The Lore of Ireland Golf Courses

Chasing the golf bucket list links of Ireland and Northern Ireland certainly isn't cheap.

The savvy way to plan the perfect golf getaway to the Emerald Isle is to sprinkle in a few lesser-known links with the big names to help balance out the costs.

In many ways, these links are just as good as their more prestigious neighbors. They might not be as old or as exclusive or have hosted as many tournaments, but they're still loaded with dunes, blind shots, pot bunkers and all the other characteristics Americans love about links golf.

Thanks to Gold Digest magazine Ireland can now boast of the number one golf course in the world outside the US, the Royal County Down. But it's also gained a reputation for eight other courses, all of which made the top 100 in the world outside America.

Golf Digest magazine asked its 6.5 million readers to name their favorite golfing venues and Ireland came out on top. The majestic Royal County Down course surpassed other iconic venues like Saint Andrews' Old Course, Turnberry and Valderrama, to be named top of tyne list in Golf Digest's 100 Best Courses Outside of the US.

Golfing Experience in Ireland

We know that the island of Ireland boasts some of the best golf courses in the world and, together with our golf industry partners, we have been working hard to spread that message around the globe.

We are undertaking a busy golf promotional program throughout this year to showcase our beautiful country, which includes capitalizing on the success of our major golf champions as ambassadors for the island of Ireland.

 It quickly became apparent that we were going to get the full Irish golfing experience, starting with horizontal rain as we made our way through the towering sand dunes along Killala Bay.

That proved a tame introduction compared with our subsequent visit to Carne Links, which, like Enniscrone, was designed by Irish legend Eddie Hackett.

Everything about this place, on the northwest shoulder of Ireland, was more remote and extreme. The dunes had more kick to them, and the wind howled at 39 mph, making it difficult to walk, much less stand upright, and rendering our pull carts useless. Someday I’d like to go back and play the back nine under rational conditions. This is surely the most exhilarating, if maddening, stretch of quality golf I have ever known. Back-to-back extreme reverse-camber short par 4s; a downhill par 3 where I had to aim my 6-iron more than 45 degrees left of the target to allow for the wind; and a wild buckaroo of a par-5 finishing hole. The pillbox of a clubhouse served as a perfect little storm shelter.

The elements were relentless; steely pellets of rain pounded us the next day.  It was about a three-club wind, but it made no difference. He took what must have been a 6-iron, punched his ball along the ground, maybe 100 yards, toward the green, slid the club into the bag and hoisted it to his shoulder in one move. And then walked.

Golf and Northern Ireland have been married for well over a century, mostly for better, sometimes for worse. It is played alone, in two-balls, three-balls or four-balls. The pace is always brisk, the swings often compact and powerful. You can run into a famous someone just about anywhere on courses clustered around this seaside town, which has traces of the royal, vestiges of the
ancient and just enough of the modern.

We made it across the whole of the north of the island. Along the way we gave up our umbrellas, for when the rain comes it rips in sideways with such fury that the only equipment you really need is a two-piece insulated rain suit and a tolerance for hellacious conditions. The occasional storms make you appreciate all the more one of those glorious, sunny days when the late-afternoon light opens across the sandy links and you see the craggy, gnarly ground – as if heaven had opened a crack in the sky to let the sunlight pour in.

This month's Irish Open at Royal Portrush is another wonderful opportunity to put our
golf in the international spotlight and we are leveraging the potential of this
prestigious sporting event. Our message is that the island of Ireland offers golfers
the complete package - with top courses, stunning scenery and the warmest of welcomes.

Golfing at Galgorm Castle Ireland

Galgorm Castle Golf Course is the perfect place for the ultimate golfing experience, and has nice comfortable summer weather that Americans come to Ballymena to enjoy. Combining two unique qualities of summer weather and location to create a truly bespoke luxury golfing product. Located a few miles from Belfast. Galgorm Parks is a town land in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, about 1 km west of Ballymena. It is part of the civil parish of Ahoghill. Administratively, it is in the Borough of Ballymena.

The town land encompasses the village of Galgorm and much of the area between Ballymena and Galgorm. It is bordered by the town lands of Artibrannan to the north, Lisnafillon and Fenaghy to the west and Ballykennedy to the south. The majority of the town land is from a strong Christian background.
The boundaries for the town land are in fact the old estate boundaries of Galgorm Castle which was constructed in 1618 by Sir Faithful Fortescue and is recognized as one of the finest examples of early Jacobean architecture in all of Ireland.

The castle is now the site of Galgorm Castle Golf Club which is one of the top golf courses in Ireland. This year they are hosting The Northern Ireland Open Challenge, Thursday 29th August - Sunday 1st September. This reflects the status and demand that this beautiful golf course reflects. The Ireland Championship Golf Course Galgorm Castle
Galgorm Castle Golf Club is one of Ireland's finest Championship courses located at grounds one of Ireland's most historical estates.