The Complete Guide to Royal County Down

This guide is for the trip captain who has Royal County Down at the top of the list and needs to turn it into a week. It covers the club's history in short, five holes to know before you play, the rules that decide your dates, how to get to Newcastle from Belfast or Dublin, where to stay, and a six-day route north to Royal Portrush.

Royal County Down history

The club was founded in 1889, and Old Tom Morris extended its first course to 18 holes. Harry Vardon, James Braid and Harry Colt all shaped it after him. The links runs through dunes on Dundrum Bay, next to the Murlough nature reserve, with the Mourne Mountains behind it. The view from the 9th tee is the one people know, and the song line it brings to mind is Percy French's, from 1896: "where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea."

The big amateur and professional events have come here:

• 2007: the Walker Cup. The United States beat Great Britain and Ireland 12½–11½.
• 2015: the Irish Open. Søren Kjeldsen of Denmark won it in a three-man playoff.
• 2024: the Irish Open again. Rasmus Højgaard, another Dane, closed with a 65 and beat Rory McIlroy by a shot, after McIlroy missed an eagle putt on the 18th that would have forced a playoff.

Golf Digest's 2026–27 list of the world's greatest courses outside the United States has Royal County Down at No. 1, for the sixth ranking in a row, and demand for visitor times has risen with it: The Irish Times reported in August 2026 that the club sold its 2027 allocation of visitor tee times in seven hours, and that the green fee had risen from £255 in 2022.

The holes to know on the Championship Links

The Championship Links is a par 71 of 7,206 yards from the blue tees and 6,668 from the yellow. We don't hold a checked hole-by-hole scorecard for it, so the table gives par only.

Blind shots, gorse and bearded bunkers

Five of the tee shots in the first 11 holes are blind, according to GolfPass's review, and often the only line is a post or a white stone on top of a dune. Off the fairway the ground is heather and gorse, where a ball a few feet into the rough can be lost. The bunkers have ragged lips of marram grass and heather, which make a clean escape harder.

4th and 9th

The 4th is a long par 3 that has to carry the gorse all the way to a green surrounded by bunkers. On the 9th you drive over the dune toward a marker post, and the ball drops about 60 feet to a fairway you can't see from the tee. From that tee you see the course, the Slieve Donard hotel and the Mournes behind it.

Royal County Down green fees, visitor days and caddies

Visitors play on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, and never on Wednesday or Saturday. The 2027 visitor season runs from 19 April to 15 October. The club doesn't publish clock times for visitors, and it describes its visitor times as exceptionally limited.

The rest of what a group needs to know:

• Caddies: every group takes one or more. A caddie carrying one bag is £75 and a forecaddie for the group is £110, and both are paid in cash once you finish. Arrive without one booked and the club puts a forecaddie with you.
• Walking: there are no buggies (carts) on site. An electric trolley, a powered pull cart, is £40, and hire clubs are £70.
• Your group: all play is in fourballs, so a smaller group may be joined by other golfers.
• Handicaps: none is published in our checked data. Bring a certificate for each golfer.
• On the day: be on the 1st tee to meet the Starter 10 minutes or more before you're due off. Blue denim, collarless T-shirts and cargo shorts are among what the club won't allow.
• The Annesley Links: the club's second course is £150 in 2027 and takes visitors on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

If 2027 is already full, ask about cancellations, or plan the trip for 2028. The Royal County Down course page keeps the visitor rules up to date, and the Co. Down golf guide pairs it with Ardglass over three days.

Getting to Newcastle, Co. Down

Newcastle is the seaside town at the foot of the Mournes. Drive times below are best-case road-routing figures without traffic.

Dublin is in the Republic of Ireland, which uses the euro. Northern Ireland is part of the UK and uses the pound, so you'll need both currencies on a trip that starts in Dublin. Americans need a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), £20 on GOV.UK, to visit Northern Ireland. UK guidance says that applies when you drive up from Dublin too, although there are no checks at the land border.

Where to stay near Royal County Down

Stay in Newcastle. The Slieve Donard is next to the course, close enough to walk to the 1st tee, and the Burrendale is a few minutes away by car. A hotel near Belfast suits a group that wants a last night close to the airport.

• Marine & Lawn Slieve Donard

  Newcastle · a Victorian resort beside the course, with a golf concierge, a spa and a pool

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• The Burrendale Hotel, Country Club & Spa

  Newcastle · 4-star, 68 rooms refurbished in 2025, about 5 min by car

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• Culloden Estate & Spa

  Holywood, outside Belfast · about 55 min to the course, and handy for a last night by Belfast City Airport

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• Galgorm Resort

  Ballymena · 1 h 25 min away, and better placed for the north coast

  View hotel →

Things to do in Newcastle besides golf

The Murlough National Nature Reserve is next to the links on Dundrum Bay. The National Trust owns it: a 6,000-year-old dune system, managed as Ireland's first nature reserve since 1967, with paths and boardwalks through the dunes, woods and heath, and a beach below the Mournes. Its car park is pay and display, by card only.

Slieve Donard, at 850 m (2,789 ft), is the highest of the Mourne Mountains, and you can climb it from Donard Park in Newcastle. The Glen River route is 2.9 miles each way. WalkNI grades it very strenuous, so keep it for a day without golf.

Where else to play near Royal County Down

Ardglass is the natural second round in Co. Down. The north coast courses are 1 h 55 min away and need their own nights, and the Dublin links make sense on the way up from the airport. golftripbuilder.com has a page for each course below, with its visitor days and fees.

• 

  Ardglass

  30 min

  Cliff-top links by the Irish Sea. Visitors play any day, but on Saturday and Sunday mornings the course belongs to the members.

  View Ardglass →
• 

  Royal Portrush

  1 h 55 min

  The Dunluce Links, where The Open was played in 2019 and 2025. Visitor windows six days a week, none on Wednesday.

  View Royal Portrush →
• 

  Portstewart

  1 h 55 min

  The Strand course, 15 minutes from Portrush. Visitors play daily around members' times, with afternoon starts at weekends.

  View Portstewart →
• 

  County Louth

  1 h 25 min

  Baltray, 45 minutes north of Dublin Airport and on the way to Newcastle. It hasn't published 2027 visitor days yet.

  View County Louth →
• 

  Portmarnock

  1 h 50 min

  About 20 minutes from Dublin Airport. Visitors from April to September, in set windows on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

  View Portmarnock →

For the north coast end of the trip, read the complete guide to Royal Portrush. If the week continues south into the Republic, the Lahinch guide and the Ballybunion guide cover Clare and Kerry.

Your Royal County Down Golf Trip Starts Here

Play Royal County Down, Ardglass, Portstewart and Royal Portrush in six days, flying in to Dublin. Treat it as a starting point: every date, course and hotel can be changed.

Each round falls on a day its club takes visitors. Royal County Down comes first, on a Monday. Ardglass follows on Tuesday, when there are no members' mornings to work around. Wednesday, when neither Royal County Down nor Royal Portrush takes visitors, is the drive north and a round at Portstewart. Drive times are taken from the same road-routing table golftripbuilder.com uses on every course page, and they don't allow for traffic.