The Golf Collection
Portmarnock: How To Play, Stay And Eat
The truest links inside fifteen minutes of Dublin, and the city that anchors the trip.
Courtesy of Portmarnock Golf Club · Used with permission
Portmarnock is the round we send American friends to when they land at Dublin and want the truest links on the island without leaving the city they flew into. A members club founded in 1894 on a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides, it is fifteen minutes from the airport and worlds away from every resort course in Ireland.
This is not a stay-and-play. You sleep in Dublin, you drive out for a morning round, and you spend the evening inside a city that has been rehearsing how to feed a small group of well-dressed adults for two hundred years. That sequence is the trip.
Read the four chapters in order. How the peninsula plays, how to sequence three days in Dublin around it, where to eat when the round is done, and how to book what the club will and will not do for you.
Read In Order
Four chapters, in sequence.
The way we walk visiting friends through Portmarnock. Play first, plan second, eat third.
- I
Chapter I
How To Play
A hole-by-hole read on the Old course, from the opening drive to the fifteenth into the wind.
8 min readRead chapter → - II
Chapter II
Three Days Around
A Dublin city base, an eight o'clock tee time, and a second round south into Wicklow.
8 min readRead chapter → - III
Chapter III
Where To Eat
Chapter One, Bastible, Etto, and the pub for the first pint of the trip.
7 min readRead chapter → - IV
Chapter IV
How To Book
The published 530 euro 2027 green fee, the April to September visitor season, the caddie, and the Dublin room the round is anchored to.
9 min readRead chapter →
The Parallel Fairway
The Coast Road Day
A botanic castle garden, lobster on Howth pier, and a lighthouse loop.
Portmarnock groups usually take an early tee time to protect the evening. An eight o'clock start has the golfer back by one, so this day is front-loaded.
- IEarly morning
Malahide Castle gardens
Ten minutes north
A botanic collection of several thousand species inside a walled Victorian garden, with glasshouses and a castle attached. Go at opening and you will have the walled section to yourself.
- IILate morning or midday
Howth pier
Fifteen minutes south, around the headland
Lobster and razor clams looking straight at the boats that brought them in. The harbour is touristed and the seafood is still the best within an hour of Dublin.
- IIIEarly afternoon
The Baily lighthouse cliff loop, Howth
From the harbour, on foot
An hour and a half of clifftop path around the Howth headland with Dublin Bay on one side and the Irish Sea on the other. The path is uneven in stretches and worth it.
If it rains
Stay with Malahide, which has enough indoors to hold a morning, then take the train into the city for tea at The Shelbourne rather than walking the headland in weather.
What to bring
A Leap card if you are using the coastal train, which is faster than the car at rush hour.
What we would skip
Trying to fit the Book of Kells in as well. Give Trinity its own morning on a non-golf day.
Continue Planning
The trip around Portmarnock.
Where to sleep, how to shape the wider week, and which destination to open next.
The Shelbourne, Dublin
The city base fifteen minutes from the peninsula and two blocks from every dinner reservation worth making.
Seven Days · Ireland Golf, North to South
How Portmarnock anchors the Dublin arrival before the drive south or north.
Open the itineraryBefore You Book
What visitors usually ask about Portmarnock
- How hard is it to get a visitor tee time at Portmarnock?
- Easier than most people assume, and harder than it looks in July. Portmarnock Golf Club takes visitor bookings on most weekdays and releases the following season from the autumn. Write early, be specific about your party size, and take a mid-morning time so the wind has declared itself before you reach the turn.
- Is Portmarnock a links course or a resort course?
- A true links, built on a peninsula between the Irish Sea and an estuary, with almost no elevation and almost no shelter. There is no water framing, no manufactured drama. The defence is wind, angle and a set of greens that reward the player who thought about the tee shot two shots earlier.
- Can we play Portmarnock as a day trip from Dublin?
- Yes, and it is the single strongest argument for the course. It is roughly thirty minutes from the city centre and twenty from the airport, so you can play a championship links in the morning and eat properly in Dublin that night without moving hotels.
- Where should we stay when playing Portmarnock?
- Two honest options. Stay in Dublin at The Merrion or The Westbury and treat the golf as a morning excursion, or stay coastal in Portmarnock and Malahide if the party wants to wake up beside the links. Golfers travelling with non-golfers should choose Dublin every time.
- What is the dress code and caddie policy at Portmarnock?
- Traditional and quietly enforced: tailored trousers or shorts, collared shirt, soft spikes, no denim in the clubhouse. Caddies should be booked with the tee time rather than requested on arrival, and they are worth it on a first visit for the lines alone. Caddies at the top Irish clubs are professionals and the tip is the largest line item of the round. Budget €70 to €100 per bag on top of the caddie fee, more if you have played well or been walked around a big course in bad weather. Cash, in euro (or sterling in Northern Ireland), handed over at the eighteenth.
The Booking Decision
How we would book Portmarnock.
Budget 530 euro for eighteen Championship holes in 2027, lunch included, and know that the visitor season runs 1 April to 30 September only. Ask for a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday window, because Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and bank holidays are members only. Contact the visitor office nine to twelve months out with your group and handicaps, pay the euro deposit the day the invoice arrives, and book a caddie for every player. Bring euro in cash for caddie fees and tips. Sleep at the Shelbourne or the Merrion and hold the round-night dinner the same day the room is confirmed.
Verified 27 September 2026 against the Portmarnock Golf Club published visitor information page, including the 2027 green fee table and 2027 visitor times.
Play it if
- You want championship links golf without leaving Dublin.
- You are arriving or leaving through Dublin and want one serious round either side.
- You like a flat, fair, wind-exposed test with no tricks in it.
Skip it if
- Your dates fall outside the club's visitor season.
- You want a Wednesday, Friday, Saturday or bank holiday round.
- You would rather a scenic round than a pure one.
Time it takes
Plan the round for the morning and keep the city for the evening. Portmarnock sits close enough to Dublin to do both.
What we would book today
- Portmarnock visitor tee time via the club office, nine to twelve months out.
- A Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday window inside the 1 April to 30 September visitor season.
- One caddie per player at the same time, paid in cash on the day.
- Three nights at the Shelbourne or the Merrion in Dublin city centre.
- The round-night dinner at Chapter One, Bastible, or Etto.
What we would not bother with
- Any third-party broker offering to secure the tee time for a fee.
- The back tees on a first play unless your index is under six.
- A Wednesday, Friday, Saturday or bank holiday request. Those are members only.
- Any date between 1 October 2027 and 31 March 2028. The club is closed to visitors.
- Paying the caddie by card at the end of the round.
Where we would sleep
The Shelbourne, Dublin
The city base fifteen minutes from the peninsula and two blocks from every dinner reservation worth making.
Read the stayPortmarnock or Royal County Down
Choose Portmarnock
- Dublin is the base and you do not want a long drive.
- You want a fair, classical links test.
- The round has to fit around flights.
Choose Royal County Down
- You will travel north for the better piece of ground.
- You want scenery as part of the round.
- You have a night to give to Newcastle.
Play it if, skip it if and the head to head are our judgement. The fees, windows and rules above are the club's own published terms.
Before You Play
Before you play the Championship at Portmarnock.
The peninsula course still checks handicap certificates and still expects trousers in the members' room. The essays below are the working manual for the round twenty minutes from Dublin airport.
The BallotMost relevant here
Which courses need a handicap
Portmarnock checks a certificate at the pro shop. Bring the WHS printout, not a screenshot.
ReadThe Caddie
How much to tip
€60 base, €100 for the caddie who reads the fifteenth into the prevailing wind.
ReadThe Bag
Renting clubs in Ireland
Which pro shops carry the good sets, and when to reserve.
ReadThe Clubhouse
The real dress code
The members' room still expects tailored trousers. Denim not welcome in the bar.
ReadThe Freight
Shipping your clubs
Courier or Aer Lingus, and where the bag should land.
ReadThe Budget
What four days actually cost
The honest line-item number, green fees to the last pint.
ReadThe Walk
Caddie, buggy, or trolley
Where buggies are banned, and where the caddie is the point.
ReadThe Solo Round
Playing Ireland as a single
Which clubs pair a party of one, and which times to ask for.
Read
The questions we answer before every Ireland golf trip, gathered in one index.
The full planning Q&A