Course review: Royal Portrush
Players approach a par 4 green on Royal Portrush’s Dunluce Links.
Royal Portrush is not just any top tier golf course—it’s had one of the more interesting journeys to reach that status. It is a study of contrasts and tweaks on common themes, and the result is one of the best places to spend an afternoon on the planet.
Apart from Portrush, the current Open rota courses date back to 1897 (Birkdale), 1887 (St George’s), 1878 (Royal Troon), 1869 (Hoylake), 1867 (Carnoustie), and 1552 (!) (The Old Course).
The County Club, as it was originally known, was a 9-holer first laid out in 1888, much closer to the town of Portrush than the current links. It had input from Old Tom Morris, but how much is a matter of debate. It was renamed the Royal County Club in 1892 when it received royal patronage, and was renamed again as Royal Portrush in 1895.
The view towards Giants’ Causeway from the beloved 5th hole, “White Rocks”.
The Dunluce Links, which hosts the open, and the neighbouring Valley Links were designed by Harry Colt (Sunningdale, Muirfield, Toronto Golf Club, Hamilton Golf Club, plus several Dutch gems) in the late 1920s, and laid out in 1932. This means it was laid out 30-50 years later than the other six Open rota courses—or 380, in the case of the Old Course—after aerial golf had become a reality.
Colt was an originator of creating features rather than just finding what already existed on the ground, with a passion for making those features look like they had been there for millennia. The links land in Portrush was a spectacular canvas, and the fact that it sits in Northern Ireland means that it is naturally a more severe and undulating dunescape than is typically found on Scottish links, where the Open is otherwise contested.
Haley tees off “Skerries”, the long par 4 15th.
Many links courses open with a warm handshake; driving ranges were not common (and are still not ubiquitous), so it is normal to have a fairly benign first hole to ease you into a round. Not at Portrush, where OB lines both sides of the first hole and keeping it on the property is the main objective on the first tee.
Portrush is also not a typical out and back links layout like most of its older brothers on the Open rota—it goes out counter-clockwise for 6 holes before turning back inwards, twisting in the interior of the property for 7-15 before resuming the counter-clockwise journey back home at the infamous 16th, “Calamity Corner”.
Three players approach the green on the menacing 16th hole.
The course is spectacular and it is hard. It can be hard to separate your score from your opinion of a golf course, but I had one of the most memorable rounds of my life on the Dunluce links while firing a score 10+ shots higher than my handicap. After a birdie and a few pars around the turn, I commented on still having a blast while being on track to shoot 81. One of our Irish hosts looked at me deadpan and said “you sure about that?”, and was proven right when I finished a good few higher than that.
There aren’t a lot of places that I can’t wait to revisit after being on 90-watch, but Portrush is certainly one.
Got Northern Ireland on the brain? Join us for our 2026 Walker Cup trip where we’re playing Ardglass and Royal County Down, alongside 5 links south of the border.
