Portmarnock Golf Club
There are some great links golf courses in Ireland but none of the top rated courses are close to Dublin (a favorite European city of mine) except Portmarnock. And make sure if you go you book the golf club not the hotel course. Never played the latter but the golf club is the one ranked so highly in the world rankings and the one I played.
Played here in 2009. My collection of Portmarnock photos are victim to a computer crash that I hope to save some day and update the review. For now, you can find great images around the web. I borrowed the first tee photo below from Wentworth Willie on Google Maps. He has some really good photos of the course but I loved this one because it shows off the first and club house so well.
Portmarnock has one of my favorite first tees in golf. Obviously, this was an exciting round for me, being in Ireland for the first time on a world top-ranked course. The first tee really set up the experience. You’re on this little spit of land between the clubhouse and the back bay, lagoon or whatever it is and you’re looking out across the course in the foreground and seeing the perfect links course roll out before your eyes. I put this first tee up there with Merion, Kapalua, the Greenbrier Old White course, Manufacturer’s (in the Philly area), and Stewart Creek in Alberta (all off the top of my head and am sure I am missing some).
This is classic links with all of the nobs, dunes, bumps and rolls you would expect. It’s got history with Irish Opens and Walker Cups thrown in and has a clubhouse that if I were trying to design one oozing with classic golf feel, this would be the model. I borrowed the photo below from their website.
I played solo here and first thing in the morning. Sometimes I like just playing the round solo and enjoying the course without much concern about score or anything else. I also love a quick pace and I think I was done in about two hours and got back to Dublin without my family even missing me. I didn’t see another soul except a grounds crew worker on 12 where I finally hit a great shot and was within a few inches of a hole in one. I would’ve been pissed if my only hole in one came on a solo round and no one was there to see it but this guy was up by the green. He pointed to my ball when I got up to it and gave me a thumbs up and Irish smile when I tapped it in. Otherwise, I remember playing like poo.
Of course when in Ireland, you have to drink Smithwicks and Guinness! No Miller Lites here. And of course Jameson. Usually not a big whiskey fan, but got an Irish Coffee here to walk the links…what could be more Irish on a chilly summer morning? Grab lunch or dinner in Howth – we went to a place called Aqua down on the pier.
If you go, go to Temple Bar. Don’t believe the BS about it being too touristy. It is of course but if you’re here from the US you are a TOURIST. So enjoy it. We ate at The Quay’s Bar which was really great with walls adorned with portraits of Irish poets and it added to the whole Irish experience. Dublin is just a great city to walk around and stop into a pub and enjoy a pint or two and soak up the welcoming feeling. I included some Dublin photos since I don’t have a lot of course photos.
Update 9/2025: Came back to Dublin during our North Ireland trip. While we didn’t golf, we did hang out in the city and want to add a great restaurant here, The Cellar Bar. Really cool vibe and good food. Also stop in at the Brazen Head, Ireland’s oldest bar. (photos of both below). We did the Guinness tour this trip as well (meh) and around the corner was the Roe & Co Whiskey Distillery tour (better and more personal). But for the Guinness tour we were able to get our own engraved pint glasses. Here’s how I got my glass engraved.
I hate the Cowboys! Also if you’re playing Portmarnock and/or the Island course (or others in the area) and don’t want to stay in the city, the Grand Malahide was nice and we were able to watch the Eagles game at the bar there. It’s out by the airport.
Golf Scrapbook 