Royal County Down, which hosts the DP World Tour’s Irish Open this week, has regularly been ranked the best golf course in the world. Golf Digest put it in the top spot. So did Golf World. And so, too, did Today’s Golfer. Rory McIlroy is a big fan, too. Back in 2014 he said it was his first choice for 18 holes when he went home to Northern Ireland to play with his friends.
The appeal is obvious. It’s a rugged, dune-laden layout that runs alongside a sprawling beach, overlooking the Irish Sea, with the Mourne Mountains offering a dramatic backdrop. It’s not easy, though. When McIlroy first played the Irish Open there in 2015 he carded an 80 and conditions were so tough in the final round that the winner Soren Kjeldsen could afford to take 76 and still win.
How, then, would a 14-handicapper cope with the Royal County Down test? Matt Cooper headed there to find out.
The front nine
Originally designed by the great Old Tom Morris and tweaked by the likes of Harry Vardon and Harry Colt, the course’s brutal beauty is immediately evident on arrival. The wind is whipping off those dark mountains and hurtling up the first fairway towards the imposing dunes. We’re playing off the yellow tees and the first fairway stretches out in front of us, a ribbon of green between the dunes. The waves are crashing into the beach to our right, but we can’t hear them because the wind is whistling in our ears.
“Pop your drive in the air and let the wind do its job,” I say to myself and, somewhat to my surprise, do just that as a playing partner’s trolley takes a solo, wind-assisted journey towards the sea and across my line. I repeat my “pop it in the air” plan with a 5-wood second and am delighted to find myself 15-feet from the flag on a par-5 in conditions that make keeping the bag on my back extremely difficult. The putt lips out but I’m 1-under and walk to the second tee in a daze whereupon I burst out laughing. The tee box is perched on the beach-side dunes giving a view of the ocean and a glimpse of the fairway hidden between a few sand banks of them.
I make a bogey-5, wish I could play the hole again and more or less have that wish granted because the third is a very similar experience. But I’m so in awe of my surroundings I make double bogey-6 this time. The fourth is a 202-yard par-3 played back towards the clubhouse and into the gale. I suspect the blow is beyond me and am proved right but I scramble for a bogey-4. There is almost no margin of error from the tee but I’ve never felt so beaten up and so happy. The drive at the fifth hits towards the sea, to an angled fairway but the approach is the most open of the day and helps me secure another bogey. No such luck at the sixth. We’re back down wind but at a high point and standing is tricky never mind finding short grass. Double bogey. Then it’s time to turn around again and the par-3 seventh is short (125 yards), even higher than the sixth and scary with long grass and bunkers threatening any errant ball. I miss the green but fluke short grass and scramble a par. The good vibes don’t last. Thick grass gobbles my ball at the eighth and a double bogey-6 feels fortunate. The ninth tee is, like the second tee, a time to laugh. The mountains loom, the red brick turret behind the clubhouse vaguely resembles a lighthouse guiding golfers home, the fairway is in the far distance beyond a saddle of dunes. Walking down that saddle towards the green feels a little like we’re mountaineers descending the foothills after a difficult climb.
The back nine
After another bogey and a cup of tea, we turn around to play the wonderful short 10th. It is played to a green nestled among dunes and bunkers. My tee shot takes a slope on the greens, not exactly on purpose, and leaves a 15-foot birdie putt which never looks like going in but another par puts a smile on my face.
Earlier in the round, hitting into the wind, my 3-handicap playing partner smashed a driver and calculated that it went 160-yards. Now, on the 430 yard par-4 11th his second shot is played with a putter. Admittedly from 50 yards but it was still a huge drive and the longest lag putt I’ve ever seen gives him 12-feet for birdie and he makes it. I make bogey and add a bogey-6 at the long 12th where I learn that having a wind at your tail doesn’t help if you miss the fairway.
The 13th introduces the key feature of the next five holes: the gorse. Green, dense and prickly, no-one actually goes in it but the holes are lined by it and the threat feels real. I hit a shocking drive at 13 but play a blinder with my approach. Quite literally, in fact. I was completely blind when I hit it and had no idea I had found the green until yards from the putting surface but a two-putt ensured another par.
The 14th is the final par-3 and just in case we thought the wind was difficult enough, the rain now throws itself at us from every direction. It’s like playing golf in a washing machine. Another bogey. The 15th and 17th play right back into the wind. And the rain. Exhaustion is also playing a part. Both par-4s stretching beyond 400 yards I feel lucky to scrape a double bogey-6 at the former and a triple-bogey-7 at the latter, tacking across the fairways like a dinghy in a storm. In-between the shorter par-4 16th offers respite with a bogey courtesy of a good chip after three shots played (not on purpose) under the wind. The 18th is long. Very long. 528 yards long. And in the wind it feels at least twice that. There are a lot of bunkers too. Lots and lots of them. No-one likes to close a round with a double-bogey 7 but it could easily have been worse.
So, 90 blows on the par-71 and, despite limping home (literally and metaphorically), I’ve rarely felt happier. Royal County Down is everything you’ve been told. The Game of Thrones is filmed on the Northern Irish coast and the course feels like golf on that sort of scale. The mountains are angry, the beach is widescreen, the dunes are wild, the wind is furious, the tee boxes, fairways and greens are like stage sets – the entire experience is nothing short of epic.
You can book to play the course (on any day bar Wednesday or Saturday) but you’ll need to book long before you play. It’s pricey but there are deals throughout the winter.
*Can anyone play 2025 US Open venue Oakmont Country Club?*
