Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Golf Digest Ireland Top 100 (2015)

View of Galgorm Castle's 3rd green.
The Golf Digest Ireland Top 100 Rankings are done and dusted for 2015. If you're after the 2016 ranking (and the many issues involved), click this link.

I've added the rankings from the last 3 and 4 years to show the major shifts! The top 10 have moved marginally in those years, but all have remained in the elite top 10.

County Sligo, Ballyliffin (Glashedy) and The Island are banging on the door, but for the past four years they haven't managed to break through. Adare remains the only parkland to make that elite Top 10.

On The Way Up
Those showing meteoric rises over the past five years include:

Ballybunion (Cashen), up 37 places to 56th.
Rosslare, up 29 places to 69th.
Narin & Portnoo, up 18 places to 33rd.

Rosslare's 6th hole
Consistently steady climbers over the last four years include Galgorm Castle (72) up 16 places, Galway Bay (79) up 17 places, and Ceann Sibeal (75) up 23 places. And then there's Old Head, up 10 places to 14th... a Top 10 next year??

On The Way Down
On the other hand, courses like Dundalk, Grange, Ardglass and Westport are in a steady decline. So too is Killarney (Killeen), falling 17 places in five years from the lofty heights of 23rd to 40th. That's a surprising fall for a course that held the Irish Open so recently.

Down and Out
Meanwhile, five years ago, Bantry Bay (70) and Kilkenny (66) were going along nicely, but have since vanished from the top 100 altogether. Skellig Bay, too, has done an impressive disappearing act.

Macreddin makes the cut... finally... at number 100.
A Pinch of Salt
As always these rankings are going to get grief - no ranking is going to satisfy everybody - so take them with a pinch of salt and use them for 'discussion' purposes.

I'm sure you'll find plenty of surprises and omissions. Where's North West, Portarlington, Birr, Rathcore... the list goes on. Let's hear your thoughts as to what should go where, and why!!

Here's the Ranking for 2015:


2015 2014 2013 2012 2011
Royal County Down 1 2 1 1
Portmarnock 2 1 2 2
Royal Portrush 3 3 3 3
Lahinch 4 5 5 6
Waterville 5 4 4 4
Ballybunion (Old) 6 6 6 5
Tralee 7 7 8 7
The European Club 8 9 7 8
Adare 9 10 10 10
County Louth (Baltray) 10 8 9 9
County Sligo (Rosses Point) 11 12 11 11
Ballyliffin, Glashedy 12 11 12 13
The Island 13 14 14 12
The Old Head of Kinsale 14 18 22 24
Enniscrone 15 13 13 14
Belmullet, Carne 16 16 20 21
Ballyliffin, Old Links 17 21 21 22
Portstewart, Strand 18 17 15 17
Mount Juliet 19 15 16 15
Donegal 20 20 18 16
The K-Club, Palmer 21 23 19 20
Killeen Castle 22 19 17 18
Portsalon 23 25 25 27
Dooks 24 30 32 33
Rosapenna, Sandy Hills 25 22 28 25 21
Portmarnock Links 26 26 23 31
Royal Dublin 27 27 24 19
Doonbeg 28 24 26 23
Carlow 29 29 27 29
Fota Island, Deerpark 30 32 37 40
Lough Erne 31 28 29 32
Carton House, Montgomerie 32 31 30 28
Narin And Portnoo 33 34 38 43 51
Druids Glen 34 36 39 37
Cork 35 33 31 30
Rosapenna, Old Tom Morris 36 37 34 34
Concra Wood 37 41 40 38
Connemara 38 42 44 48 56
Slieve Russell 39 40 41 45
Killarney, Killeen 40 39 33 26 23
Castlerock 41 38 35 35
Headfort, New 42 35 36 36
Palmerstown Stud 43 45 50 46
The Heritage 44 48 48 44
Carton House, O’Meara 45 46 46 49
Seapoint 46 43 43 42
Malone 47 44 52 52
Royal Portrush, Valley 48 48 55 58
The K-Club, Smurfit 49 49 42 41
Belvoir Park 50 50 51 51
Bunclody 51 54 57 59
Portumna 52 53 54 53
Dun Laoghaire 53 56 49 55
Luttrellstown Castle 54 52 45 39
Tramore 55 51 47 47
Ballybunion, Cashen 56 66 79 81 93
Hermitage 57 55 58 57
Powerscourt, West Course 58 58 53 50 38
Arklow 59 57 61 65
Royal Belfast 60 61 63 71
Clandeboye Dufferin 61 62 66 66
Castletroy 62 59 59 63 85
Dromoland Castle 63 60 65 69
Farnham Estate 64 67 60 54 48
Mount Wolseley 65 70 62 64 76
Powerscourt, East Course 66 68 68 75
Tullamore 67 65 70 61 53
Westport 68 63 64 56 45
Rosslare 69 69 76 81 98
Strandhill 70 76 74 78 83
Esker Hills 71 72 82
Galgorm Castle 72 77 86 88
Glasson 73 64 56 62
Druids Heath 74 75 67 70
Castlemartyr 74 73 72 76
Dingle, Ceann Sibeal 75 78 81 98
Rathsallagh 76 71 69 67
Shannon 78 74 73 73
Galway Bay 79 84 87 96
Laytown and Bettystown 80 82 77 77
Ballinrobe 81 81 80 90
Mullingar 82 79 85 80
Knightsbrook 83 88 92 85 79
Tulfarris 84 92 91 94
Dundalk 85 80 71 60 50
Grange 86 83 78 74
Galway 87 85 88 87
Castle 88 86 83 79
Ardglass 89 89 75 71
St. Annes 90 87 84 82
Blainroe 91 98
Headfort (Old) 92 93
Balbriggan 93 90 89 92
New Forest 94
Killarney, (Mahony’s Point) 95 97 95
Woodenbridge 96 91 100 100
Moyola Park 97 95
Athlone 98 96 99
Dunfanaghy 99
Macreddin 100
Courtown 90 89
Bantry Bay 93 86 70
Kirkistown Castle 94 93
St. Margaret’s 96
Kilkenny 97 83 66
Skellig Bay 98 84

The glories of County Sligo... views down the 17th.

And, at the very least, let the rankings inspire you into trying out a new Irish golf course or two next year.





10 comments:

  1. It's a shame Portarlington GC is not on this list

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well done Dunfanaghy for making the top 100. Cracking wee course with some classic links holes and always in great shape.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the book and the blog Kevin. I did a tour of the northern half of Ireland last year with two friends playing 13 courses in 14 days. Started at The island (fantastic), Co Louth, Portmarnock, RCD, Royal Belfast, then Portstewart, Royal Portrush, Ballyliffin, Rosapenna, Donegal, Enniscrone then Co Sligo. We loved them all and plan to return this Sept to play the south! If you'd like to join 3 Aussies please do! My comments - I thought Enniscrone, The Island and Co Sligo are all more enjoyable than Portmarnock. Cheers Scott

    ReplyDelete
  4. Greenore GC in Carlingford should be in the top 100! iv played many courses on the list, and I definitely think Greenore should be there. Currently me and a few friends are travelling around Ireland trying to play every course on the list. Baltray has been the pick of the bunch so far, amazing links course.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Glad to see that Narin and Portnoo has moved up the lists to #33. Terrific course through the dunes and by the ocean with great views. Great fun to play.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Can't believe Wicklow is not in there !!'

    ReplyDelete
  7. I once had a chance to visit Waterville golf course. Its in amazing shape, i think it deserves even better score.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Kevin
    Can you please tell us how you work out what makes a good course.
    Is it condition of tees, fairways, bunkers greens ? Or is it length and does the pro shop or club house come into it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's a difference between what makes a good course and what makes a good golf experience... I'd include facilities (clubhouse, range, Pro shop etc), scenery/setting and green fees in the 'golf experience', but if you're asking what makes a good golf course then those factors don't matter (although scenery does to some extent). In my view, a 'good golf course' is one that thrills you one hole after another, that has a logical flow and makes full use of the space provided. I'd also say that a course shouldn't be made difficult just for the sake of it - I think Pat Ruddy's courses are very good but they're actually too tough for a lot of golfers. Conditioning is obviously important but you have to have a smart design that asks questions of the golfer. There are a couple of Dublin clubs in excellent condition but the holes/course lack interest. Essentially, what makes a good course for me is one that makes me want to go straight back to the 1st tee after I've played it and that makes me look forward to every shot and every hole.

      Delete
  9. Was at Ballybunion this past April visiting a friend who lives near there. Very beautiful course. Truly something else.

    ReplyDelete