Top 100 Golf Courses of Ireland 2016
Top 100 Golf Courses of the Republic of Ireland 2016
We present the latest edition of our updated Irish Top 100 rankings
Top 100 Golf Courses maintains a ranking chart for the twenty-six counties that comprise the Republic of Ireland and we revise the positions in that list every two years. It’s now time to publish our biennial update for the Emerald Isle so, without further ado, we present the latest edition of our Irish Top 100.
Just like two years ago, when we last updated our standings, there are no wild fluctuations in the upper reaches of the chart, with the top five positions remaining exactly the same as last time. Truth be told, those same five courses are the only ones to occupy the top five spots in our chart since we first began ranking courses for Ireland in 2006.
And so, we have the Old courses at Ballybunion and Lahinch at positions 1 and 2, followed by Portmarnock’s Championship 18-hole layout at number 3, Waterville at number 4 and the European Club at number 5. Such is the calibre of this handful of mighty links layouts, each of them also figures prominently in both our Great Britain & Ireland Top 100 and World Top 100 rankings.
There’s a little movement in the second half of the national Top 10 where the highly regarded County Louth course at Baltray rises two places to number 6, the Tom Craddock and Pat Ruddy co-designed Glashedy layout at Ballyliffin moves up one slot to number 8, the no-frills Island course at Donabate eases up one spot to number 9 and Eddie Hackett's original 18-hole Carne layout at Belmullet climbs three positions to number 10.
Further down the new chart, seven courses make big double-digit upward moves. On the east side of the country in County Wexford, Bunclody (up twelve to 46) is a modern Jeff Howes design that only opened in 2009 whilst 100 miles to the north, the course at Laytown & Bettystown in County Meath soars a sensational seventeen places to number 57.
Three County Wicklow tracks take significant strides up the chart: Dun Laoghaire (up ten to 60), is a new millennium Martin Hawtree offering, the East course at Powerscourt (up twenty-nine to 63), is a mid-1990s Peter McAvoy layout that now jumps ahead of its younger sibling the West, and Macreddin (up fifteen to 75), which is Paul McGinley’s well-received first design.
On the west side of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, Christy O’Connor Jnr’s early 1990s layout at the Galway Bay golf resort moves up eleven slots to number 66 whilst Ballinrobe, one of Eddie Hackett’s final projects, leaps ten places to number 84.
Cruit Island, Moyvalley, Kilkenny, Bearna and Nenagh make way for five new entries. The first of these is Roganstown at number 94, which is actually a re-entry, having featured in editions 2 and 3 of our Irish chart in 2006 and 2008. Another County Dublin course, Balbriggan, makes its debut at number 96 and this striking layout is an Eddie Connaughton upgrade from just a few years ago.
Dundalk is another re-entry at number 98 – having been included in three of our previous charts between 2008 and 2012 – with the final two newcomers coming from County Donegal: the links at North West (new at number 95) belongs to one of the original nine clubs that formed the Golf Union of Ireland in 1891 and the course at Dunfanaghy (new at number 99) is an old Harry Vardon design dating back over a hundred years to 1905.
We always welcome comments when we publish updated national rankings so please feel free to let us know what you think of our new Top 100 for the Republic of Ireland. Have we omitted a layout which really should be in our chart, or have we included a course that really doesn’t deserve to be there? Maybe there’s a particular track riding too high in the chart or there’s one lying too low in the standings? Please click the “Respond to this article” link at the bottom of the page if you’d like to share your opinion.
To view the complete detailed list of the Top 100 Golf Courses in Ireland click the link. To see the revised Best In County rankings for each of Ireland’s twenty-six counties, click the following links: Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow.
Jim McCann
Editor
Top 100 Golf Courses