In its nearly 150-year history, the British Open has been played outside Scotland and England exactly once — in 1951 at Royal Portrush’s Dunluce Links course. If that’s not a glowing endorsement for being the best course to play on an Ireland golf vacation, I don’t know what is.
Unlike some Ireland golf courses that get by on history alone, the 7,400-yard Dunluce Links, located at nearly the northernmost tip of Northern Ireland, is as brilliant a layout today as it was when Harry Colt (Muirfield, Wentwoth East and West, Sunningdlale New) redesigned it in 1947.
It’s sand-based terrain is highly spirited, rippling, tossing and heaving from start to finish amid fescue-covered sandhills ranging from miniature to massive. Natural sites for tees and greens abound, spawning brilliant golf holes at every turn.
For instance, the first nine boasts two of the finest par-4s among all Ireland golf courses. On the 457-yard fourth, which the club aptly calls “a real par-4 ½ ,” the drive must carry a burn to reach a fairway with a boundary tight on the right and a cavernous bunker on it’s left side. Low dunes pinch the entrance to the green and a steep falloff at the left waits to carry away the long second shot that is even slightly pulled.
The next hole, 380 yards, is regal. The tee is the highest point on the course and affords stirring views of the limestone cliffs of White Rocks, 16th century Dunluce Castle and the Inishowen Head rocks rearing out of the sea. After a wind-riddled drive, you’re left with an approach shot over uneven ground to a two-tiered green perched nobly above the beach.
Memorable holes like these continue on the back nine (unusual for Ireland golf courses, which, having been built as nine-holers, utilize the best land on the front side), further supporting the argument this well-balanced layout is the best one to play on an Ireland golf vacation.
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