The Full Irish: Royal County Down
The Full Irish: Royal County Down
Oh, you'd like to play the #1 ranked course in (checks notes) the entire world? OK.
When we first started thinking about this insane trip - The Full Irish, that is - it started a bit more modestly. We didn’t think we were going to try and circle the country and play 387 holes of golf in just over three weeks. But we did want to play certain courses, and that list started with Royal County Down.
Founded: 1889
Designer: Old Tom Morris
Ratings:
Top100GolfCourses: 3 (Worldwide), 1 (Britain & Ireland) 1 (Northern Ireland)
Golf.com: 2 (UK & Ireland)
The Irish Golfer: 3 (Ireland)
When you look at these rankings of the best golf courses in the world - and I’m sure you do, just as religiously as I do - Royal County Down, or RCD, is always right near the top. Top100GolfCourses.com ranks it 3rd - just behind the impenetrable walls of Cypress Point and Pine Valley. But unlike those uber-private courses, RCD (like virtually every course in Ireland) opens its doors to the public. Not wide open, mind you, but tee times are available.
As such, I put together an ideal itinerary but it was all contingent on getting a tee time at RCD. They opened up in early May 2022 (for the 2023 season) and I was prepared to detonate my entire schedule to make RCD work. Everything was centered around this tee time - and, after literally hours of busy signals in the middle of the night, I woke up and made yet another call and got through, and booked a foursome on the actual date I’d been hoping for.
Everything else, mostly, sorted itself out after that. You can see there’s some different numbers up there. That’s because there are three other courses you need to work around - that’s Royal Portrush, Ballybunion and Lahinch - and we’ll get to those as well.
Sometime last winter, I saw these photos of RCD by Mike Hyde of Carefree Golf and my jaw dropped. I reached out to him to ensure he was cool with me posting, and that eventually led to him offering to be a photography caddie for us at RCD.
As just the third round of golf on our trip, I was a bit worried that we would be eating dessert first (and then I remembered that’s what AC always does, so he doesn’t get too full to enjoy the best part). But mostly, I just couldn’t wait to tackle a course that I’ve seen pretty photos of but rarely a lot more. The videos on YouTube where folks play it don’t resonate as much as others, and honestly there aren’t that many. RCD doesn’t host tournaments that are aired in the states very often (if at all) and as such, it has a bit of a mystery to it.
Our tee time was at 3:50PM, a time that in the states would give me grave concerns about finishing while it’s still light out. If I told you that I’d googled the sunset for the day in question and found it was well after 9:00PM, would you believe me? (You should.)
We spent the day having fun and filling time. For AC, he hiked up that mountain you see in the background (also named Slieve Donard) for a four-hour hike with Rob’s wife Erica that seemed like an insane preparation for a bucket list round of golf. (We didn’t learn until the next day that AC had slipped right at the end of the hike and sliced his leg open near the ankle with a cut that should have gotten stitches. The man prevailed and never let it bother him.) Rob, Thunder and myself used the world-class spa at the hotel and soaked in the pool and hot tub while staring out at the Irish sea and mountains and realizing some things had gone very right in our lives.
Rob then hung out with his daughter Grace (I believe there were swan boats AND bumper cars involved) while the rest of us did a few errands in town, etc., and got ready for the round.
And then, it was tee time.
For the third straight round, I made a par on the first two holes. Unlike the other two courses, those were the last par’s I’d make. And not to kick a man when he’s down, but those were two more par's than Rob made all day. RCD is HARD. And, it got wet. The rest of these photos are indeed from Mike Hyde of Carefree Photography, and that man is so talented it’s crazy. Hire him for whatever you can.
On the third hole, the skies opened up (there may have been sleet involved) and I stubbornly didn’t want to put on my waterproofs … until I was soaking wet. So the nice part of the photo above is that I was even wetter UNDER that jacket. Not ideal.
But oh man, what a golf course.
About halfway through the round, I asked AC what you could expect from a golf course that Royal County Down didn’t deliver. Neither of us could think of a thing, even on a two-hour drive the next day. Gorgeous, challenging, a layout that forces you to be creative and sometimes simply go for it, and so many holes that stop you in your tracks as you look around. I’ve for sure never played a course like it, and a few times we walked down holes and I realized other holes at places like Erin Hills, Whistling Straits and elsewhere stole some very good ideas from this course. It’s truly special, and an immediate top-5 golf course that I’ve ever played. It just might be the very best.
Have you played Royal County Down? What were your thoughts?