The Top Ranked Golf Courses in Northern Ireland

There are some great golf courses in N Ireland. Golf Digest Ireland has ranked the top 100 courses in Ireland, a few of which are among the top ranked within Britain. These are the highest ranked N Ireland courses in Golf Digest Ireland's rankings.

Portstewart Strand  

Portstewart Strand course is one of the top ranked courses in N Ireland. The course is set among gigantic sand dunes alongside the Inishowen peninsula and Causeway Coast. From its championship tees it is a 6,912 yard golf course. There's plenty of great holes at this course, but it's the first opening hole, a downhill 425 yard par-4, that is perhaps the most exciting.  

Mount Juliet Golf Course

This golf course is ranked at 15^th within their rankings. The course is located in a country estate just outside Thomastown. It extends up to 7,112 yards, although this can be more like 5,554 yards from other tees. Mount Juliet has a wooded layout with holes that have plenty of trees and rolling fairways. Water also comes into play on eight of the course's holes. The most notable holes on this course are its finishing holes that include lake alongside their fairways and greens.

Royal Portrush G.C.

The Royal Portrush Dunluce Course is one of N Ireland's foremost golf courses that is approximately 7,143 yards. This is located at the Causeway Coast, close to Dunluce Castle. It is more famous as the one golf course in N Ireland that has hosted a major golf championship, that of the British Open.

Among its signatures holes is the fourth. That's a long par-4 golf hole that extends some 480 yards. Several bunkers run alongside its undulating fairway, and the green is located between two small sand hills.

Royal County Down G.C.

The top ranked golf course in Ireland, and beyond the United States, is that of Royal County Down. This is located below the majestic Mountains of Mourne. Combined with the Dundram Bay coastline it is a scenic golf course with great landscapes. Royal County Down G.C includes an exhilarating front nine routed near the sea which have dunes that rise some 40 feet above you.  

The ninth 486 yard par-4 is among the course's highlights. Here you play from an elevated tee atop a hilltop, with the fairway some 80 feet below it. As such, it provides an ideal vantage point for the surrounding landscape. Along the fairway there is a wide corridor which sits between a couple of sand hills. It is ranked among the great 18 holes in the sport.

These courses are great venues for golf. They are among the top ranked courses in Golf Digest's rankings. For the full rankings check out this page.