Destination Golf Ireland 2021
Royal County Down
Royal County Down There is no experience in the world – let alone Ireland – to compare with Royal County Down . Revered and feared in equal measure the course sits under the gaze of the Mourne Mountains and alongside Dundrum Bay . It boasts several terrifying blind shots , heather and gorse strewn dunes , bearded bunkers , greens like velvet , and a terrain of ever shifting surprises . It is magical and it is monstrous . The hands of many of the greatest names in golf have left their imprint here . Old Tom Morris , Harry Vardon and Harry Colt have influenced how this course has come to be known as the world ’ s greatest links and , while the course has evolved slowly , it still feels as if nothing has changed at all . It is timeless .
Ballyliffin ( Old )
The story of Ballyliffin reads almost like a fairytale . Established in 1973 , on the remote Donegal peninsula of Inishowen , the course struggled in the early years . Then Nick Faldo arrives in 1993 and declares it “ the most natural links I have ever played .” He loves it so much that he even tries to buy the place . He fails , but his visit reinvigorates the club … and Ballyliffin has never looked back , adding the exceptional Glashedy course in 1995 , and a new clubhouse in 1999 . Ironically , Faldo was invited back to do some upgrade work on the Old course in the early 2000s . The focus of his changes were to introduce revetted bunkering and new tees , but the heart of the Old course remains … this is a classic links design , sweeping over low , bumpy and unpredictable fairways which almost float towards natural green sites .
Rosapenna ( Sandy Hills ) Rosapenna possesses 45 holes with another 18 ( by Tom Doak ) opening in 2021 . Rosapenna combines the old with the new : Old Tom Morris visited in the 1890s , while Sandy Hills was designed over 100 years later by Pat Ruddy . Given this stormy sea of dunes crashing over high ground , Ruddy must have been in his element as he carved fairways through the natural , rolling contours . Elevated tees promise delicious tee shots onto tossing fairways before rising to beautifully positioned greens . At times it feels as if you only come up for air between holes , to be met by the stunning vistas over Sheephaven Bay .
Ballyliffin ( Glashedy ) The Pat Ruddy-designed Glashedy links opened to great acclaim in 1995 , bringing a whole new golfing allure to Donegal ’ s Inishowen peninsula . These are the most northern golf courses on the island , a landscape of raw beauty , rock , sand and the clean coarse smell of ocean . Many believe it is heaven . What is most remarkable is how different the course is compared to the Old links , which shares the same piece of land . The difference lies in the terrain , with the Glashedy hogging the biggest dunes . Fairways slide so smoothly between them . It creates such an elegant rhythm that you could almost forget how testing this course can be … but only briefly . The many subtle doglegs require pinpoint accuracy off the tee .
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