Royal County Down Golf Club is located in the coastal town of Newcastle in County Down, Northern Ireland (not to be confused with Newcastle in Northern England). Established in 1889, it is one of the oldest golf clubs in Ireland and the British Isles, and one of the pioneering clubs that contributed to the development of golf in the kingdom. By 1899, it had hosted the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship—an amateur tournament that began three years earlier and was considered the premier women’s golf tournament in the British Isles and one of the most significant in Europe until the advent of professionalism in 1976. Additionally, it has hosted the Irish Open three times (1928, 1935, and 2015) as part of the European Tour, the Palmer Cup, the European Women’s Team Championship (2021), and a wide variety of other professional and amateur tournaments.
The club features two courses: the Championship Course, considered one of the best in the world, and its less renowned counterpart, Annesley Links. Shortly after the first nine holes of the Championship Course were completed in 1889, Scottish architect Tom Morris was called in to oversee the work. He immediately added three more holes, and within a few months, an 18-hole course was ready. Although the course has undergone many changes and additions over the years, it is still known as ‘Old Tom’s Course’—a particularly interesting and challenging layout that attracts many professional players, including those in the league of Tiger Woods and Tom Watson, who have played here as part of their preparation for major professional tournaments.
The club is situated in a charming Irish town, featuring the greenest grass in the world, with the dark waves of the Irish Sea nearby. Visits to the course can be arranged in advance, and the town of Newcastle offers a variety of accommodation options in the best tradition of rural Irish hospitality.
Bottom line: Classic Irish excellence at its finest.
