Tag: Royal County Down

Golfweek’s Best 2023: Top 50 classic courses in Great Britain and Ireland

The traditional links courses find spots of honor on this ranking of the best classic courses in Great Britain and Ireland.

Welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2023 rankings of the Top 50 classic courses in Great Britain and Ireland – built before 1960 – as determined by Golfweek’s Best raters.

The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final rating for each course. Then each layout is ranked against others in Great Britain and Ireland to produce the final rankings.

Listed with each course below is its average ranking, location, designers and year opened.

*New to or returning to list

Other popular Golfweek’s Best lists include:

Dreaming of the British Open? Check out five incredible U.K. golf vacations

Want to play St. Andrews, Carnoustie, and Royal Troon all on the same trip? Yeah…we thought so.

The 2022 British Open is just weeks away and the entire golf world is gearing up to go back home to The Old Course at St. Andrews.

We will all be glued to the coverage of the 150th Open Championship later this month, and most golf fans will daydream about playing St. Andrews and that fantasy golf vacation they’ve been putting off for years.

It’s time to turn those daydreams into reality. Along with our friends from Golfbreaks, Golfweek has compiled five spectacular U.K. golf vacations including trips to England, Northern Ireland and Scotland to play some of the oldest and most famous courses in the world.

We occasionally recommend interesting products, services, and gaming opportunities. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. Golfweek operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage

Prince Andrew loses honorary titles at Royal Portrush, Royal Belfast, Royal County Down golf clubs

Buckingham Palace: “The Duke of York’s military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the Queen.”

Amid a civil sexual assault case, Prince Andrew has lost his honorary titles at Royal Portrush, Royal Belfast and Royal County Down golf clubs in Northern Ireland, according to a report by Belfast Live.

It’s part of a bigger move to strip him of his royal patronages by the Queen. Buckingham Palace has also announced that he has lost his honorary military roles.

A statement from the Palace said: “With the Queen’s approval and agreement, the Duke of York’s military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the Queen. The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.”

This came on the heels of a ruling by a judge last Wednesday that Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against Prince Andrew could proceed. Giuffre claims Andrew’s friend Jeffrey Epstein forced her to have sex with the royal three times when she was 17. Prince Andrew denies the allegations.

“There will be immense relief by members that this decision has been taken out of their hands,” a source close to the Royal Portrush and Royal County Down golf clubs told Belfast Live.

Golfweek’s Best 2021: Top 50 Classic Courses in Great Britain and Ireland

From links layouts to parkland courses, these are the best courses built before 1960 in Great Britain and Ireland.

Welcome to Golfweek’s Best rankings of the Top 50 Classic Courses in Great Britain and Ireland – built before 1960 – as determined by Golfweek’s Best Raters for 2021 (pictured atop this story: Royal Dornoch in Scotland).

The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in Great Britain and Ireland to produce the final rankings.

Golfweek also ranks Modern Courses in Great Britain and Ireland. For more on top courses outside the U.S., check out the following lists:

Listed with each course below is its average ranking, location, designers and year opened.

Golfweek’s Best 2021: Top 50 Classic International Courses

From Royal County Down to Royal Melbourne, the top International Modern Courses built outside the U.S. before 1960.

Welcome to the initial Golfweek’s Best Classic International Courses list with the highest-rated courses outside the United States that were built before 1960. (Pictured atop this story: The Old Course at St. Andrews, with photo by Steve Flynn/USA TODAY Sports)

Each year we publish many lists, with the U.S.-based Top 200 Modern Courses and the accompanying Top 200 Classic Courses lists being the premium offerings. Also extremely popular and significant are the Best Courses You Can Play State by State and Best Private Courses State by State.

This is the first year for this International Classic list, and it is comprised of thousands of individual ratings of courses around the world. We also recently published the Modern Courses version, shining a spotlight on the best international courses built in or after 1960.

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The 800-plus members of our ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final rating for each course, which is then ranked against other courses to produce the final lists.

Each course is listed with its average rating next to the name, the location, the year it opened and the designers. After the designers are several designations that note what type of facility it is.

Key

r: resort course
d: daily fee
p: private course
t: tour course
m: municipal
re: real estate
* Many international private courses allow limited outside play. Contact the courses indicated for more information on their guest policies.