Your Golf Travel experts are diving into Northern Ireland with one thing on their mind…golf! Does Ireland offer golf lovers the chance to have the perfect golf break? Alastair, Sam & David talk about where to play, where to visit and why it’s considered to be one of the best golf destinations in the world!
00:00 – Intro
00:26 – What is the best golf course you’ve played in Northern Ireland?
01:04 – If you were to build the dream golf trip in Northern Ireland, where would you go?
02:21 – Have you ever played Royal County Down?
03:58 – What’s your favourite hole at Royal County Down?
04:20 – The Open 2025 at Royal Portrush, one to attend?
05:21 – Do you have a favourite 19th hole?
06:09 – Why should people choose Belfast for a golf city break?
07:02 – Are there any hotels in Belfast you would recommend?
Host: Alastair Harmsworth
Guest: Sam Brooks – Head of UK & Ireland Tours – sam.brooks@yourgolftravel.com
Guest: David Hewitson – Senior Golf Travel Specialist – david.hewitson@yourgolftravel.com
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Right so welcome to the your golf travel podcast make sure you do like subscribe and comment down below if you have played in norn island so today I’m joined by Dave and Sam two of the best travel golfers here at your golf travel and today we’re going to be talking
About Northern Island so Dave plays off scratch and Sam is a former professional golfer so they’re going to be giving their insight to this amazing golf destination so to start off what is the best golf course You’ played in Northern Ireland uh M’s Port rush comes in at
Number two on the listings that you see on uh like top 100 golf courses golf Digest or that kind of thing uh but playing it after the open was there in 2019 played it last summer absolutely epic so that’s that’s the best one of the trip that I did over there last year
So yeah Port R for me it’s County Down hands down um number three in the world number one in the UK and Islands the views are incredible just perfect Links Golf Ro hands down if you like so let’s talk about a golf trip to Northern Ireland so if you were to build
Your dream golf trip number of nights number of rounds where are you heading well I think because it’s so easy to sort of hop over you could do a relatively short trip fit into some Mega Golf and then you know come home I was chatting to a guy the other day he’s uh
He’s a he’s a member down at Khan in Republic of Ireland he was saying things like long Bank holay weekend you can just pop over you check the weather pop over so you know I would say you could do anything from one night two rounds to
To a whole week and do a full tour of you know that whole Coastline from Port Rush all the way down to to Newcastle where yeah County Down is yeah for me starting Belfast Ro Belfast gon Castle on the way up to Port Rush Port Rush Castle Rock Port Stewart head back down
We County down our glass and then get yourself home it’s just so easy isn’t it yeah like from all London from all UK airports you can get over there you can go on ferry if you were Manchester or Liverpool kind of way or or Wales Coastline it’s even if you fly into
Dublin you’re only an hour and a half away like yeah it’s got to be an hour and a half from Dublin to County so easy so easy it’s ideal yeah brilliant two cracking tricks right there so you previously mentioned the best golf courses you guys have played Royal
County Down will be holding the Irish open in 2024 so have either have you played this course I yeah so yeah I I have played it I played it last April um played it with Flynn who works here another lad like it was so foggy when we turned up I was
Thinking oh no like it’s not we’re not going to get on it’s going to like fog delay anyway tea off on time it’s thick fog um little bit nervous obviously on the first te you get the first te JS don’t you anyway there c one of the
Other guys got a caddy as well so you know you want to just anyway striped one down the middle thinking right here we go you know chest is out walking down strip of free Iron up to the green it’s part five to start with I’m thinking you
Know I’m going to get up and down here make make a birdie I’m going to say to the caddy what’s a CO record here today you know sorry what’s a CO record anyway get up to the ball dunce my chip walk off with a six tow between my legs oh
Mate it was so embarrassing but no it’s incredible um the views you we were a bit unlucky with the weather because the fog we didn’t quite get the view so I need to go back and play it when it’s like you know pure day but the golf
Course is pure like literally one of the best in the world what it is obviously number three number three only Cypress and Pine Valley ahead of they get there quite a lot with the fog don’t they because of the hills because of the C obviously you know right there but um
But no it’s an incredible place it’s uh yeah bucket list stuff like you have to have to go as a golf far you just got a ticket off the list so obviously bucket list cors Roy County down do you have a favorite ho yeah so the ninth definitely
Just because of the views you literally you hit your t-shot you walk up a big hill and all of a sudden it’s just a backdrop of the mountains in the background um you know rest of the hole that’s where you stop and get your picture like that’s all the post in the
Fairway as well isn’t it yeah it’s it’s iconic so yeah definitely the ninth yeah so moving on to the 2025 open which is taking place at Raw Port rush so why should golfers be looking to attend this event well the golf course for one is something that’s going to attract a load
Of people and if you saw the crowds from the last one even in the absolute hosing down rain yeah I’ve never seen anything like it and you know the port Rush Hospitality as well will will attract a lot of people like the Harbor Bar will
Be Lively yeah it will be Lively to say the least so you know why do people want to go over there you get to see an unbelievable golf course you get the northern Irish Hospitality yeah and you just pray for the good weather yeah and the open’s just such an AM aming event
As well to attend you know um what great about the open is it does move around and it’s brilliant that they’ve bought raw rush back onto the rer yeah to to you know get people over there to experience it it’s not just in England now it does feel more open doesn’t it
Yeah that’s just an incredible Place Port Rush anyway you know so it’ll be a great great open yeah so talking about after you finished the round in Northern Ireland do you have a favorite 19th hole with you visitors the clubhouse at Port Stewart is lovely and the food was amazing but
Their halfway heart probably has the best Guinness in the world it’s something to do with the distance between where the keg is and the pump is it’s so short that it’s just like perfect and I’ve had people say it in the past as well on one of the one of
The ls from the sales for Jon he said it is the best Guinness has ever had and he wasn’t wrong so in terms of halfway huts and the 19th pole poor Shir wins it for me yeah um I’d probably say lock actually um it’s not Links Golf it’s a
Like really lovely Resort the F course um but yeah the facilities there are just Immaculate so for me probably lock so why should golfers choose Belfast as a city Break um the people are incredible it’s small than golf isn’t it yeah um the pubs you know in and around Belfast um
The crown opposite the Hast in Europa had a few Guinness in there that was lovely um and yeah it’s just a lively part of the world so not only incredible golf courses but you know plenty of attractions as well not just pubs obviously um Giants Causeway um the Titanic experience yeah
Um yeah so yeah definitely lots to do in the Belfast area away from it’s more than just golf isn’t it it’s uh it’s one of those great cities that everyone should visit for sure yeah maybe it’s the best golf City break in the world who knows it’s up there just with the
Stand of the GOL you just need the weather if you get the weather then i’ say uh it’s probably up it’s up there definitely yeah so if you have if you’re heading to Belfast for a golf trip is there any hotels which you would recommend to people so in Belfast the
Grand Hotel Grand Central um beautiful hotel if you’re staying down near countydown then sleeve donard um incredible five star hotel it depends what you’re going there for isn’t it if you’re going there for a few jars then being in and amongst it is going to be much better but there are some lovely
Hotels that just a little bit further away from from the towns that the non-golfers can enjoy as well you know you could do a a little break with a non golfer and they’d still especially at the SL doned yeah you know top top class it’s incredible so just to round it up
Obviously Belfast is well Northern Ireland is one of the all around golf destinations Great Golf great Hospitality lots to do away from the course and then obviously two massive competitions coming up the Irish open and the open but yeah it’s been great talking about Northern Ireland today
Thank you very much go down Memory Lanes yeah walk in the fairies of Port Rush that was an epic day we got really good weather and obviously you’re playing number three in the world yeah it’s not bad is it not bad need to go back need
To go I need to do AR glass AR glass count it down for my next one for sure okay poor Stewart for me P sh is amazing yeah so yeah if you want to find out more about golf holidays in Northern Ireland give us a call or click the link
In the description and thank you both for joining us here and yeah we’ll catch you guys in the next your golf travel podcast cost
