When discussing golf in Northern Ireland, a few courses will invariably be mentioned. Royal County Down and Portrush are the championship beacons. Portstewart’s front nine is one of the great stretches in all of golf. Ardglass, a charming club located between County Down and Belfast on a rugged stretch of cliff, has also become a popular destination in recent years. If not for these, the Mussenden Course at Castlerock Golf Club would probably be held in higher regard. Given its proximity to both Portstewart and Portrush, a design pedigree that includes contributions from Harry Colt, and some stretches of really great golf, Castlerock is worth the journey.

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Take Note…

Dune. The dramatic dunes that occupy the corner of Castlerock’s property are incredible, but the Mussenden Course uses only the edges of them on holes 7-9. Instead, the largest are home to the absurdly fun but extremely penal nine-hole Bann Course, which was built in the 1980s based on a design Frank Pennink completed before his death in 1983.

The neighbor. The River Bann, Northern Ireland’s longest river, creates a boundary on one side of Castlerock’s property. It also runs through a large collection of dunes, most of which sit on the opposite shore and make up the Portstewart Strand. An amazing place just to take a walk, it’s also home to the aforementioned Portstewart Golf Club, which you can glimpse from the high points at Castlerock.

Double trouble. The par-3 fourth hole plays along the train tracks, meaning OB lurks all along the right side of the hole. Additionally, the creek that cuts across the hole from the left is marked as out-of-bounds (the par-3 14th plays parallel the other direction), a quirky feature I can’t say I’ve seen anywhere else.

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