Royal County Down Golf Club

Royal County Down sits in Newcastle, County Down, framed by the Mountains of Mourne on one side and Dundrum Bay on the other. Founded in 1889, the Championship Links has been shaped by some of the game's most significant architects, George L. Baillie, Old Tom Morris, Harry Vardon, and Harry Colt, and consistently ranks among the top courses in the world.

The course runs through dune land thick with heather and gorse, with blind shots, shifting coastal wind, and greens that are fast, firm, and often raised or domed. It rewards a confident, controlled shot and offers little room for uncertainty.

Royal County Down asks golfers to play true links golf: control trajectory, use the ground, and accept an imperfect bounce as part of the test. It's one of the defining rounds in Irish golf, and for many golfers, one of the reasons they travel to play it in the first place.