What is the best golf course in the world?

For the past several decades, a very small group of elites has batted that distinction back and forth amongst themselves in various magazines and online surveys.

Two of the three courses most recently given the honor are in the U.S.: Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey and Augusta National Golf Club.

The one international name that tends to crop up (even above The Old Course at St. Andrews, my personal #1), is Royal County Down Golf Club in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, which hosts the DP World Tour's Amgen Irish Open September 12-15, 2024.

This week offers an all-too-rare opportunity to see some of the world's best players - including Rory McIlroy - battle one of the very best golf courses on the planet in competition. For McIlroy, this is a rare homecoming to play in Northern Ireland.

As the players attempt to dissect the Old Tom Morris/Harry Colt masterpiece draped over exciting dunes in the shadow of the practically Middle-Earthly Mourne Mountains, they'll need to overcome a slew of partially and fully blind shots, firm turf conditions and ever-present winds that buffet the links, often changing in direction but staying relatively true in intensity.

The last time the Irish Open was held at Royal County Down in 2015, Denmark's Søren Kjeldsen defeated Eddie Pepperell of England and Bernd Wiesberger of Austria in a playoff. Their 2-under-par mark of 282 is the highest winning/playoff score to par in the last 40-plus years of the championship. This week's forecast is typically mercurial, with temperatures barely cracking 60 degrees and winds that will shift from northwest to southwest over the course of the championship.

American golf viewers, on Golf Channel and an exclusive weekend live-stream on GolfPass, should be treated to the full range of televised golf intrigue. If you enjoyed the epic third round at Royal Troon during the 2024 Open Championship - windy and wet, forcing players to open up their full bag of tricks on approach and greenside shots - all four days at Royal County Down should be appointment viewing. At the very least, you should set your DVR.

Royal County Down is special for many reasons. The greatest of them, in my opinion, is that golfers like you and I can access the golf course. Either by staying at the excellent Slieve Donard Hotel (one of Marine and Lawn's growing portfolio of boutique hotels near many top-tier links course) or by snapping up a visitor time, traveling golfers can experience one of the world's greatest golf courses. Green fees have crept up to £425 (just over $556 as of this writing), and while there are good discussions to be had over how much is too much to play golf, if any course is worth the steepest of tariffs, it's Royal County Down.

Golf Packages

Royal County Down Golf Package

FROM $577 (USD)

PHOTOS: Royal County Down Golf Club's Championship Links

Royal County Down starts with a three-hole sprint away from the clubhouse, preparing visitors and members for one of the most beautiful looks in golf when they reach the par-3 4th tee. David Cannon/Getty Images

Like many at Royal County Down, the 5th green sits above its surroundings in the midst of mountains and dunescape. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass

The view from the top of the hill short of the landing area at Royal County Down's 9th hole is one of the best in golf. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass

The 13th hole at Royal County Down is a splendid dogleg-right par 4 with a semi-blind approach. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass

The short par-4 16th is the newest hole at Royal County Down, built in 2004 to add some match-play drama down the stretch. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass

Royal County Down's par-4 17th hole plays over the course's mildest terrain. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass

A view of Royal County Down's par-5 closing hole as it is prepared for the 2024 Amgen Irish Open. Jan Kruger/Getty Images

I played Royal County Down in July and loved every single step of the walk on a breezy, occasionally rainy but overall spectacular summer day. Many of the world's most studied golf architecture writers and aficionados believe County Down's first nine to be the best in golf, and I am inclined to agree. It darts straightaway from the classy clubhouse with a rumpled opening par five along the Irish Sea, followed by two tremendous par fours where both finesse and power are rewarded (only the latter matters on too many courses these days).

Then, when you climb up to the par-3 4th tee and turn back towards the house and the Mourne Mountains, it is as close to a holy moment as can be found on a golf course. The view back down the coast, with the mountains leering over the clubhouse and town of Newcastle, is a searing reminder of golf's magical combination of nature-hike and athletic recreation. It's a gratitude that even the crustiest cynic could hold onto.

Over the next five holes, the drama continues to build, with one first-class golf hole after another until the almost-insane par-4 9th, requiring a blind tee shot seemingly off the edge of a mountain to a broad fairway below, followed by a tricky approach into a dune-swaddled green at the foot of the clubhouse. The physical and mental exhilaration of the journey to that point matches the grandeur of the scenery encountered at every turn.

If there is a light criticism to be leveled at Royal County Down, it is that the back nine doesn't quite reach the literal and figurative heights the front attains. But that's okay, because it is an excellent stretch of golf in its own right. It sits slightly inland from the coast, and while it has its own first-rate holes like the par-4 11th and 13th, the last five holes feel more like an exhalation than a crescendo. Long and straightaway, with bunkers flanking both sides of the fairway, with a dozen and a half of the course's distinctively dastardly bearded bunkers flanking both sides of the fairway, the final hole has the formal dignity of many of links golf's great finishers, but it reads as slightly ordinary on an otherwise extraordinary golf course.

Is Royal County Down the world's greatest golf course? In light of the divine front nine, I would be hard-pressed to argue too passionately with anyone making such a claim. It absolutely is in my personal top 10, but I can't shake the awe of The Old Course at St. Andrews or the strong finish at Royal Portrush (I pitted Portrush and County Down head-to-head here). The great thing about Royal County Down, though, is that any golfer with the desire to see it can - and should - do so.

Royal County Down Golf Club - Championship Course

Newcastle, County Down

Public

4.9285666667

15

Write Review

Stay in the Swing with GolfPass!

Get exclusive tips from the pros, in-depth course reviews, the latest gear updates, and more delivered straight to your inbox.

Subscribe