By Jeff Neuman
If you’re going to the Open Championship in July 2025 at Royal Portrush, take a moment to pull your eyes away from the action and look to the west. The land that’s visible on the horizon, beyond the town of Portrush and across the North Channel and Lough Foyle, is one of the world’s most overlooked repositories of links golf: County Donegal, in the northern reaches of the Republic of Ireland.
The courses fit many different categories, from the New Shrine status of Tom Doak’s St. Patrick’s Links at Rosapenna, to the championship-caliber links in Ballyliffin, the cunning Eddie Hackett design on the Murvagh peninsula for Donegal Golf Club, the charmingly rugged Cruit Island, and the enjoyable members’ courses at Dunfanaghy and North West – all have the desired proximity to the salty winds and rumpled and rippling grounds we journey to find and play. Its own politicians may refer to Donegal as “the forgotten county,” but visiting golfers never should.
Donegal occupies a unique corner of Ireland. It’s the fourth-largest county in the Republic, but 93% of its land border is shared with Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom. It’s approximately the size of Delaware, with a population smaller than that of Yonkers. The Donegal coastline juts in and out, leaving inlets and bays for the craggy and dune-strewn topography to wrap around. Its inland stretches include picturesque and nearly-uninhabited valleys amidst the Derryveagh and Blue Stack Mountains; these broad-shouldered spaces and varied shores led Lonely Planet to rank Donegal No. 4 on its 2024 list of the best regions in the world to visit, lauding it for its “solitude, wild landscapes, friendly atmosphere, and pristine coastal hiking trails along the Wild Atlantic Way.”
The county’s largest town, by far, is Letterkenny, with just under 20,000 inhabitants; only a third of Donegal's people live in towns whose population is more than 1,500. The partition of Ireland in the 1920s created difficulties for Donegal, as the primary city nearby, Derry (officially Londonderry), voted to remain aligned with the British as part of Northern Ireland; this cut Donegal off from its most important trade center. Even today the local economy is affected by the exchange rate between pounds sterling (£, N.I.) and euros (€, the Republic).
Where to begin in detailing the wealth of options that beckon the visitor with golf bag in hand? Taking it from the top – a mere six and a half miles from Malin Head, the northernmost point in the Irish land mass – let’s start with the two courses of Ballyliffin Golf Club. They are, in golfing terms, relatively recent creations: The Old Links (1973) and the Glashedy (Gla-SHEE-dee, 1995). The broad expanse of hillocky dunes sits beside a field that was a launching site for aerial reconnaissance balloons to spot U-boats in World War I. Eddie Hackett – 20th-century designer of courses throughout Ireland including Waterville, Carne, Connemara, Dooks, Enniscrone, and many more – did the initial layout; as was usual for Hackett, mowers were virtually the only equipment needed to create what Nick Faldo called “one of the most natural courses I have ever played.”
As word spread, the influx of visitors aided the club’s treasury but crowded the tee sheet; there was plenty of dunesland for a second golf course, and the club approached Pat Ruddy (another name encountered throughout Ireland) with instructions to create a championship-caliber design. Time was of the essence, because European Union environmental regulations would soon make such development impossible; the digging and shaping was done in three months, seeding followed shortly thereafter, and the Glashedy Links – named after Glashedy Rock, visible in the water beyond the fifth green of the course as well as on the club’s logo – opened to great fanfare in August 1995.
Both courses have their advocates; the Glashedy is routed between the dunes rather than over them as the now-dubbed Old Links goes, and the fairways are flatter, but the greens are more undulating and the bunkers placed so surrounding contours will feed approaches into them. Ballyliffin’s championship ambitions – and they were ambitious for a course in a remote location – have been achieved, with the Irish Open in 2018 and the Royal & Ancient bringing its Amateur Championship in 2024. The well-appointed clubhouse opened in 2000, its second-floor restaurant and bar offering expansive views of the links and a fine chowder to warm the golfer on days when the sea winds are blowing – and rest assured, they will be.
Heading south from Ballyliffin along R238 you’ll swing inland but rejoin the east coast of the Inishowen peninsula around Buncrana, and soon spot a stretch of green on a triangle of land between the road and the lough. It looks like an amazing place for a golf course – and it is, as the wavering flagsticks will attest. North West Golf Club has occupied this enviable location since 1891, when it became one of the nine founding members of the Golfing Union of Ireland (now called GolfIreland). The GUI was the first national golf association in the world, and like the USGA it was formed largely for the purpose of organizing a true national championship. North West describes itself as “the Saint Andrews of Ireland,” which is a bit of a stretch, but it is unquestionably a place with history and considerable charm.
The links at North West wastes little time in bringing us to the water’s edge. The first five holes start from or run fully alongside the land perimeter by Lough Swilly. (In the late 1960s, the course lost holes to a sudden surge of the sea; a boulder wall was installed along the full length of the course to hold back further incursions.) At the sixth tee, the course reaches its southern end and turns back to run north beside the road. In a quirk of the routing – which the club intends to address – the ninth tee lies directly between the tee and green of the 139-yard eighth; that par 3 is a brief detour south before the ninth continues the northward run that ends at the tenth green. The second nine is mostly an interior loop, though the water is never out of sight on this compact property whose back tees measure 6,392 yards.
The membership is surprisingly large – more than 500 -- for such an unassuming place, but it’s just 15-20 minutes from Derry’s eastern fringes, so there’s a population to draw from besides the locals of Lisfannon. “Unassuming” is a good description of the pro you’ll find in the shop at North West, but his mild exterior masks a competitive fire: Brian McElhinney won a raft of local boys and youth events before graduating to victories in the North of Ireland championship and the European Amateur in 2003; he was the British Amateur champion in 2005, earning him entry into the Open Championship and the Masters (where he played with Tom Watson and U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell). He also represented the GUI in two Carey Cup Matches, in 2003 and 2005.
There is nothing artificial about North West. It’s pure, unalloyed links golf, bunkered enough to provide strategic challenge, exposed to constantly changing wind conditions, blessed with fescue greens that play firm and true. It’s easy to overlook North West when you’re filling your itinerary with world-ranked places, but the natural unpretentiousness of the golf and the warm welcome of the people make it one you’ll never forget and will long to return to.
Continuing eastward through Letterkenny and up the Fanad peninsula on the other side of Lough Swilly – we’re 10 miles from Ballyliffin as the crow flies but more than an hour and a half as the roads run – we come to Portsalon Golf Club, another of the GUI’s founding members. The game has been played on this ground since the 1880s and got a push forward when the Portsalon Hotel and Golf Links opened in 1891. Charles Thompson, a Portrush-based professional, laid out the original course; it was substantially revised by Pat Ruddy in 2000, who devised nine new holes. (Winning Ryder Cup player and captain Paul McGinley is currently consulting with the club.) The present course’s first seven wrap around Ballymastocker Bay, backdropped by the Knockalla mountains. The 433-yard second, a Cape hole variation reminiscent of the famous sixth at Bermuda’s Mid Ocean Club, goes diagonally from a high tee across a sea inlet to a fairway interrupted by a stream in front of the green. The fairways tumble and heave, creating uneven lies and some blind shots where the side of approach makes all the difference. There are consecutive double greens – 3 and 9, 4 and 8 – and the second nine is on higher ground that remains firmly textured but has more of a heathland feel. Portsalon packs an enormous amount of challenge and variety in its 6,789 yards from the back tees. Both Irish Golfer and (UK) National Club Golfer place Portsalon No. 20 in their rankings of the best courses in Ireland/Northern Ireland.
Still skimming along the northern reaches of Donegal, a half-hour west of Portsalon lies Rosapenna Hotel and Golf Resort, a 54-hole facility that’s home to the most exciting new course in the country: St. Patrick’s Links. St. Patrick’s opened in 2021 to immediate accolades, debuting on Golf Magazine’s Top 100 in the World rankings at No. 55, rising to No. 49 in the most recent version. Tom Doak took the site of a previous 36-hole facility and created a brawny layout running through, across, and over a landscape of epic dunes. The winds off Tramore Beach guarantee a challenge that changes from day to day and hour to hour. There is plenty of width to the landing areas and run to the fairways and approaches, and the considerable contours on and just off the putting surfaces feel appropriate to the setting. With short 4s and long 4s, greens at grade and greens tucked in corners, parallel downhill 5s, uphill par 3s of 214 and 130, open expansive views and dune-shrouded isolation, the walking-only course has something for everyone and is utterly unforgettable.
St. Patrick’s is certainly reason enough to put Rosapenna on your list, but the other two at the resort – Old Tom Morris Links and Sandy Hills – rank among the top 30 in Ireland on National Club Golfer’s list, the top 50 on Irish Golfer’s. Old Tom himself created the first links on these grounds in 1893; Harry Vardon and James Braid made some alterations in 1906, and H.S. Colt revised 11 holes in 1912. The second nine on the Old Tom course still reflects their natural efforts; the opening nine was created by Pat Ruddy in 2009, six years after he routed Sandy Hills through the ground between the current nines. The photogenic Sandy Hills provides views of Muckish Mountain and Sheephaven Bay, and a wealth of holes where the drive is down into a valley followed by an approach to an elevated green. The resort offers Three Links packages that enable you to play each of the courses in a 10-day period, whether you stay on site or not.
After such a rich three-course meal, we could use a palate-cleanser. Just a wee bit down the coast, on the opposite side of bay, is a friendly members’ club, Dunfanaghy, in the seaside town of the same name. The course was laid out by Harry Vardon in 1906 and is noteworthy today as the place where Paul McGinley played as a boy; his father is from the town and played Gaelic football for Donegal. I was welcomed by a long-time member, Mal Johnston, who added me to his weekday game; a Belfast man, he’s been coming to Dunfanaghy for decades – not just for the golf and the sea air but for the nightlife: “We go hear music at the pubs at least a few nights a week,” he says. He and his friends tolerated my poor swings and putting, keeping a running line of chatter and good-natured ribbing throughout. The course is on fairly flat ground that hooks around Sheephaven Bay, with holes routed up and around a dune at the turn on the southern end and a strong three-hole loop to end the round on a crescendo. The banter continued over pints in the Vardon Lounge, where the problems of the world are sorted out daily.
The experience at Dunfanaghy was delightful if tame. The same cannot be said – the “tame” part – about Cruit Island Golf Club. The drive to Cruit (pronounced Critch) alone is a jolt of adrenaline, an extended stretch on a one-lane road (with turnouts) through increasingly rugged terrain until you reach the island itself and then its farthest end. The golf course fits nine holes into slightly more than 60 acres; two sets of tees make it par 68 and 5,655 yards for a full 18. A central dune-draped hill is played up to, over, and down from; a tolerance for blind shots is required, along with a spirit of adventure. The cliffs provide breathtaking backdrops to many greensites; the sixth/15th is a death-or-glory par 3 across a rocky inlet – from flat to flat the first time around, from an elevated tee on the second nine. Don’t expect fine grooming or velvet surfaces; you’re in a location on the edge of what was once the known world, and the golf is there to be enjoyed as you take in the gorgeous surroundings.
A very different game is on offer at Narin & Portnoo, about 15 miles farther down Donegal’s west coast. The links dates back to 1905, but had been altered enough through the years to need revitalization. As detailed in The Met Golfer (February/March 2022), Liam McDevitt and Larry Foley – the former born in Donegal and a consultant in Connecticut, the latter a Wall Street veteran and Winged Foot member – purchased the course in 2018 and brought in Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner to do extensive remodeling. The pair changed all but three greens and tweaked the routing to take advantage of the rise of the property along a large dune ridge. The result is a modernized links that begins on flattish ground but progresses into a series of well-designed holes utilizing the terrain for shot values and stunning views. The loop from six through nine at the northeast horn of the links is tempting and testing, buffeted by the winds off Gweebarra Bay. Narin & Portnoo Links caters to visitors with rate packages that can include lunch and a pint; the restaurant is as thoroughly upgraded as the golf course, showcasing local ingredients prepared by chefs with Michelin-star experience.
Heading forty-five minutes south, we come at last to the county’s historic namesake town, a popular holiday destination with a central shopping district, hotels, restaurants, and pubs at the mouth of the River Eske. It was a center of government and strategic stronghold for the O’Donnell family – a leading force opposing English colonization – during their reign over the region from the 15th to the 17th century. Our tour of the county’s links is heading to its last stop, Donegal Golf Club, on the Murvagh peninsula just a few miles south of the center of Donegal Town. The course opened in 1973, built on land procured for the purpose with the help of the owners of Magee & Co., local tweed weavers and merchants since 1866. Eddie Hackett did the layout in two circuits -- the front nine on the outside and the back nine inside it, in the manner of Muirfield’s classic links; Pat Ruddy provided modifications over the years, and Paul McGinley’s firm is overseeing a series of changes being incorporated a few holes at a time.
The best holes are those in the dunes nearest to Murvagh Beach, a stretch from five through eight where fairway ridges may conceal a large bunkered dip, or a green tucked into a corner behind a mound. It’s a clever design, and the circular routing guarantees that all wind conditions are encountered on each of the nines. At over 7,400 yards from the championship tees, par 73, Donegal GC (often just called “Murvagh”) is challenging enough for national-level events – it hosted the 2004 Men’s Amateur Close Championships won by North West’s Brian McElhinney over a field that included Rory McIlroy – but is enjoyed and embraced by its local members from four sets of shorter tees. The club welcomes visitors and touring groups who quickly realize why Open Champion Darren Clarke calls it “one of my favorite courses in the world.”
McGinley, who played on three Ryder Cup teams and served as captain for one – all European victories – grew up in Dublin but always spent holidays with his family in Donegal, and is something of an evangelist about the area. “Donegal is one of the, if not the, prettiest county in Ireland, with the magnificent mountains; the unbelievable raw beaches that can stretch for 5, 10, 15 miles; and the massive sand dunes that we have,” he said recently. “So I'm doing my little bit through golf to try to shine a light on Donegal, bring it to the forefront of people's minds, particularly golfers. It’s like the southwest of Ireland was 50 years ago: It doesn’t have the cutting edge, but it has a rawness. It’s a feeling.”
And that concludes our extensive – but not exhaustive – look at the links courses of Donegal. Southwest Ireland may have the touring golfers’ meccas of Ballybunion, Lahinch, Waterville, and so on, and Northern Ireland boasts an incomparable pair of Royals in Portrush and County Down, but County Donegal offers some of the true treasures of the purest game in its abundance of courses along the shore. For generations, Ireland’s finest export has been its people; when importing yourself to Eire, seek out the less-trod paths like Donegal for golf and hospitality that’s worth crossing an ocean.
Any good tour company – North West Links, Carr Golf, PerryGolf – can put together a terrific itinerary with inns and B&Bs around this region, and, of course, you can book accommodations and golf on the internet. Two hotel properties stood out in my visits, both of them in close range of Donegal Town: Harvey’s Point and the Sandhouse Hotel.
Harvey’s Point, on Lough Eske, is a four-star all-suite resort hotel with views to the Bluestack Mountains beyond the lake. With nature walks, complimentary cooking demonstrations, and wine tastings, and a fine dining restaurant with an award-winning wine list, Harvey’s Point is a surprise at every turn.
The Sandhouse Hotel & Marine Therapies in Rossknowlagh, a few miles south of Murvagh, is an utterly unpretentious four-star hotel in a grand building on Rossknowlagh’s beachfront. The broad four-story hotel is just steps from the beach, where a summer stroll on firm packed sand is a lovely way to end the day after dinner, the evening twilight stretching into the 11 o’clock hour. The contiguous spa offers massage treatments, facials, and pampering for hands and feet.
If you’re driving from or going to Northern Ireland, the border crossing is seamless and can pass unnoticed, except that speed limits will go from being expressed in miles (N.I.) to kilometers (Ireland). Gasoline – petrol – is priced in liters on both sides of the border, so multiply listed prices by four to get the rough cost per gallon.
Some courses list their distances in yards (Ballyliffin, North West, Narin & Portnoo, Rosapenna), while others list them in meters (Portsalon, Cruit Island, Murvagh, Dunfanaghy). Always ask. Some pro shops have separate scorecards – but not yardage books – in yards and meters; the useful rule of thumb is meters=yards + 10%.