Carlingford is a good base for a golf weekend for a reason that has nothing to do with the village: within about an hour of it there is one of the best links courses in the world, a handful of pleasant parkland courses at sensible money, and a shoreline course ten minutes down the road. A group can play something different every day without moving hotel.
Two things to settle first. The courses straddle a border — Louth in euro, Down and Armagh in sterling — and the Greenore–Greencastle lough ferry is not sailing in 2026, so anything on the County Down side means driving round the head of the lough through Newry. Add the best part of an hour each way and plan the week accordingly.
The one worth planning the trip around
Royal County Down, Newcastle
Consistently ranked among the best courses in the world, and the reason a lot of golfers come to this corner of Ireland at all. Championship links plus the shorter Annesley links, under the Mournes, on ground that looks like it was laid out by weather rather than by a designer.
Be realistic about getting on. Visitor access is limited, tee times go a long way in advance, and the green fee is at the top of the market. If a group of twenty wants to play it, that is a phone call made months out, not on the Thursday. About an hour from Carlingford by road round the lough.
On the Louth side — nearest first
Greenore Golf Club
Ten minutes down the coast and the closest real golf to the village — a blend of links and heathland running along the shore, with the Cooley Mountains behind and the lough in front. Practice ground, putting green and chipping area. The obvious choice for a first morning, and the one to ring first for a group.
Ballymascanlon
About ten kilometres from Carlingford, attached to the Ballymascanlon House Hotel, so it comes with somewhere to eat and a bar without getting back in the car. Parkland, sheltered, and the easiest of the nearby courses to organise for a mixed-ability group.
Dundalk Golf Club
Half an hour south, eighteen holes with the mountains on one side and the bay on the other, and reasonable green fees midweek. Plenty of pubs in Dundalk afterwards.
Killin Park, Dundalk
The straightforward option — well kept, unfussy, quick to get round, and priced for a casual eighteen rather than an occasion.
Over the border, around Newry and the Mournes
Warrenpoint Golf Club
Wooded parkland on the Down shore, and the prettiest of the inland courses round here — pine-lined for most of the round, which makes it feel a long way from the lough you were looking at ten minutes earlier. Popular, so book.
Kilkeel Golf Club
Parkland laid out in the grounds of Mourne Park, under the mountains. A good one to pair with a day in the Mournes — ring ahead to check visitor times and what practice facilities are open.
Cloverhill, Mayobridge and Ashfield
Three parkland clubs in the countryside around Newry, all of them a good deal cheaper than the headline courses and all of them perfectly good golf. They are the ones that make a week affordable when the group is playing four or five times. Facilities vary, so ring ahead and ask what is open on the day — especially if you want food after the round.
Practical notes for a golf group
- Ring, do not just book online. A group of twelve or twenty is a conversation about tee intervals, not a web form — and clubs will often do a better rate for a block booking.
- Visitor days vary and competition days will shut you out entirely. Ask before you build the itinerary.
- Two currencies. Cards cover it, but check whether a quoted fee is euro or sterling before you agree it.
- Build in the drive. Without the ferry, County Down is an hour each way this year. One Down course per day, not two.
- Buggies are not a given on links courses and numbers are limited. Ask when you book if anyone needs one.
Where a golf group stays
With courses on both sides of the lough, one house beats a room each. Carlingford Heights is a six-bedroom lodge at Mountain Park, let as a whole house and sleeping twenty, with ample parking for a group arriving in several cars and space to leave clubs and wet gear. It is ten to fifteen minutes’ walk above the village and its pubs and restaurants, which is the other half of a golf weekend.
The gallery shows the house room by room and the booking page has the rates and terms — or send us your dates and the number in the party.
