I have never been to Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland so when the opportunity came up I knew I had to take it. It’s not often you get the chance to play three great links golf courses in some of the world’s most wild terrain.
Northern Ireland is just a pebble stone throw away and took no more than 30 minutes to get there via plane. The fact you don’t require your passport to enter from England just adds to the ease of this trip and is one of the reasons I will be returning in the New Year! Landing in Belfast we headed off to Bushmills Inn, home of the world famous whiskey, to enjoy a wonderful dinner and a relaxing evening before playing the 2025 Open Championship course the next morning.
Royal Portrush – Dunluce Links
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Famous for Shane Lowry‘s memorable victory back in 2019, Royal Portrush has seen its fair share of golfing greatness and now it was my turn to deliver.
Carved through the sand dunes, the course offers great views of both the sea and the town of Portrush, which you can’t help but notice when you get up on the third tee box. I needed to get there first before I could indulge in the scenery and in order to do that I called upon Mark – who from henceforth shall be known as ‘The Caddie’. I could not recommend enough how awesome it was to have a caddie and also how important it was.
The course knowledge of these individuals is incredible and I would have been lost without him.
(Image credit: Future)
I got the first hole out of the way, hitting a two iron just left of the fairway and opening up my round with a double bogey. Great start. However, for some reason the golfing Gods were looking down on me as I slowly put together what was looking like a semi-decent round. It felt like I hit more fairways off the tee that round than all my other rounds from this year put together.
Of course a good round always helps when judging a golf course, however I couldn’t help but be swept away by the rolling fairways and the purity of the greens. The course was in immaculate condition and played exactly as I would want a links course to do so. It’s no surprise it’s regarded as one of the best links courses in the world.
There were run-offs at every green and if you missed in the wrong places you were more than likely saying goodbye par, hello double.
(Image credit: Tourism Ireland @ Chris Hill)
The Dunluce links is famous its beauty, challenge and championship pedigree, as well as one particular hole – Calamity…
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