Situated within minutes of Portstewart and Royal Portrush, Castlerock Golf Club is a classic links course set amid towering dunes and is a more than worthy neighbor to both of these great Irish links. Founded in April 1901, the original course comprised nine holes and was laid out on the western part of the present course. Additional land was leased in 1908 and Ben Sayers, the professional from North Berwick in Scotland, was commissioned to design an 18-hole layout. Though better known as a club maker, Sayers produced a superb layout and insisted that the links of Castlerock would equal those at Troon, North Berwick and Sandwich.
Castlerock Golf Course is a classic links course set amid towering dunes. It is located in the heart of Northern Ireland’s golfing country, with Royal Portrush and Portstewart golf clubs only twenty minutes away. This County Derry course is right up there with those neighbours in golfing standards.
Both the nine and eighteen hole courses provide daring tests. As you would expect, the rough is thick and the bad shots get punished. On a calm, sunny day, players might well get lulled into a false sense of security. The route will slip between a forest stroll and a mild hike, but this course will never play easy.
The signature hole on the course is the fourth, a two hundred yard par three known as the “Leg o’ Mutton”. It features water all down the left side and, remarkably, a train line down the right. You must guide your tee shot over the water, but still avoid the three bunkers which surround the green. With out of bounds markers on either side, the player really needs to find the green. This is the high standard that Castlerock demands of the players taking it on.
