Dungannon

Dungannon Golf Club is one of the oldest clubs in Ireland. Along with Aughnacloy and Killymoon from County Tyrone, the club was one of the nine founding members of the Golf Union of Ireland in 1891, just one year after its own formation. Interestingly, all nine of the inaugural GUI committee originated from the province of Ulster.

Like many golf clubs, Dungannon started out with a 9-hole course which was eventually expanded to an 18-hole layout in the mid-1960s. A new clubhouse was constructed at the start of the millennium and four holes remodeled (3rd, 8th, 9th and 17th) around the same time, after additional land became available to the north east of the property.

The old front nine holes are laid out on a fairly level landscape, with the newer holes on the inward half routed across more undulating terrain. Six greens on the back nine (10 to 13, 15 and 16) were redesigned to USGA specification by architect Patrick Merrigan in 2009 and they’ve greatly increased the challenge on this stretch of holes.

The layout measures 6,151 yards from the back markers and it’s somewhat unusually configured with five par threes and five par fives on the scorecard. The 159-yard 9th is undoubtedly the signature hole. Named “Darren Clarke,” after Dungannon’s most famous golfing son, this short par three features a lovely crescent-shaped green which sits behind a protecting pond.