The Best Public Golf Courses in Ireland

Ireland has around 400 golf courses crammed into a country smaller than Indiana. The math works out to roughly one course for every 12,000 people, which explains why golf here feels less like a hobby and more like a public utility. The links courses get the attention (and deserve it), but the parkland courses in the interior are strong enough that you could build a trip entirely around them and not feel shortchanged.

Everything on this list is open to visitors. Some are world-famous. Some are local courses where you'll be the only tourist in the clubhouse. All of them are worth the green fee.

The Southwest (Kerry and West Cork)

Ballybunion Old Course is the course Tom Watson fell in love with. He first played it in 1981, became the club's captain in 2000, and has called it the best links course in the world on multiple occasions. It sits on a stretch of cliff-top dunes in north Kerry that makes most coastal courses look landlocked by comparison. The back nine, in particular the run from 11 through 15 along the cliff edge, is as dramatic as links golf gets. The Cashen Course next door (designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr.) plays along the estuary and is a worthy second round. Green fees at the Old Course run €220-280 depending on the season. 

Waterville is at the tip of the Ring of Kerry, which means you'll drive through some of the most photographed scenery in Ireland to get there. Eddie Hackett's original design was upgraded by Tom Fazio, and the result is a links that rewards precision over power. The par-3 12th ("The Mass Hole") plays to a green perched on a ledge above the Atlantic with nothing behind it but water and sky. The town of Waterville is tiny, quiet, and centered entirely around the golf course and a few pubs. That's not a criticism.

Old Head Golf Links in Kinsale occupies an entire peninsula jutting into the Celtic Sea. 9 of the 18 holes have ocean on both sides. The visual spectacle is unmatched in Irish golf, and possibly in world golf. The course itself plays firm and fast, with wind as a constant factor. Green fees are steep (€250+ in season), and some purists argue it's more spectacle than substance, but the setting is so extraordinary that the debate feels beside the point.

Tralee Golf Club was one of Arnold Palmer's course designs, built on a stretch of the Dingle Peninsula that Palmer called "the most beautiful setting I've ever seen for a golf course." It's wilder and more rugged than Ballybunion, with fewer golfers and a routing that climbs and drops through massive dune formations. The 3rd hole, a par 3 called "The Castle" (it plays over actual castle ruins), is unforgettable.

The West Coast (Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo)

Lahinch is the surfing town of Irish golf. It sits on the Clare coast, a few miles from the Cliffs of Moher, and the course has a personality that matches the town: relaxed, slightly eccentric, and deeply loyal to tradition. The goats that roam the course are the unofficial weather forecasters (if they're near the clubhouse, rain is coming). Alister MacKenzie redesigned it in 1927, and the blind par-3 5th ("The Dell") is a love-it-or-hate-it hole that's been there since 1894. Green fees are reasonable for a course of this caliber.

Enniscrone is a links course in Sligo that rarely shows up in the international magazines but consistently ranks in Ireland's top 20 among people who've played it. 27 holes running through tall, wild dunes with views of Killala Bay and the Ox Mountains. The Dunes Nine (the newest addition) is the strongest stretch. Green fees are well under €100, and you'll likely have the course nearly to yourself on weekdays.

Carne Golf Links occupies one of the most remote and spectacular stretches of links land in Ireland: the Belmullet Peninsula in northwest Mayo. Eddie Hackett designed the original 18 holes among dunes that dwarf anything at more famous courses. The Kilmore 9 (added later) is equally dramatic. Getting there requires commitment (it's 4+ hours from Dublin, 3 from Galway), but the isolation is the point. The course feels like it was discovered rather than built.

County Sligo (Rosses Point) sits below Ben Bulben, the flat-topped mountain that dominates the Sligo skyline and shows up in Yeats's poetry. The Championship Course is a proper links that's hosted the West of Ireland Championship since 1923. It's a ball-striker's course: tight lies, firm greens, and wind funneling off Drumcliffe Bay. Green fees are modest. The setting, with Ben Bulben looming over every hole, gives it an atmosphere that pure links courses on flat land can't match.

Northern Ireland

Royal Portrush (Dunluce Course) hosted the Open Championship in 2019 (the first time since 1951) and immediately reminded the golf world why Northern Ireland's coast belongs in the top tier of links destinations. The course is a Harry Colt design with significant modern updates, and it plays along the edge of the White Rocks cliffs with views across to Scotland on clear days. Visitor access is available but limited, especially since the Open return. Book months in advance. The Valley Course is also open to visitors and is a strong, underappreciated layout.

Royal County Down in Newcastle is often ranked the #1 golf course in the world outside the United States. The Championship Course sits beneath the Mourne Mountains, with the peaks visible from nearly every hole and Dundrum Bay along the eastern edge. The front nine, in particular, runs through a corridor of purple heather and gorse that makes the course one of the most visually striking on earth. Visitor access is limited to certain days (check the club's schedule). Green fees are premium but expected at this level.

Portstewart (Strand Course) is 6 miles from Portrush and offers an opening 7 holes through towering dunes that's as good as any stretch in Irish golf. The course underwent a major upgrade and hosted the Irish Open in 2017. It's less famous than its neighbors, which means it's easier to book and less expensive. Locals will tell you the front 9 at Portstewart is better than the front 9 at Portrush. They're not entirely wrong.

Ardglass is a 9-hole-turned-18-hole course perched on cliffs above the Irish Sea, about 30 miles south of Belfast. The clubhouse is a 14th-century castle (literally). The first 6 holes play along the clifftop with sea views on every shot, and the rest of the routing weaves through farmland with views back toward the coast. It's short, quirky, and memorable. Green fees are a fraction of the Portrush/County Down prices.

Dublin and the East Coast

Portmarnock is Dublin's championship links, a 15-minute drive from the airport on a sandy peninsula in Dublin Bay. It's hosted the Irish Open 19 times and the Walker Cup. The course is a traditional out-and-back links with excellent bunkering and greens that reward touch over power. It's a private club, but visitor access is available on weekdays. The easiest big-name course to add to a trip because of its proximity to Dublin.

The European Club in Brittas Bay (about an hour south of Dublin) is the pet project of Pat Ruddy, who designed it, built it, owns it, and has been tinkering with it for over 30 years. 20 holes (you read that right) on a stretch of links land along the Wicklow coast. The routing is unconventional and the personality is strong. Ruddy has famously rejected opportunities to host professional events because he wants the course to remain a place for regular golfers. Green fees are reasonable. It's the most opinionated golf course in Ireland, which is saying something.

Royal Dublin is the second-oldest golf club in Ireland (founded 1885) and plays on Bull Island, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in the middle of Dublin Bay. You can see the city skyline from the course. It's a Harry Colt links that rewards straight driving and good course management. Less dramatic than the Kerry or Northern Ireland courses, but the quality is undeniable and the convenience of playing championship links 20 minutes from Dublin city center is hard to beat.