A Northern Ireland Golf Tour

3 courses: Royal Portrush, Royal County Down and which other other course should make up the triumvirate?

Looking to do this in early December.

Its got to be Holywood Golf Club doesn't it?

Port Stewart, Castlerock and Faldo's Lough Erne might be worth a look

Ardglass is a hidden gem if you want to keep the costs down, not far from RCD and really good fun to play. Opening 5 holes along the cliffs are really spectacular. But why limit yourself to NI? If you are going up to Portrush, you are not far from Ballyliffen or Rosapenna which are in Eire and they are very good courses too.

delToro87 wrote:Its got to be Holywood Golf Club doesn't it?

Holywood is not that great (not awful by any stretch, but not anything like RCD or RPG) - if you want to go there for the McIlroy connection fine. As D4S said if you want to keep it links, then Ardglass is a great shout. If you want to go parkland, then Belvoir in Belfast is excellent, and before McIlroy built his own practice facility, he played there a lot in his down time because he said the greens were the closest to the tour (I believe they made him an honorary member). Royal Belfast is very good too, and generally easier to get on to.

Lough Erne is a cracking course but expensive (not that RCD or RPG are cheap), but just south of the border at Castleblaney is Concra Wood, which is almost identical to Lough Erne but is a third of the price to play (the bank have taken it over).

Played Faldo's Loch Erne course over the summer. Very impressive, though expensive. Comes with my recomendation though. Highlight of my round was a par 5 on the 16th (not that anyone asked). Spectacular scenery.

Bob_the_Job wrote:

delToro87 wrote:Its got to be Holywood Golf Club doesn't it?

Holywood is not that great (not awful by any stretch, but not anything like RCD or RPG) - if you want to go there for the McIlroy connection fine. As D4S said if you want to keep it links, then Ardglass is a great shout. If you want to go parkland, then Belvoir in Belfast is excellent, and before McIlroy built his own practice facility, he played there a lot in his down time because he said the greens were the closest to the tour (I believe they made him an honorary member). Royal Belfast is very good too, and generally easier to get on to.

Lough Erne is a cracking course but expensive (not that RCD or RPG are cheap), but just south of the border at Castleblaney is Concra Wood, which is almost identical to Lough Erne but is a third of the price to play (the bank have taken it over).

Yeah, to be honest I haven't ever played there to be able to assess it as a course, but as well as Rory my Grandad was a member there and played there regularly until his mid-80s, and my Mum grew up not far at all from the course, so I naturally have a huge bias towards it. Of course, these sentimental factors don't apply to the OP I'm sure!

I was there playing just last weekend and can only reiterate what others have said about Ardglass. A real treat to play and pretty reasonably priced.

Have heard pretty good things about Malone if you needed somewhere to play on the way to the airport as well.

A few to consider above and beyond what has been said above. Look at the clandeboye, two excellent courses (dufferin and Ava). Galgorm castle hosts europro tour events and a good test of golf. Portstewart strand is fantastic and castlerock very good too. You must be rich mercurio as RCD will set you back way over £120 and RPR something similar! Try Ballycastle for some fun every wednesday is an open comp and just £15 entry, you may need a cheap round after RCD and RPR!!!

If you're looking for a hidden gem, I'd highly reccommend Gracehill. It's a relatively new parkland course not too far from Portrush, lots of water and trees, and cheap. I'm not sure what it would be like in December though, but it'd still be my third choice.