Ryder Cup 2027 and the Best Golf Courses in Ireland

In September 2027 the Ryder Cup comes to Ireland for only the second time, in the year the contest turns 100. Europe and the United States meet at Adare Manor in County Limerick, and for one week the whole country will be talking about golf.

It isn’t the only reason to bring your clubs. The Irish Open returns to the K Club in July, the Women’s Irish Open comes to Dún Laoghaire Golf Club in August, and the great courses that made Ireland famous are as good as they’ve ever been. Here’s what’s happening in 2027, how to get there, and the ten courses we’d play first.

Ryder Cup 2027 at Adare Manor

When is the Ryder Cup 2027?

Ryder Cup week runs from Monday 13 to Sunday 19 September 2027. The practice days are Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 September, the opening ceremony is on Thursday 16, and the matches are played from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 September.

Where is it?

At Adare Manor, on the edge of the village of Adare in County Limerick. The second Earl of Dunraven began rebuilding the house in 1832, and it’s one of the great nineteenth-century mansions in Ireland. J. P. McManus bought the estate in 2015, and Tom Fazio rebuilt its championship course, which reopened in 2018.

It’s the first Ryder Cup in Ireland since 2006, when Europe beat the United States 18½–9½ at the K Club. Shannon is the nearest airport, about 40 minutes away by road. Limerick city is about 20 minutes away, and Dublin Airport about two and a half hours.

Who are the captains?

Luke Donald captains Europe for the third match in a row, after victories in Rome in 2023 and at Bethpage in 2025. Jim Furyk leads the United States for the second time, having captained them in Paris in 2018.

Ryder Cup 2027 tickets

The ticket ballots, first for Irish residents and then for golf fans worldwide, ran in the spring and early summer of 2026, and demand ran far ahead of supply. Only tickets bought through official Ryder Cup channels will get you through the gates, so if you missed out, keep an eye on rydercup.com and on Ryder Cup Travel Services, the official travel and accommodation provider, and stay away from resale sites.

For reference, ballot prices were:

• Practice days, Tuesday and Wednesday: from €89.
• Thursday, with the opening ceremony: from €179.
• Each match day, Friday to Sunday: €499.

Getting to Adare Manor

There’s no spectator parking at Adare Manor. Spectators come in one of three ways, with full details sent to ticket holders:

• Park and ride. Paid, pre-booked shuttle buses from sites around Adare, 10 to 30 minutes from the gates.
• Train and walk. A shuttle train from Limerick Junction, on the main Dublin to Cork line, to a temporary station at Adare Manor. The organisers say it’s usually the quickest way in from Dublin or Cork.
• Train and ride. From Limerick Colbert station by shuttle bus, the route for anyone coming from Galway.

This is where a private driver earns their keep. We’ll meet you at Shannon or Dublin, take you to your park-and-ride site or station each morning, and collect you in the evening for the drive back to your hotel. On the days you’re not at the matches, we’ll drive you to your own tee times.

Where to stay

Rooms near Adare will be the hardest thing in Ireland to find that week. Limerick city is the closest base, and many visitors will stay in Clare, Kerry or Tipperary and travel in each day. The official travel provider has even brought in a cruise ship, moored in the Shannon Estuary, as a floating hotel. Whatever you choose, book early, and plan the daily journeys before you commit to a base an hour or more away.

Ireland’s other big golf events in 2027

Event	Dates	Venue
Amgen Irish Open	1–4 July	The K Club, Co. Kildare
KPMG Women’s Irish Open	2–8 August	Dún Laoghaire Golf Club
The Ryder Cup	17–19 September	Adare Manor, Co. Limerick

The Irish Open moves to early July to make room for the Ryder Cup. Shane Lowry defends the title he won at Doonbeg in September 2026, at the club where Europe won the 2006 Ryder Cup.

The KPMG Women’s Irish Open, on the Ladies European Tour, comes to Dún Laoghaire Golf Club, on the Dublin–Wicklow border. Its 27 holes, designed by Martin Hawtree, sit below the Sugar Loaf, and the club hosted the Curtis Cup in 2016.

One to watch: in County Wicklow, the former European Club, Pat Ruddy’s celebrated links at Brittas Bay, is being reshaped by Kyle Phillips. It’s due to reopen in 2027 as the Brittas Bay Club.

The 10 best golf courses in Ireland

Ranking golf courses starts an argument in every clubhouse in Ireland, and that’s half the fun. These are our ten: the links and parkland courses we’d put at the top of any golf trip, from the north coast to the south-west.

1. Royal County Down, County Down

The club opened in 1889 and soon brought Old Tom Morris over from St Andrews to advise on its links, for a sum not to exceed £4. The land did most of the work. Royal County Down runs through tall dunes along Dundrum Bay, with the Mountains of Mourne rising behind and blind tee shots over gorse to fairways you have to trust are there. It’s regularly ranked the best course in Ireland and among the best in the world, and it has hosted the Walker Cup, the Curtis Cup and, in 2015 and 2024, the Irish Open.

• Where: Newcastle, County Down, about an hour from Belfast City Airport and under two hours from Dublin Airport.
• Nearby: The Slieve Donard Hotel beside the links, walks in Tollymore Forest Park and the Mournes, and the dunes at Murlough.
• Website: royalcountydown.org

2. Royal Portrush, County Antrim

Harry Colt’s Dunluce Links sits on the north Antrim coast, overlooked by the ruins of Dunluce Castle. The Open first came here in 1951, returned in 2019, when Shane Lowry won by six shots in front of a home crowd, and came back again in 2025, when Scottie Scheffler lifted the Claret Jug. For 2019, two new holes, the 7th and 8th, were built on land from the neighbouring Valley Links, and they fit as if they’d always been there.

• Where: Portrush, County Antrim, a little over an hour from Belfast International Airport.
• Nearby: Dunluce Castle, the Giant’s Causeway, the Old Bushmills Distillery and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.
• Website: royalportrushgolfclub.com

3. Ballybunion (Old Course), County Kerry

Ballybunion opened in 1893, and its Old Course is links golf at full volume: towering dunes, greens perched on ridges and holes along the cliffs above the Atlantic. Tom Watson fell for it on his first visit in 1981 and later helped shape the course you play today. President Bill Clinton played it in 1998, which is why there’s a statue of him, club in hand, in the town. Robert Trent Jones designed the Cashen Course next door in 1984, if you have the legs for a second round.

• Where: Ballybunion, north County Kerry, about an hour from Kerry Airport and an hour and three-quarters from Shannon.
• Nearby: The beaches and clifftop castle ruin in Ballybunion, the town of Listowel, and the car ferry from Tarbert across the Shannon into Clare.
• Website: ballybuniongolfclub.com

4. Lahinch (Old Course), County Clare

Old Tom Morris laid out the first links at Lahinch in 1892, Alister MacKenzie reshaped it in 1927, and Martin Hawtree restored it between 1999 and 2003. Two blind holes from the early days survive, the Klondyke and the Dell, and goats roam the course, as they have long enough to earn a place on the club crest. Jon Rahm won the Irish Open here in 2019, and in September 2026 Great Britain and Ireland beat the United States 13½–12½ in the Walker Cup.

• Where: Lahinch, County Clare, about an hour from Shannon Airport.
• Nearby: The Cliffs of Moher a short drive up the coast, the music pubs of Doolin and the limestone hills of the Burren.
• Website: lahinchgolf.com

5. Portmarnock, County Dublin

Founded in 1894 on a peninsula just north of Dublin, Portmarnock is admired above all for its fairness: a demanding links with water on three sides and nowhere to hide. It has staged the Irish Open 19 times, as well as the 1960 Canada Cup, the 1991 Walker Cup and the 2019 Amateur Championship. With 27 holes and Dublin Airport 20 minutes away, it makes a fine first or last round of a trip.

• Where: Portmarnock, north County Dublin, about 20 minutes from Dublin Airport.
• Nearby: The Velvet Strand beach, and Malahide Castle and Howth.
• Website: portmarnockgolfclub.ie

6. Rosapenna, County Donegal

Golf at Rosapenna began in 1891, when the Earl of Leitrim invited Old Tom Morris to lay out a links on the shores of Sheephaven Bay, and the hotel followed in 1893. Today there are three courses: the Old Tom Morris Links; Sandy Hills, laid out by Pat Ruddy and open since 2003; and St Patrick’s Links, Tom Doak’s first course in Ireland, which opened in 2021 and went straight into the world rankings. It’s a long way north, and worth every mile.

• Where: Downings, County Donegal, about an hour from Donegal Airport and an hour and a half from City of Derry Airport.
• Nearby: Glenveagh National Park and its castle, the Atlantic Drive around the Rosguill peninsula, and the lighthouse at Fanad Head.
• Website: rosapenna.ie

7. Old Head Golf Links, County Cork

Few courses anywhere have a setting like this. Old Head sits on a headland that reaches more than two miles into the Atlantic, with nine holes running along cliffs about 300 feet above the sea. Brothers John and Patrick O’Connor bought the land in 1989 and opened the course in 1997, after years of work to fit 18 holes onto the rock. Out to sea, the Lusitania was torpedoed off this headland in 1915.

• Where: Near Kinsale, County Cork, about 40 minutes from Cork Airport.
• Nearby: Kinsale’s harbour, restaurants and Charles Fort, and the city of Cork.
• Website: oldhead.com

8. Waterville Golf Links, County Kerry

Waterville sits on the Ring of Kerry, between Lough Currane and Ballinskelligs Bay. Golf was played here in the late 1800s, but the links you play today was the dream of John Mulcahy, an Irish-American businessman, who brought in Eddie Hackett and Claude Harmon and opened it in 1973. Tom Fazio has since refined it. Climb to the tee of the 17th, Mulcahy’s Peak, for the best view on the course. Payne Stewart loved Waterville and was due to become its honorary captain in 2000, and the club honours him with a life-size bronze statue.

• Where: Waterville, County Kerry, about an hour and 20 minutes from Kerry Airport.
• Nearby: Boat trips to Skellig Michael in season, Derrynane beach and the rest of the Ring of Kerry.
• Website: watervillegolflinks.ie

9. Adare Manor, County Limerick

The Ryder Cup course. Robert Trent Jones laid out the original in 1995, and after J. P. McManus bought the estate, Tom Fazio rebuilt it. It reopened in April 2018 with an exhibition match between Rory McIlroy, Pádraig Harrington, Paul McGinley and Shane Lowry. The River Maigue runs through the estate, and the manor is never far from view. The course hosted the Irish Open in 2007 and 2008 and the J. P. McManus Pro-Am in 2022. Tee times go mainly to hotel guests, so the surest way to play is to stay at the manor and book golf with your room.

• Where: Adare, County Limerick, about 40 minutes from Shannon Airport.
• Nearby: Adare’s thatched cottages and Desmond Castle, and King John’s Castle in Limerick city.
• Website: adaremanor.com

10. The K Club, County Kildare

In 2006 the K Club staged the first Ryder Cup ever held in Ireland, and Europe won it 18½–9½. Its two Arnold Palmer courses run beside the River Liffey in the grounds of Straffan House, completed in 1832 in the style of a French château. The Palmer North Course, the Ryder Cup course, hosted the Irish Open in 2016, won by Rory McIlroy, and again in 2023. The Irish Open returns to the K Club from 1 to 4 July 2027.

• Where: Straffan, County Kildare, about 40 minutes from Dublin Airport.
• Nearby: Castletown House in Celbridge, the Irish National Stud and its Japanese Gardens, and shopping at Kildare Village.
• Website: kclub.ie

Planning a golf trip to Ireland in 2027

• Book the big weeks early. Hotels near Straffan in early July and anywhere near Adare in September will fill first.
• Fly in where you’ll play. Shannon suits Clare, Limerick and Kerry. Dublin suits the east and the north-west, and Belfast puts you about an hour from Royal County Down and Portrush. You can fly into one airport and home from another.
• Group the courses. Play one region at a time, one round a day, and keep the travel for the afternoons.
• Leave the driving to us. Your chauffeur meets you at the airport, loads the clubs, gets you to the first tee in good time and is waiting when you walk off the 18th. One to three golfers travel in the Mercedes E-Class, and groups of up to seven in our Business MPV, with room for the bags.

For more on moving golfers and clubs around the country, read our guide to getting around on a golf trip to Ireland. Then take a look at our golf tours with a private driver, or send us your courses and dates and we’ll plan the driving around your tee times.