Kevin Markham takes a close-up look at a selection of Irish and Northern Irish golf clubs with two courses, contrasting and comparing each pair…
Sometimes the choice is easy; sometimes it’s not. If you’re visiting a 36-hole venue, which course do you play if you only have time for 18… or which do you play first if you’re playing both? It’s fair to argue that at some clubs you simply must play both.
Outside Ireland I can give you no finer example than the two heathland wonders at Sunningdale; in Ireland, the Glashedy and Old at Ballyliffin, where each sibling has equal footing and which one you play first should come down to the toss of a coin.
Elsewhere that sibling rivalry is more one-sided. Lahinch, on Ireland’s west coast, has 36 holes but its second course (Castle) cannot possibly compete with the revered Old course. Indeed, many golfers won’t even know the club has a rather charming, if less explosive, links on the inland side of the road.
It is therefore a balancing act trying to decide where you should play all 36 and where 18 will suffice. Each course has merit but with so many Irish and Northern Irish clubs it’s no surprise some lesser-known siblings will be overlooked. The island of Ireland has 15 venues with 36 holes or more. Several have a sibling rivalry that makes them inseparable; others would see one counted out in the first round. That’s not to belittle the less accomplished sibling and, in Lahinch’s case, the Castle course is a less complex and far more playable round of links golf. It is considerably cheaper, too.
Here, we focus on five clubs, north and south of the Border, divided into resort courses, parkland courses and links, offering our relative weighting out of ten to show the balance of power between the two.
l RESORT COURSES
The question of whether both courses at a 36-hole resort are worth your time may be moot. Your package could include a round on each course or it may just make sense (financially and logistically) to play both and stay a night or two. Druids Glen, Carton House and The K Club are cases in point. Even Powerscourt, its 36 holes rolling through a vast estate, has a luxury hotel across from the clubhouse. But, as an aside, it is important to note that these resorts come with five-star luxury attached… which also hints at the quality of the courses.
Druids Glen
Set close to the coast in Co. Wicklow, the resort has the recently renovated Druids Heath, and the even more recently renovated Druids Glen. The latter reopened in 2023 after being closed for 16 months and has turned into quite the masterpiece.
It couldn’t be more ‘parkland’ if i
