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Destination Spotlight: Golf in Ireland

golf

May is Golf Month here in the U.S., and we’re excited to highlight some of the incredible courses you can visit on a WorldStrides Sports golf tour to Ireland. 

First, some history: Ireland’s first golf club, the Royal Curragh Golf Club, was founded in 1858 in County Kildare. The Emerald Isle, often referred to as the “Green of Dreams,” is home to more than 400 world-class courses (many links-style) and was named Europe’s Best Golf Destination at the 2020 World Golf Awards. Today, Ireland has the fourth most golf courses per capita in the world. Let’s hit the range!

Bearna Golf Club | County Galway

  • Type of course: Parkland
  • Par: 72
  • Length: 6,174 meters
  • Fun fact: Practice your Irish—until recently, this was a solely Irish-speaking area and many surrounding town names date from medieval times.

Enniscrone Golf Club | County Sligo

  • Type of course: Links
  • Par: 72
  • Length: 6,430 meters
  • Fun fact: Enniscrone is consistently ranked in the top 20 best courses in Ireland.

Esker Hills Golf Club | County Offaly

  • Type of course: Inland links
  • Par: 71
  • Length: 6,799 meters
  • Fun fact: Shane Lowry’s home course!

Royal Dublin Golf Club | Dublin

  • Type of course: Links
  • Par: 72
  • Length: 6,647 meters
  • Fun fact: Located on Bull Island (Ireland’s first designated UNESCO Biosphere Reserve), the course, which is the oldest in Dublin and second oldest in the country, was used as a rifle and artillery range during World War I.

The Island Golf Club | Dublin

  • Type of course: Championship links
  • Par: 72
  • Length: 5,772 meters
  • Fun fact: Bordered by the sea on three sides, The Island Golf Club was founded by ten members of the Royal Dublin Golf Club who were unhappy that golf was forbidden to be played on Sundays.

The European Club | County Wicklow

  • Type of course: Links
  • Par: 71
  • Length: 6,725 meters
  • Fun fact: Tiger Woods holds the course record at 67.

 

What else can you see and do in Ireland with WorldStrides Sports? 

For starters, visit one of Ireland’s six national parks for a taste of the country’s natural beauty. Enjoy a walking tour of Galway, one of the jewels of West Ireland, with a stop at the Galway Cathedral. Spend a day visiting the Burren and Cliffs of Moher, which plunge 700 feet down to the Atlantic Ocean. See Bunratty Castle, the most complete castle in the country, and then head to Dublin. There, you’ll discover Trinity College (the oldest university in Ireland) and see the Book of Kells, a Latin manuscript containing the four Gospels that is believed to date back to 800 A.D.

Do you have a golf course bucket list? Let us know where you’re dying to play!