Askernish

37. Trump International

44. Gleneagles (King’s)

45. Western Gailes

47. Loch Lomond

49. Gullane (No. 1)

57. Nairn (Championship)

62. St. Andrews (New)

63. Brora

77. Renaissance Club

80. The Golf House Club (Elie)

87. Machrie

90. Macrihanish Dunes

91. Skibo Castle (Carnegie)

93. Dumbarnie Links

97. Fraserburgh

*Open Championship host in active rota
**Open Championship host not in active rota

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While Scotland is the home of golf, England has the most Top 100 Courses in the UK and Ireland with an astounding 46. Four of the 10 active Open venues are in England — St. George’s, Birkdale, Lytham, and Liverpool (all royal). Royal Cinque Ports and Prince’s also hosted a few generations ago.

Rumpled fairways, deep pot bunkers, and subtle green complexes define England’s best. This list has an unrivaled number of illustrious golf courses, and it’s important to note the diversity of styles and terrain. With newer designs (relatively speaking, of course) by Harry Colt — Sunningdale and Swinley Forest — England is home to beautiful blends of links and heathland.

England

7. Sunningdale (Old)

8. Royal St. George’s*

14. Royal Birkdale*

15. Swinley Forest

16. Woodhall Spa (Hotchkin)

18. Royal Lytham & St Annes*

22. St. George’s Hill (Red & Blue)

24. Rye

27. Royal Liverpool*

29. Royal Cinque Ports**

31. St. Enodoc (Church)

32. Walton Heath (Old)

34. Ganton

38. Royal West Norfolk

40. Notts

41. West Sussex

42. Silloth on Solway

43. Royal Worlington & Newmarket

46. Woking

48. Alwoodley

51. Addington

52. Formby

55. Royal North Devon

58. Burnham & Berrow (Championship)

59. Saunton (East)

60. The Berkshire (Red)

67. Huntercombe

69. Royal Ashdown Forest

70. Southport & Ainsdale

71. Hillside

72. Stoneham

74. Wentworth (West)

75. Huntstanton

76. Hankley Common

78. Broadstone

81. Walton Health (New)

85. The Berkshire (Blue)

86. New Zealand

89. Moortown

92. Worplesdon

94. Cleeve Cloud

95. Liphook

96. Delamere Forest

98. Prince’s**

100. Littlestone (Championship)

*Open Championship host in active rota
**Open Championship host not in active rota

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The post The best golf courses in Ireland and Northern Ireland | 2022 ranking appeared first on Golf.

Ireland is home to some of the most beautiful — and equally challenging — holes in all of golf. Firm fairways that roll off into high fescue define the best Irish holes, but the stress from its rigor is offset by amazing views of the Celtic and Irish Seas. If you travel around Ireland, you’ll find the common theme of links built directly between massive dunes. Some dunes tower so high to either side that you can only see the hole you’re playing (talk about an immersive experience).

While Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland is the only Open Championship host on this list, experts agree that many Irish courses can be too penalizing when the winds howl for tournament play. The perfect blend of natural beauty, historic architecture, and modern renovation, you can’t go wrong with these gems.

Ireland (17)

9. Ballybunion (Old)

11. Lahinch (Old)

13. St. Patrick’s Links

17. Portmarnock (Old)

39. Waterville

50. County Louth

53. County Sligo

54. Enniscrone (Dunes)

56. The Island

64. Trump International Doonbeg

65. Tralee

66. Carne (Wild Atlantic)

68. Adare Manor

79. European Club

83. Old Head

88. Rosapenna (Sandy Hills)

99. Ballyliffin (Old)

Northern Ireland (3)

2. Royal County Down (Championship)

5. Royal Portrush (Dunluce)

73. Portstewart (Strand)

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The post Want to play the best courses in the UK and Ireland? Options are endless appeared first on Golf.

***

In the end, what fun are rankings if you can’t forge an opinion on them yourself? Whatever tickles your fancy, there’s a trip abroad to be had — one of the best investments you’ll ever make in your game. Want to play “common ground” courses, where sheep and cattle enjoy the right-of-way and the greens have wire around them to prevent hoof damage? Tour the west side of England. Prefer a luxe trip with grand accommodations? Check out Ardfin, Turnberry (No. 6) or Gleneagles (No. 44) in Scotland. Crave the experience of taking on giant dunes? Hug Ireland’s west coast. How about a train through Wales? It worked for Bernard Darwin. Do you enjoy island-hopping? Start at Machrihanish (No. 28) and bounce to Machrie (No. 87) on Islay to Ardfin on Jura, then Askernish (No. 36) on South Uist.

Or, dare you, forge your own path, visiting the gems that missed out in the rank, like the 4,600-yard Iona on (you guessed it) Iona to Whalsay in the Shetland Isles, the northernmost course in the British Isles. You can organize such trips through travel agents or email the club secretary directly.

Fact: If you consider yourself a true architecture geek, you’ll find no greater benefit to your passion than a trip to the British Isles. The first call is invariably to experience the rollicking links most aficionados can reel off by name, but nearly as meaningful is to study the seminal designs from roughly 120 years ago around London. These include Woking (No. 46), Walton Heath Old (No. 32) and Sunningdale Old (No. 7). And don’t forget Huntercombe (No. 67), closer to Oxford University, built by Willie Park Jr., the same man who designed Maidstone on Long Island. Cumulatively, these four courses shed light on how inspired architecture helped the game move inland (and closer to where people live).

Figuring out what not to see is as hard as figuring out where to go. Heck, we give you 100 surefire hits with this rank! Still, plenty of personal favorites didn’t make it, including Little Aston, Goswick, Dunbar and Minchinhampton Old, not to mention the nine-holer Isle of Harris. Additionally, the four courses I’m most keen to see for a first time — Kington, Cavendish, Painswick and Perranporth — also are absent. Talk about deep: Our panel took special pride in curating a list this chock full of delightful playing experiences. Two courses (JCB, in Rocester, England, and Iona) didn’t receive the minimal votes for inclusion, but that will change when we update the list in 2024.

Beyond the golf, you’re sure to be swept away by relentlessly warm welcomes. As long as you’re courteous, the UK and Ireland are there for the taking. These places want your business (much of the local economy around the courses in the British Isles hinges on tourism). You may even be inspired to join any of these clubs as an international member. Variety and inspiration await. I hope to see you there.

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Golf’s old world is, well, old. In the UK and Ireland, history tumbles through the fairways and greens like a heavy eastern wind. Drive down one of the old country’s winding (and narrow) roads, and you’ll stumble upon classics from some of golf’s founding fathers. Names like Morris, Park and Braid are attached to courses that date back to golf’s first days.

Quirk is not a feature but a necessity of golf life in the old country. The neatly trimmed fairways and tightly mown greens of modern American creation were not an option to those operating courses back in the early-19th century. Rather, grazing sheep were the only mowers, and routing was left mostly to mother nature. In those days, distractions like wildlife and stone structures were necessary evils — tools to be worked around, if not excluded altogether.

Eventually, as the sands of time wore on, so did golf’s great quirks, forming many of the features we have come to know (and love) about golf’s most historic tracks: The Road Hole, The Wall, and oh so many more memorable pieces of golf’s golden age.

In GOLF’s inaugural ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the UK and Ireland, our raters sought to follow the game’s forefathers by embracing weirdness. Below, we asked our raters to find quirks worth adding to every player’s golf bucket list, and they responded in kind with five beloved pieces of golf’s strange — and beautiful — tapestry. —James Colgan, assistant editor.

1. The Dell Green

Lahinch (Old Course), Clare, Ireland (Rank: 11)

In a word, the “Dell” hole at Lahinch—No. 5 on the card—is fantastic! It’s a midiron at its longest and has meted out the gamut of results you’d expect from a quirky, yet lovable, linksy par 3. I’ve witnessed a few “knifed” pitches that have back-boarded off the dunes only to trickle down onto the
green and into the hole. Most memorable, a buddy teed off with a 6-iron only to come up short.

He played a second ball—this time with a 5-iron—and jarred it! The anticipation in cresting the large dune, the potential for an ace and the variety of recovery shots mean the Dell—now 130 years young—hasn’t lost an ounce of its charm. —Patrick Glynn, Dublin, Ireland

2. Cruden Bay’s Bathtub

Cruden Bay (Championship Course), Cruden Bay, Scotland (Rank: 20)

There are three factors that fascinate me when playing the blind approach to the “Bathtub” green at the end of Cruden Bay’s
par-4, 400-yard 14th. First, though hidden, you can catch a glimpse of the green from the 9th tee—a harbinger of things to come if there ever was one.

Second, the green is more than 50 yards deep, pressing you (or your caddie) to pull the right club. Lastly, you can use the downslope in front of the green to consistently “kick” the ball forward onto the green. Managed correctly, the slope can instantly become your new best friend. It’s a shot I never
tire of playing. —Barry Doyle, Denver, Colo.

3. North Berwick’s Stone Wall

North Berwick (West Links), North Berwick, Scotland (Rank: 10)

Having grown up at North Berwick, I’ve seen my fair share of bizarre incidents at the 13th green, famously guarded by a two-foot wall. Trust me— anything can happen here, both good and bad.

A guest of mine from the States once managed to land his ball on top of the wall, defying physics. After much head-scratching, his caddie suggested
putter… which the player duly holed.

Welcome to the West Links, sir! —Simon Holt, Edinburgh, Scotland

4. Brora’s ‘Common’

Brora Golf Club, Brora, Scotland (Rank: 63)

Brora has become a bit of a cult classic.

There’s a continuing sense of adventure here, which peaks on the shortish par-4 16th, whose green rests high on a plateau. With man and animal in collaboration, its barely defined fairways might just be the perfect surface for golf. —Clyde Johnson, St. Andrews, Scotland

5. Ardfin’s ‘Chasm’

Ardfin, Scotland (Rank: 25)

It’s on the 2nd tee at Ardfin where you begin to fully appreciate the scale and wildness of the place. (Our group joked that Hollywood could shoot Braveheart 2 right then and there without touching a thing!)

This par 3 calls for a hybrid or a 7-iron, depending on the wind. Regardless, you’re forced to carry a deep ravine—the “Chasm”—to a green seemingly carved out by Mother Nature herself. Some courses make you feel small. Ardfin makes you feel tiny. —Christian Faergemann, Hellerup, Denmark

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How do you compile your Top 100 course rankings? Why does one course land at, say, 7th and another at, say, 83rd? What qualities do all truly great courses share? Which courses are on the rise, and why? Which courses are sliding, and why? Which newcomers are destined for greatness?

Good questions all, and now, we’re giving InsideGOLF members an opportunity to pose those very queries, and more, to a small group of our course-rating panelists — in a live setting!

On Thursday, July 7, at 1 p.m. EST, InsideGOLF members will have exclusive access to a live interactive Zoom roundtable, featuring GOLF’s architecture editor Ran Morrissett; veteran GOLF course rater Gordon Dalgleish; and Josh Sens, a GOLF senior writer who sits on GOLF’s course-rating panel. (Not yet an InsideGOLF member? Join here.)

It’s a timely opportunity.

Travel

Earlier this week, we rolled out our latest list — our first-ever ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the U.K. and Ireland — which is loaded with wild and wonderful designs from one of the world’s most golf-rich regions. With new lists come new questions and new debates, so we’re hopeful this live roundtable setting will give our InsideGOLF members a chance to not only pick the brains of our expert raters about our latest ranking but also share their own opinions about golf in Ireland, Scotland, England and the rest of the British Isles.

Need help planning a trip to Ireland or Scotland? Curious about what makes the Old Course at St. Andrews such a pillar of architectural greatness? Have questions about the hidden gems of the linksland? Our experts are here to help. All you need to do is join InsideGOLF.

Not yet a member? Join here for only $20 and you’ll enjoy a host of incredible benefits, including members-only content on GOLF.com; a $20 credit to the GOLF Pro Shop; a subscription to GOLF Magazine; and, yes, exclusive access to our deep bench of experts.

It’s one of the best values in golf.

Our interactive course-rater roundtable will begin Thursday at 1 p.m. EST. InsideGOLF members will receive a notification and Zoom link via email shortly before the discussion commences.

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