Golf Digest Ireland's Top 100 courses for 2015

Royal County Down

It's time for the annual "debate" over the Golf Digest Top 100 rankings and while there will be many who disagree with the order, it has to be said that the readers had a big input this time with 80 golfers from an entry of 2,628 having their views heard.

The Golf Digest Readers’ Panel comprised golfers from all corners of Ireland who were asked to review courses and submit their views, making up 25 per cent of the total vote.

Using a panel of industry experts, Golf Digest Ireland spends months visiting and rating hundreds of Irish golf courses to produce the ranking which, they say, ultimately acts as a very important indicator of the state of Irish golf.

"... at the beginning of each year, we write to every club in Ireland with an 18-hole course and ask if any upgrade work has been undertaken over the previous 12 months or if they felt their position was not justified," writes editor Linton Walsh.

"No fewer than 81 golf clubs wrote back this year, outlining details of various projects they had addressed. That list, combined with the Top 100 from the previous year and the leading 20 golf clubs, which did not make last year’s rankings, were then scheduled for consideration and review. 

"Pádraig O’hUiginn, the former Chairman of Fáilte Ireland, has continued in the role as chairman and for the latest rankings. He was joined by Kate McCann (former Irish international), Valerie Hassett (Munster Interprovincial), Ally McIntosh (GDI course design/columnist), John Kelly (PGA professional and PGA Order of Merit winner), Dougie Heather (former chairman of International Sports Management and former International golfer), Phil Collins (PGA Professional), Linton Walsh (Editor of Golf Digest Ireland), Alan McDonnell (Head Greenkeeper at Adare Manor), Mark Magowan (PGA Professional), Michelle McGreevy (former Irish International), David O’Donovan (Secretary Manager) and Siobhán Cullen (Readers’ Panellist).

"The readers’ panel of 96, undertook their briefing on a beautiful March day. From this group 80 readers were selected to make up our 2014 panel. They went on to generate over 1,384 reports and ranking scores on golf clubs around the country, which accounted for 25 per cent of the final vote. 

"These reports and scores were discussed and, as always, they gave valuable insight through the eyes of everyday golfers, when the main panel met in November. 

"The big news is Royal County Down has regained the top spot as the number one golf course in Ireland and Portmarnock Golf Club has slipped down to second. Adare Manor remains the top parkland in the country and moves up one place in the overall rankings to nine.

"Other notable upward movers were Ballybunion – Cashen (up 10 places), Tulfarris (up 8), Blainroe (up 7), Strandhill (up 6) and Dooks (up 6).

"Co Louth slipped a couple of places due to upgrade work on the course and Glasson (down 9), Headfort - New (down 7), Woodenbridge (down 5) and Dundalk (down 5).

"New entries to the Top 100 list were New Forrest, Dunfanaghy and finally Macreddin coming in at 100."

The scoring system employed to assess golf clubs was as follows:

• Shot making/variety 20 points

• Design Variety 10 points

• Wow factor 10 points

• Memorability 10 points

• Condition 10 points

• Playability 10 points

• Degree of difficulty/fairness 10 points

Golf Digest Ireland's Top 100 for 2015

Position	Top 100 Ranked Golf Courses	Movement
1	Royal County Down	Up 1
2	Portmarnock GC	Down 1
3	Royal Portrush	Same
4	Lahinch	Up 1
5	Waterville	Down 1
6	Ballybunion (Old)	Same
7	Tralee	Same
8	The European Club	Up 1
9	Adare Manor	Up 1
10	Co Louth (Baltray)	Down 2
11	Co Sligo	Up 1
12	Ballyliffin (Glashedy)	Down 1
13	The Island	Up 1
14	The Old Head of Kinsale	Up 4
15	Enniscrone	Down 2
16	Belmullet (Carne)	Same
17	Ballyliffin (Old Links)	Up 4
18	Portstewart (Strand)	Down 1
19	Mount Juliet	Down 4
20	Donegal (Murvagh Links)	Same
21	The K-Club	Up 2
22	Killeen Castle	Down 3
23	Portsalon	Up 2
24	Dooks	Up 6
25	Rosapenna (Sandyhills)	Down 3
26	Portmarnock Hotel Links	Same
27	The Royal Dublin	Same
28	Doonbeg Links	Down 4
29	Carlow	Same
30	Fota Island (Deerpark)	Up 2
31	Lough Erne	Down 3
32	Carton House (Montgomerie Course)	Down 1
33	Narin And Portnoo	Up 1
34	Druids Glen	Up 2
35	Cork	Down 2
36	Rosapenna (Old Tom)	Up 1
37	Concra Wood	Up 4
38	Connemara	Up 4
39	Slieve Russell	Up 1
40	Killarney (Killeen Course)	Down 1
41	Castlerock	Down 3
42	Headfort (New)	Down 7
43	Palmerstown Stud	Up 2
44	Heritage	Up 3
45	Carton House (O'Meara)	Up 1
46	Seapoint	Down 3
47	Malone	Down 3
48	Portrush Valley	Same
49	The K-Club (Smurfit Course)	Same
50	Belvoir Park	Same
51	Bunclody	Up 3
52	Portumna	Up 1
53	Dun Laoghaire	Up 3
54	Luttrellstown Castle	Down 2
55	Tramore	Down 4
56	Ballybunion (Cashen)	Up 10
57	Hermitage	Down 2
58	Powerscourt West	Same
59	Arklow	Down 2
60	Royal Belfast	Up 1
61	Clandeboye	Up 1
62	Castletroy (New)	Up 3
63	Dromoland Castle	Down 3
64	Farnham Estate	Up 3
65	Mount Wolseley	Up 5
66	Powerscourt (East Course)	Up 2
67	Tullamore	Down 2
68	Westport	Down 5
69	Rosslare	Same
70	Strandhill	Up 6
71	Esker Hills	Up 1
72	Galgorm Castle	Up 5
73	Glasson	Down 9
74	Druids Heath	Up 1
75	Dingle (Ceann Sibeal)	Up 3
76	Rathsallagh	Down 5
77	Castlemartyr	Down 4
78	Shannon	Down 4
79	Galway Bay	Up 5
80	Laytown and Bettystown	Up 2
81	Ballinrobe	Same
82	Mullingar	Down 3
83	Knightsbrook	Up 5
84	Tulfarris	Up 8
85	Dundalk	Down 5
86	Grange	Down 3
87	Galway	Down 2
88	Castle	Down 2
89	Ardglass	Same
90	St. Annes	Down 3
91	Blainroe Golf Club	Up 7
92	Headfort Old	Up 1
93	Balbriggan	Down 3
94	New Forest	NEW
95	Killarney Mahoney's Point	Up 2
96	Woodenbridge	Down 5
97	Moyola Park	Down 2
98	Athlone	Down 2
99	Dunfanaghy	NEW
100	Macreddin	NEW

Golf Digest Ireland's Top 30 Parkland Courses 2015

Position	Top 30 Parkland Golf Courses	Movement
1	Adare Manor	Same
2	The Old Head of Kinsale	Up 1
3	Mount Juliet	Down 1
4	The K-Club	Up 1
5	Killeen Castle	Down 1
6	Carlow	Up 1
7	Fota Island (Deerpark)	Up 2
8	Lough Erne	Down 2
9	Carton House (Montgomerie Course)	Down 1
10	Druids Glen	Up 2
11	Cork	Down 1
12	Concra Wood	Up 3
13	Slieve Russell	Up 1
14	Killarney (Killeen Course)	Down 1
15	Headfort (New)	Down 4
16	Palmerstown Stud	Up 1
17	Heritage	Up 2
18	Carton House (O'Meara)	Same
19	Malone	Down 3
20	The K-Club (Smurfit Course)	Same
21	Belvoir Park	Same
22	Bunclody	Up 3
23	Portumna	Up 1
24	Dun Laoghaire	Up 3
25	Luttrellstown Castle	Down 2
26	Tramore	Down 4
27	Hermitage	Down 1
28	Powerscourt West	Same
29	Royal Belfast	NEW
30	Clandeboye	NEW

Golf Digest Ireland's Top 30 Links Courses 2015

Position	Top 30 Links Golf Courses	Movement
1	Royal County Down	Up 1
2	Portmarnock GC	Down 1
3	Royal Portrush	Same
4	Lahinch	Up 1
5	Waterville	Down 1
6	Ballybunion (Old)	Same
7	Tralee	Same
8	The European Club	Up 1
9	Co Louth (Baltray)	Down 1
10	Co Sligo	Up 1
11	Ballyliffin (Glashedy)	Down 1
12	The Island	Up 1
13	Enniscrone	Down 1
14	Belmullet (Carne)	Same
15	Ballyliffin (Old Links)	Up 2
16	Portstewart (Strand)	Down 1
17	Donegal (Murvagh Links)	Down 1
18	Portsalon	Up 2
19	Dooks	Up 4
20	Rosapenna (Sandyhills)	Down 2
21	Portmarnock Hotel Links	Same
22	The Royal Dublin	Same
23	Doonbeg Links	Down 4
24	Narin And Portnoo	Same
25	Rosapenna (Old Tom)	Same
26	Connemara	Up 1
27	Castlerock	Down 1
28	Seapoint	Same
29	Portrush Valley	Same
30	Ballybunion (Cashen)	NEW