| Royal County Down 2004 | |
| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland |
| Total holes | 36 |
| Tournaments hosted | Senior British Open Championship The Amateur Championship British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship Curtis Cup Walker Cup |
| Championship Links | |
| Designed by | Old Tom Morris; George Combe; Harry Vardon; Harry Colt |
| Par | 71 |
| Length | 7,204 yards |
| Course rating | 75 |
| Annesley Links | |
| Par | 66 |
| Length | 4,617 yards |
Royal County Down Golf Club is a golf club in Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland. Dating from 1889, it is one of the oldest golf clubs in Ireland. It has two 18-hole links courses, the Championship Course and the Annesley Links.[1]
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The Championship course measures over 7,200 yards from the back tees, and the fourth and ninth holes are featured in the book The 500 World's Greatest Golf Holes.[2] In 2005 the Championship Course was ranked as the fourth best course in the world outside the United States by Golf Digest, and in 2007 it was ranked first. The Annesley Links is much shorter, but is considered to be just as challenging, with the stretch from holes 5-13 being considered to be as scenic and as much fun as any course the world over. Both the courses are generally considered to be among the best-maintained in the world. Tiger Woods holds the course record on the Championship course, with a score of 65, made during a casual round.
Royal County Down has made outstanding contributions to Irish golf from the Club's beginnings, hosting many important tournaments, starting soon after it opened, and continuing to the present day. Notably, the Club in 2007 became just the second Irish venue, after Portmarnock, to host the Walker Cup.
The first course at County Down was built by Old Tom Morris. He was hired for the sum of four guineas to build a championship course at Newcastle, which opened in 1889. His course started and finished by the railway station; thus it played through the general area which the Slieve Donard Hotel now occupies. Many of the holes were on the grounds that the present-day Championship and Annesley courses at County Down occupy. George Combe began the remodelling of the course in 1900, and was Convenor of the Green from 1900 to 1913. He was made an honorary life member in 1909 and continued making improvements to the course. Harry Vardon modified the course in 1908, the same year King Edward VII bestowed royal patronage on the club. In 1926, the Club brought Harry Colt in to make further improvements.[2][3]