Royal Portrush: the visitor's guide

What it is

Royal Portrush Golf Club sits on Dunluce Road on the edge of Portrush, County Antrim, looking out over the Atlantic towards the ruins of Dunluce Castle. The club was founded in 1888 as The County Club, became the Royal County Club under the patronage of the Duke of York in 1892, and took its present name in 1895 under the Prince of Wales. It has two 18-hole courses, the Dunluce Links and the Valley Links; this guide covers the Dunluce, the championship course. Royal Portrush is ranked 5th in the UK and Ireland by NCG and 7th by Golf Monthly.

How the course plays

The Dunluce Links is par 71 for both men and women, per Golf Monthly's course review. The club's own hole-by-hole guide lists three tee lengths for every hole without naming the tee sets; adding the longest of the three for each hole comes to 7,317 yards, though that total is Golf Metric's own sum rather than a single printed figure, and NCG's review separately describes the course as "more than 6,700 yards" from what it calls the Whites.

The course is built into and around the dunes on the landward side of the White Rocks, with the front nine winding through natural valleys and the back nine running along higher, more exposed ground toward the sea. The 5th, White Rocks, is a downhill dogleg finishing on a green above the Atlantic. The 16th, Calamity Corner, is a long par 3 over a deep chasm with no bunkers needed, regularly named among the best short holes in the world. Martin Ebert's two new holes for the 2019 Open, the par-5 7th and the dogleg par-4 8th, were built on land that had previously been part of the Valley Links, replacing the old closing two holes.

Diagram to followSimple diagram of the 16th, Calamity Corner, showing the tee shot over a deep chasm to the green with a bail-out strip to one side

History and a few facts

Harry Colt laid out the plans for the Dunluce Links in 1929, on ground the original 1888 and 1889 layouts had only partly used. The course has hosted The Open three times: in 1951, when Max Faulkner won and Portrush became the first, and so far only, course outside Great Britain to stage the Championship; in 2019, when local favourite Shane Lowry won by six shots, 68 years after that first visit; and in 2025, when Scottie Scheffler won by four. The 2012 Irish Open, and the amateur careers of Portrush-born Graeme McDowell and Ulster's Rory McIlroy, were part of what persuaded the R&A to add the club back to the Open rota in 2014. No future Open at Royal Portrush has been announced; the R&A's confirmed hosts for the next two Opens are St Andrews and Royal Lytham & St Annes.

Playing it as a visitor

The Dunluce Links is open to visitors most days, though the tee sheet is tightly managed around members' play: Wednesday is closed to visitors all day, Saturday mornings are members' competition time, and Sunday mornings are members-only. The 2026 green fee is £420 a person from 1 April to 31 October, payable in full when you book, and non-refundable if you cancel. The club does not publish a numeric handicap limit for visitors, though it says visitors are expected to belong to a recognised club and handicap certificates may be requested.

Booking is done directly with the club, either through its online tee time system or by emailing its reservations address; there is no waiting list or ballot process described on the visitor pages. Both courses are walking only. Caddies can be arranged through the club, electric and pull trolleys are available without booking ahead, and golf carts are kept for golfers with a medical need, driven by a senior caddie who has to see a doctor's note and a signed disclaimer first. Dress in the clubhouse is smart casual, with a jacket and tie required for gentlemen in the Babington Room; on the links, tailored golf shorts are fine but beach or cargo shorts are not.

Getting there

The club is on Dunluce Road, reached along the A2 coast road that runs between Coleraine and Bushmills through Portrush. The nearest railway station is Portrush itself, the end of a branch line run by NI Railways (Translink) off the Belfast to Derry route via Coleraine, about 0.7 miles from the clubhouse. City of Derry Airport is the closer of the two main airports at around 23 miles away in a straight line; Belfast International Airport is about 41 miles away, also straight-line.

Where to stay

The Portrush Atlantic Hotel and Portrush Adelphi both sit on Main Street in the town centre, each under a mile from the clubhouse. The Royal Court Hotel is a little further out on the clifftop above Whiterocks beach. Further afield, in the village of Bushmills, The Bushmills Inn puts you close to the Giant's Causeway and the whiskey distillery as well as the course.

When to go

Royal Portrush takes visitors year-round, but the Dunluce is at its busiest, and its green fee is highest, from April to October; the club's own pricing runs to a single rate across that whole window rather than peak and shoulder seasons. Outside those months the course is open to fewer visitor slots around the members' programme. As with any course this exposed to the Atlantic, wind is the main variable in how the round plays, whatever the season.

Events

No competitions or Open dates are currently listed on the club's own events pages beyond its regular open competitions, which are announced in advance; see the club's visitors page for the current list.