Links Golf To Die For Near The Northernmost Tip Of Ireland

It feels like a lifetime ago when I first heard of Ballyliffin, a mystical links at the very top of Ireland in County Donegal where there is much great golf to be found. A friend waxed lyrical about its beauty and its 36 holes. That it was so close to Malin Head, the northernmost tip of the country, only added to the allure. This is the wild north, where the ocean roars louder and the Aurora Borealis ripples above the horizon.

One of the club’s great joys is possessing two links layouts that share the same land but are of different persuasions. The Pat Ruddy-designed Glashedy is big and muscular, and sways like the rhythm of the tide, while the Old course teases more out of your game and entertains with an old-school bump-and-run groove.

A trip into the heart of the Inishowen Peninsula takes you to the village of Ballyliffin from where glimpses of the dunes stretch out to sea, and Glashedy Rock stamps its presence in deeper waters. It is a striking sight, as is the clubhouse which sits proud in the low-lying dunes, surrounded by golf holes. (There’s a nine-hole par-3 course here, too.)

A big course for the big occasion
Ballyliffin's Glashedy Links hosted the Irish Open in 2018, and the Amateur Championship in 2024. That tells you its scale and quality. It also emphasises the sort of challenge it can present to the humble amateur.

Bunkering is voracious, hiding low in pools of shadow, especially around greens. You will quickly learn that to succeed here your approach play must be excellent. Greens are big but slopes around the edges can be treacherous, tugging balls towards sandy depths. The clever routing sees each loop of nine returning to the clubhouse, with both visiting the biggest dunes in one corner of the course.

This is when you’ll appreciate the grand scale of the place, especially on the par-3 5th, which hits down towards Glashedy Rock, and the par-3 7th which plays from the highest point in the dunes to a green far below, squeezed up against a pond. It is yet another par-3, the 14th, that might just steal the plaudits for best hole as, once again, you hit down from the high dunes, playing towards the sea, to a shallow, wide green. The swells and slopes around it are hypnotic.

Faldo’s landing
When the Old course opened as an 18-holer in 1973, in a part of Ireland separated from the rest of the country by the Northern Ireland border, it was completely unheralded.

Little wonder then that when Nick Faldo visited in 1993, and made an offer to buy it, the membership was caught in a quandary. Instead of selling to the Open Champion, they decided to double-down and build a second course. It was only when the Glashedy opened that many Irish golfers heard about it. The rest is history.

Ballyliffin Old plays over the lower dunes, where you are more exposed and teased by the wind. There’s still plenty of swing to the landscape, and some fairways are positively blistered with bumps, but here the art of bump-and-run can be embraced – so much so that it may even cloud your thinking when it comes to shot selection.

And that is the beauty of a links like this. Key to the Old course’s thrills is the stretch of holes (13-16) that runs alongside the beach. Here, the sound of the ocean is a magical backing track to a well-struck drive.

A debate rages as to which course is better – or, at least, which you prefer. I have always leaned towards the Old, but I would never turn down an opportunity to play either. Neither should you.

Thirteen miles south lies another links. North West, affectionately known as the St Andrews of Ireland, is subtle and cunning. Much of it is visible from the main road as you drive into Buncrana town, but only when you play it will you understand its true charms.

Ballyliffin Glashedy Links
Par 72, 6,847 yards
GF: €60-€300

Ballyliffin Old Links
Par 71, 6,445 yards
GF: €60-€280

North West
Par 70, 6,187 yards
GF: €75-€150

Ballyliffin House
Mainstreet, Ballyliffin, Co. Donegal
W: ballyliffinhouse.ie

(prices correct at time of publication in May 2025)