Two of the courses most often ranked the best in the world sit at opposite ends of Northern Ireland — Royal County Down under the Mourne Mountains in the south-east, and Royal Portrush out on the Causeway Coast in the north. In May 2027 we’re running a six-day Northern Ireland golf trip that plays both, with the pick of the coast in between.
May’s a good month for it. The days are long, the light holds past ten by the end of the month, and the rough coloured with gorse is at its brightest.
The Golf
Royal County Down, at Newcastle, is Golf Digest’s number one course in the world outside the United States, and has held that spot for six rankings running. It’s a course of blind drives over the dunes and bunkers bearded with marram grass, and the front nine is the stretch people talk about for years. The ninth is the one you’ll know from photographs — a blind tee shot over a dune, then the ground drops away to the town, the steeple of the old Slieve Donard hotel and the Mourne Mountains behind it. Herbert Warren Wind, writing in The New Yorker, called it the sternest examination in golf he’d ever taken — and few who play it argue.
Royal Portrush hosted the Open in 2019 and again in 2025, both on its Dunluce links. It’s a Harry Colt design, and with less sand out there than you’d expect, the wind is the main defence. The hole everyone comes off talking about is the sixteenth, Calamity Corner: a long par three with a deep ravine all down the right of the green. No bunkers on it — miss right and you’re gone.
On the first week you also play Portrush’s second course, the Valley, which sits in a bowl of dunes below the championship links — more sheltered, tighter, quieter, and a proper links in its own right.
Portstewart’s front nine is the reason to play it: nine holes cut through towering dunes, a stretch a Golf Monthly Top 100 panellist called “the most spectacular front nine he’d played in over 430 courses. The first, Tubber Patrick, sets the tone. You tee off from high above the beach, down into a fairway that bends away between the dunes. Jon Rahm won the Irish Open here in 2017.
Ardglass you play for two things. The clubhouse is a castle dating to around 1405, widely reckoned the oldest in the world. And the opening holes run right along the cliffs above the Irish Sea: the second, Howd’s Hole, is a par three carried over a chasm of black rock with the water below. On a clear day you can see across to the Isle of Man.
On the second trip, Castlerock takes the Valley’s place — the lesser-known course on the Causeway coast, though Top 100 reckons it every bit as good as its famous neighbours. The one they talk about is the fourth, Leg o’ Mutton: a par three with the railway line and out-of-bounds tight down the right and a burn down the left — nowhere to bail out. The railway runs through the round, old sleepers marking some of the tees.
Plan Your Northern Ireland Golf Trip
You fly in and out of Dublin, and we take it from there. A private chauffeured coach carries the group all week — nobody’s driving or navigating, you just play. You’re based on the coast, close to the golf, and you finish near Dublin the night before you fly home. The running order differs between the two departures, so here’s each, day by day.
We run this as two set departures. They cover the same coast, but they’re not the same trip — the first plays both Royal Portrush courses and takes up to eight; the second runs the coast the other way, swaps in Castlerock, and takes up to twelve.
Trip 1: May 9 – 15
Group Size: 4/8. Both courses at Royal Portrush
- Sun 9: Arrive
- Mon 10: Royal Portrush – the Valley
- Tue 11: Royal Portrush – the Dunluce
- Wed 12: Portstewart
- Thu 13: Royal County Down
- Fri 14: Ardglass
- Sat 15: Home
SOLD OUT | Trip 2: May 19 – 25
Group Size: 4/8/12. Dunluce at Royal Portrush, Castlerock
- Wed 19: Arrive
- Thu 20: Ardglass
- Fri 21: Royal County Down
- Sat 22: Royal Portrush – the Dunluce
- Sun 23: Castlerock
- Mon 24: Portstewart
- Tue 25: Home
Both weeks include two nights at the Slieve Donard, three at the Adelphi in Portrush, and the last night at the Grand Hotel near Dublin. Six nights, five rounds, a private chauffeured coach all week, breakfast each morning, a Lyons Links gift pack, and Dublin in and out.
Who you’re dealing with
This is home turf for us — a small Irish team, not a reseller. We hold the tee times and we know the people at the clubs, but the real difference is how you’re looked after: a real person who gets to know your group and stays with you from the first email to the final putt.
And the parts no itinerary can list — the coast roads, the pint that closes the day, the locals who’ll talk golf till closing.
Cian Booth Co-owner, Lyons Links
Common Questions
What courses does the Northern Ireland golf trip play?
Royal County Down, Royal Portrush (both trips play the Dunluce), Portstewart and Ardglass. The later departure plays Castlerock in place of the Valley at Portrush.
When does the trip run?
Two set departures in May 2027: 9–15 May and 19–25 May. We can also build private dates around your own group.
How many golfers can join?
Up to eight on the 9–15 May departure and up to twelve on 19–25 May. Other group sizes on request.
Do you play both Royal County Down and Royal Portrush?
Yes — both, in the same six-day week, along with the best of the Causeway Coast links in between.
What’s included in the Northern Ireland golf trip in May 2027?
Six nights’ accommodation, five rounds of golf, a private chauffeured coach all week, breakfast each morning, a Lyons Links gift pack, and Dublin airport in and out.