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Top 100 Golf Courses of Britain & Ireland 2011
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.