Golf · North Coast Links 2027
The coast where the light comes in sideways
Portmarnock on the way in, then Portstewart, Royal Portrush and Castlerock. And the £30 million links being planned along the Foyle shore.
Photograph courtesy of Portstewart Golf Club
The quick answer
Five days. Play Portmarnock the day you land in Dublin, drive north, and base three nights in Bushmills for Portstewart, Royal Portrush and Castlerock. Bellarena is not playable in 2027: it is still a planned course, with an opening expected around 2029. Book Portrush first. Facts checked 3 November 2026.
There is an hour on this coast, usually near nine in the evening in June, when the sun sits low over Inishowen and every dune between Portrush and the Foyle turns the colour of old brass. Golfers who have stood on the Portstewart first tee at that hour come back. This is the week we build around it.
Portrush asks for one great swing on every hole, and then lets the view do the rest.
Royal Portrush, Dunluce Links
The future of this coast
Bellarena: the £30 million links, and what it means for you
The Galgorm Collection, the hotel group that already runs parkland courses in Ballymena and Limavady, plans an 18-hole championship links at Bellarena, on the Lough Foyle shore just north of the River Roe near Magilligan. It would be the first new championship links in the north in more than a century, with a clubhouse, a short course, a driving range and eight golf lodges.
Where it stands in autumn 2026: a public consultation ran in August and September, a full planning application was expected next, and the club's own hope is to break ground in 2027. Trade press expects an opening around 2029. A councillor has said Tiger Woods will design it; Galgorm has not confirmed a designer.
So for a 2027 trip, Bellarena is a view, not a tee time. Stand at Downhill on the Castlerock day and look west along the strand: that is the shoreline. We will add Bellarena to this route the season it takes visitors, and the Desk will tell clients who have travelled with us first.
Castlerock is the quiet one. Play it, and you will wonder why everyone else drove past.
Photograph courtesy of Castlerock Golf Club
The five days
The order we would play it in 2027
Day one
Portmarnock, off the plane
Land in Dublin and play Portmarnock, fifteen minutes from the airport. Visitors play Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday only, so the flight is booked around the tee time, never the other way. Sleep in Dublin.
Day two
North, to the Causeway
About two and a half to three hours by car with a driver. Check in at Bushmills and walk the Giant's Causeway in the evening, after the coaches have gone.
Day three
Portstewart Strand
The front nine through the tallest dunes on the coast. Book the morning; the light comes off the Atlantic behind you.
Day four
Royal Portrush, Dunluce Links
The anchor round. Portrush runs no Wednesday visitors, so aim for a Tuesday or Thursday and build the week from that date.
Day five
Castlerock, and the Bellarena shore
Castlerock's Mussenden course in the morning, then Mussenden Temple above Downhill Strand. A few miles west along Lough Foyle is the Bellarena site: nothing to play yet, but the coast the next great links will be built on.
Flying home from Dublin? Reverse it and play Portmarnock on the last morning. Club by club: booking Portmarnock, booking Royal Portrush, and the full fee table in the North Coast corridor.
Portmarnock: fifteen minutes from the arrivals hall, and a world away from it.
Photograph courtesy of Portmarnock Golf Club
Ryder Cup week, 2027
The Ryder Cup is on the other side of the island
The centenary Ryder Cup is played at Adare Manor in County Limerick, 13 to 19 September 2027. The matches are there, not here: none of the clubs on this coast are part of the fixture, and each keeps its own visitor policy that week.
That is the opening. September is the finest month on the North Coast and the hardest month in the south-west. Play this week in the first half of September, then hand the Ryder Cup days to the Desk as the second half of the same trip: the Ryder Cup week, planned here.
Package this swing
North Coast Links 2027
- Portmarnock: visitors Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, 1 April to 30 September 2027
- Royal Portrush: Tuesday or Thursday; no Wednesday visitors
- Portstewart and Castlerock around the Portrush date
- Base: one night in Dublin, three at The Bushmills Inn
The Desk requests every tee time and room together and quotes nothing until the clubs and hotel confirm.
Questions
Can I play Bellarena in 2027?
No. Bellarena is a proposed £30 million championship links by the Galgorm Collection on the Lough Foyle shore near Magilligan. In autumn 2026 it was still in planning, with the hope of breaking ground in 2027 and an expected opening around 2029. We will add it to this route only when it takes visitor bookings.
Is Tiger Woods designing Bellarena?
It has been reported but not confirmed. A local councillor told the Coleraine Chronicle in October 2026 that Woods had been signed; Galgorm Collection said only that it would confirm a design appointment in due course.
Why include Portmarnock on a North Coast trip?
Because most Americans fly into Dublin. Portmarnock is fifteen minutes from the airport, so it works as the arrival or departure round, with the drive north the following day.
What are the green fees?
Portmarnock has published 2027 rates: €530 for 18 Championship holes, lunch included. Royal Portrush (£420 Dunluce), Portstewart (£335 summer) and Castlerock (£250 summer) had published 2026 rates when we checked; we update each to 2027 only when the club publishes it.
Where should we stay?
One night in Dublin for Portmarnock, then three nights in Bushmills for Portstewart, Portrush and Castlerock. The Desk confirms rooms with your tee times.
Does Ryder Cup week affect a North Coast trip?
Not on this coast. The matches are at Adare Manor in County Limerick, 13 to 19 September 2027, in the south-west. Portstewart, Portrush and Castlerock keep their own visitor policies that week. If you want both, the Desk builds them as one brief.