Freshly updated for 2025, Links golf in the United Kingdom and the Island of Ireland is the purest form of the game. See which golf courses make the list and have a spot in the most coveted ranking in all of golf. The current ranking of 70 courses is derived from the GB&I Regional Ranking.
Down, United Kingdom
Royal County Down Golf Club is at Newcastle, a little holiday town nestling at the feet of the majestic Mountains of Mourne. It’s an exhilarating location for a classic links golf course...
Fife, United Kingdom
Antrim, United Kingdom
Lothians, United Kingdom
Ayrshire & Arran, United Kingdom
Highlands & Islands, United Kingdom
Kent, United Kingdom
Kerry, Ireland
Clare, Ireland
Angus & Dundee, United Kingdom
No other course has hosted more Opens than the Old Course at St Andrews.
The Dunluce links at Royal Portrush Golf Club is named after the ruined Dunluce castle that overlooks the course. Seven years after the club's formation, the first professional golf tournament in Ireland, won by Sandy Herd in 1895, was staged here.
Muirfield is the course of “The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers” (HCEG), the world’s oldest golf club – according to direct written evidence – formed in 1744.
Trump Turnberry Ailsa stands on the Ayrshire coastline 82km (51 miles) south of Glasgow, commanding views across the Firth of Clyde towards the Isle of Arran and Ailsa Craig. The par-71 links hosted four Open Championships between 1977 and 2009, most famously the 1977 "Duel in the Sun" between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus.
Royal Dornoch Golf Club is spellbinding. It seems to mesmerise amateur and professional golfers from all over the world and many make the pilgrimage to this natural links at some point in their lives.
There's nothing artificial about Royal St George’s Golf Club; there's a natural look and feel to the course that blends beautifully into its historical Sandwich surroundings.
As you drive from the historic town of Ballybunion, along the winding road to the golf club, your eyes feast upon the most spectacular links land imaginable.
Lahinch Golf Club is situated next to the lovely beach of Liscannor Bay. It's an enchanting place to play golf... rugged, distinctive, unusually varied and immensely entertaining.
Carnoustie is a big natural seaside golf links and the Championship course is considered to be one of the most difficult in the British Isles.
