Royal County Down

The club opened on 23 March 1889 and is one of the oldest in Ireland, about thirty miles south of Belfast where the Mourne Mountains come down to Dundrum Bay. Old Tom Morris, George Combe and Harry Vardon all had a hand in the Championship Course; there is a second links, the Annesley. In 2007 it became only the second Irish venue to host the Walker Cup, and the Irish Open returned in 2015 after 76 years, and again in 2024.

It measures 7,186 yards, with a slope rating of 142, and plays through dunes high enough that several tee shots are blind, over a ridge to a fairway you take on trust. Golf Digest placed it first on its list of the world's 100 greatest courses for 2024.