Ireland's Rankings... The Comparisons

The 14th at Rosapenna (Sandy Hills)

Over the last year or so there have been five major rankings of Irish golf courses. These come from an Irish magazine and four UK golf media. The ranking comparisons are shown in the table below.

The top 30 courses according to Golf Digest Ireland (GDI) are in the left hand column - call these the benchmark as they're taken from the Top 100 Irish Golf courses. The remaining rankings are alongside, showing which Irish courses make the top 100 GB&I ranking. The overall GB&I ranking is then shown in brackets.

National Club Golfer Top 100 GB&I Links Courses

Views over Narin & Portnoo... a course that didn't
make the Top 100

National Club Golfer magazine (a UK publication) has put together a list of the top 100 links courses in the GB&I. Such rankings are always worth a look and especially in the wake of Golf Digest Ireland’s Top 100. Now, one of the most interesting things from an Irish perspective is how a GB magazine has the necessary resources to assess Republic of Ireland courses. 

In the introduction the magazine does spell out how it operated and how it put together its panel of experts... and some serious experts they are - but no Irish golfer/contributor is on the panel. So it raises eyebrows (mine anyway) when Irish courses get so neatly clumped together (38, 39 and 40, and 76, 77 and 78). Given that a third of the world's links are on our shores, shouldn't that be reflected on the panel?