Top 100 Golf Courses of Britain & Ireland 2011

08 December 2010 Respond to this article
Top 100 Golf Courses of Britain & Ireland - 2011 

8th December 2010 

We are pleased to announce our latest Britain & Ireland Top 100 rankings following thorough research and analysis of more than 200 British and Irish courses.   

Breakdown of courses by country:
England (48)
Scotland (26)
Ireland (17)
Northern Ireland (5)
Wales (4)

In a similar vein to our newly published World Top 100, our Britain & Ireland rankings looks very familiar. So let's put the cards on the table. The reality is that there will be few, if any, new contenders for a Top 20 place. There are perhaps thirty courses that vie for a Top 20 spot and the last course to break into that group was Kingsbarns, which opened for play in 2000.  

Castle Stuart is our highest new entry - straight in at position 41. We've featured this Scottish Highland course as a Gem since 2008, a full nine months before it officially opened its tees for play. Mark Parsinen - the man who developed Kingsbarns - also developed Castle Stuart and his ambitious dream is to host a future Open Championship at Castle Stuart. 

As usual, England has more Top 100 ranked courses than any other home country, but what England enjoys in quantity, Scotland has in sheer quality. There are six Scottish courses in the Top 10 alone and we welcome four Scottish new entries, Castle Stuart (41), Panmure (76), Machrihanish Dunes (93) and Montrose Medal (100).  

There is some significant up and down movement for Irish courses, three of which we believe were positioned too far down in our last ranking table. County Louth moves up 23 places, County Sligo rockets 34 places and Mount Juliet jumps 27 spots. We also welcome a new entry, Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links, straight in at 89th.  

Northern Ireland now has five courses in the Top 100 with Lough Erne making its first appearance at 87th. But no course can shake Royal County Down from the head of our table. Since 2005, and for the fourth consecutive time, the famous Newcastle links is our No.1 course in Britain & Ireland. 

To explore our new 2011-2012 Britain & Ireland Top 100 in detail, click here: 


Pos Course Country Move
1 Royal County Down (Championship) Northern Ireland No change
2 Turnberry (Ailsa) Scotland No change
3 Royal Birkdale England Up 3
4 Muirfield Scotland Down 1
5 St Andrews (Old) Scotland Up 4
6 Royal Portrush (Dunluce) Northern Ireland Down 1
7 Kingsbarns Scotland Up 1
8 Royal Dornoch (Championship) Scotland Down 1
9 Carnoustie (Championship) Scotland Up 4
10 Ballybunion (Old) Ireland Down 6
11 Royal St George's England No change
12 Sunningdale (Old) England Down 2
13 Loch Lomond Scotland Down 1
14 Royal Lytham & St Annes England Up 2
15 Portmarnock (Old) Ireland Up 3
16 Woodhall Spa (Hotchkin) England Down 2
17 European Club Ireland No change
18 Lahinch (Old) Ireland Down 3
19 Waterville Ireland No change
20 Royal Liverpool England No change
21 Royal Troon (Old) Scotland No change
22 Ganton England No change
23 North Berwick (West) Scotland Up 2
24 Royal Aberdeen (Balgownie) Scotland Up 4
25 Machrihanish Scotland Down 1
26 Walton Heath (Old) England Down 3
27 Sunningdale (New) England Up 16
28 Royal Porthcawl Wales Down 2
29 Wentworth (West) England Down 2
30 Saunton (East) England Up 11
31 Cruden Bay Scotland Down 1
32 Formby England Up 16
33 Nairn (Championship) Scotland Up 4
34 Royal West Norfolk England Up 13
35 St George's Hill (Red & Blue) England Down 3
36 Gleneagles (King's) Scotland Up 8
37 Western Gailes Scotland Down 2
38 County Louth Ireland Up 23
39 Tralee Ireland Down 3
40 Notts England Up 12
41 Castle Stuart Scotland NEW
42 Prestwick Scotland Down 4
43 Doonbeg Ireland Down 1
44 St Enodoc (Church) England Up 10
45 Burnham & Berrow England Up 30
46 Swinley Forest England Down 17
47 Royal Cinque Ports England Up 3
48 Royal St David's Wales Down 2
49 County Sligo (Championship) Ireland Up 34
50 Rye (Old) England Down 11
51 Enniscrone (Dunes) Ireland Up 6
52 Mount Juliet Ireland Up 27
53 Ballyliffin (Glashedy) Ireland Up 3
54 Silloth-on-Solway England Down 5
55 West Sussex England Down 10
56 Adare Manor Ireland Up 31
57 Hillside England Down 17
58 Rosapenna (Sandy Hills) Ireland Down 5
59 Alwoodley England Down 1
60 Carne Ireland Down 27
61 Old Head Ireland Down 30
62 Berkshire (Red) England Down 8
63 Gullane (No.1) Scotland No change
64 St Andrews (Castle) Scotland Up 5
65 St Andrews (New) Scotland No change
66 Moortown England NEW
67 Hunstanton England Up 21
68 Queenwood England Up 27
69 Dundonald Scotland Up 12
70 Hankley Common England Down 19
71 Blairgowrie (Rosemount) Scotland Up 29
72 Pennard Wales Down 17
73 Grove England NEW
74 Trevose (Championship) England Up 11
75 Berkshire (Blue) England Down 9
76 Panmure Scotland NEW
77 Aberdovey Wales Down 7
78 Machrie Scotland Up 4
79 Chart Hills England Up 5
80 Walton Heath (New) England Down 8
81 Portstewart (Strand) Northern Ireland Up 11
82 Worplesdon England Down 14
83 Castlerock (Mussenden) Northern Ireland Up 10
84 Belfry (Brabazon) England Up 13
85 Woking England Up 5
86 Woburn (Marquess) England No change
87 Lough Erne Northern Ireland NEW
88 Wentworth (East) England Down 10
89 Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links Ireland NEW
90 Lindrick England NEW
91 Sherwood Forest England NEW
92 Royal North Devon England NEW
93 Machrihanish Dunes Scotland NEW
94 Liphook England NEW
95 West Hill England Down 28
96 St Mellion (Nicklaus) England Down 2
97 Southport & Ainsdale England Down 35
98 Bearwood Lakes England Down 38
99 Little Aston England NEW
100 Montrose (Medal) Scotland NEW

This is the second of numerous Top 100 re-rankings which we will be implementing this year. If you'd like to receive further updates from us and you are not already on our mailing list, click here to join.

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