The United States houses approximately 17,000 golf courses, accounting for over 43 percent of the world’s golf courses. While the US is home to several of the world’s top golf courses, including Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey and Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, American golfers can experience other top-rated golf courses, such as those in Ireland.
According to the GOLF Top 100 Courses in the World rankings, golfers can enjoy four of the world’s finest courses in Ireland: Ballybunion (Old), Lahinch (Old), St. Patrick’s Links, and Portmarnock (Old). Northern Ireland adds two more courses to the world’s top 100 with Royal County Down and Royal Portrush (Dunluce).
James McKenne designed the Old course at Ballybunion in 1893. Tom Sipson updated the course in 1936. Tom Watson undertook a far grander updating project in 1995. The prestigious course has hosted numerous events in recent years, including The Home Internations in 2003, the Palmer Cup in 2004, and the Jacques Leglise Trophy in 2017. The course consists of iconic imagery, set against the Atlantic coast among the towering Irish dunelands. Respected American golf author Herbert Warren Wind described Ballybunion as “nothing less than the finest seaside course I have ever seen.”
Famed Irish golf course architect Old Tom Morris designed the original Lahinch course in 1893. Alister Mackenzie, the Augusta National Golf Course designer, updated it in 1927, and Martin Hawtree in 2003. The course features a classic out-and-back layout. Golfers begin in the town of Lahinch and progress outwards to the sea before turning around and concluding their day back in town. Moreover, the course has several unusual holes. The fourth hole, for example, is relatively short for a par 4. However, golfers must begin by hitting up a steep hill, then decide if they should shoot around a gigantic dune or attempt to hit over it and make a blind landing on the green.
Located in Rosapenna, St. Patrick’s Link is one of the newest courses to join the GOLF Top 100 Courses in the World. Tom Doak developed the course in 2021. Despite the course’s short history, it has already cracked the world’s top 50, ranking No. 49 on the GOLF Top 100 list for the 2023-2024 season. The 6,930-yard, par 71 course has received praise for effectively imitating classic links design.
Meanwhile, the Old course at Portmarnock is one of the oldest in Ireland. WC Pickerman designed it in 1894 alongside George Ross and Mungo Park. George Coburn made alterations to the course just two years later. The course provides a premium challenge for experienced golfers, who must battle the elements and develop unique strategies on each hole.
Anyone planning a trip to Ireland should know that Northern Ireland is a separate nation and should adjust travel plans accordingly if they wish to golf in both locations. Old Tom Morris developed Northern Ireland’s Royal County Down course in 1889. Located in Newcastle, the championship-caliber course is one of the world’s most beautiful, and thanks to its location in the Murlough Nature Reserve, various legislative protections exist to ensure this remains the case.
Finally, HS Colt designed the Dunluce course at Royal Portrush in 1929. Like the Old course at Portmarnock, golfers will find that the Portrush-based course has several challenges.
