Ireland, the Emerald Isle, is possibly the world’s favourite golfing destination and for the first time we’ve decided to produce an all-Ireland Your Top 100 ranking list.
If you travel to Ireland, you’ll need both pounds and euros in your wallet to play some of the world’s greatest golf courses, a number of which are indelibly etched in the golfing soul.
Ballybunion, Royal County Down, Lahinch, Royal Portrush and Portmarnock always appear at the top of the rankings because they are world-class golf courses. A golfing pilgrimage to Ireland is more compelling for many travellers than a trip to the Home of Golf which lies only a few miles to the northeast of Belfast across the Irish Sea.
We’re not the first publication to produce an all-Ireland Top 100 ranking. This was first done by Golf Digest Ireland a couple of years ago. However, we were the first publication to produce a Republic of Ireland Top 100. Our decision to produce an all-Ireland “Your Top 100” was simply based on data, or rather lack of it. We feature around 200 Irish golf courses on the Top 100 website but many of these (especially lower down the list) have not been reviewed and rated by you. The Irish household names have received so many reviews that they leap directly to the top of the list. Royal County Down alone has received a plethora of player reviews.
We’ve taken every Irish player review submitted since 2008 and number crunched the golf ball ratings. Where courses have not received any player reviews since 2008, we’ve gone back further and used that data. We think we’ve produced a unique Irish list of Top 100 of golf courses where old-fashioned classics like Ballybunion and Royal Portrush vie for prominence with the likes of Rosapenna (Sandy Hills) and Lough Erne.
Naturally, not every course on your list will make it into the two “official” Irish lists (Ireland and Northern Ireland) when we re-rank next month. Nonetheless, be prepared for several courses to drop out of the main rankings to be replaced by existing Irish Gems and, perhaps, even a couple of new courses that are not currently featured on the Top 100 website will be new entries.
Your Top 100 Golf Courses in Ireland
1 Royal County Down
2 European Club
3 Royal Portrush (Dunluce)
4 Tralee
5 Ballybunion (Old)
6 Rosapenna (Sandy Hills)
7 Enniscrone (Dunes)
8 Carne
9 Lahinch (Old)
10 Waterville
11 Portmarnock Hotel Links
12 Old Head
13 Druids Glen
14 Ballyliffin (Glashedy)
15 Portmarnock (Old)
16 Belvoir Park
17 Portstewart (Strand)
18 Lough Erne
19 Headfort (New)
20 County Sligo (Championship)
21 County Louth
22 Malone
23 Ardglass
24 Island
25 Moyvalley
26 Doonbeg
27 Seapoint
28 Narin & Portnoo
29 K Club (Palmer)
30 Carton House (Montgomerie)
31 Royal Dublin
32 Portsalon
33 Cruit Island
34 Rathsallagh
35 Rosapenna (Old Tom Morris)
36 Fota Island
37 Druids Heath
38 Palmerstown House
39 Ballyliffin (Old)
40 Donegal
41 Adare Manor
42 Dooks
43 Skellig Bay
44 Castlerock (Mussenden)
45 K Club (Smurfit)
46 Ring of Kerry
47 Templepatrick
48 Royal Belfast
49 Grange
50 Tullamore
51 New Forest
52 Curragh
53 Naas
54 Slieve Russell
55 Dingle
56 Mount Juliet
57 Castle
58 Royal Portrush (Valley)
59 Castlerock (Bann)
60 Lisburn
61 Massereene
62 Cork
63 Tramore
64 Athlone
65 Greenore
66 Castlebar
67 Dungarvan
68 Laytown & Bettystown
69 Strandhill
70 Carton House (O'Meara)
71 Dromoland Castle
72 Galway
73 Woodenbridge
74 St Margaret's
75 Castle Dargan
76 Killarney (Lackabane)
77 Warrenpoint
78 Bearna
79 Carlow (Deerpark)
80 Kirkistown Castle
81 Gracehill
82 Birr
83 Connemara
84 Mullingar
85 Tulfarris
86 Connemara Isles
87 Gowran Park
88 South County
89 Powerscourt (East)
90 Clandeboye (Dufferin)
91 Cairndhu
92 Ballycastle
93 Killarney (Killeen)
94 Heritage
95 Killarney (Mahoney's Point)
96 Hermitage
97 Roganstown
98 Dundrum
99 Malahide
100 Beaufort
