The Golf Pilgrim Top 100

Our second Ballyliffin episode focuses on the Glashedy course and the man who built it.  

Pat Ruddy is a legend in Irish golf course design, having built The European Club in County Wicklow from scratch.  It is now being transformed into the Brittas Bay Club, which leaves his Donegal masterpiece as a lasting legacy.  His views on how to play great courses are definitely worth listening to!

The Glashedy has hosted the Amateur Championship and the Irish Open, and it offers enough tee-length variety to satisfy all golfers.

https://ballyliffingolfclub.com/

https://www.thegolfpilgrim.com/post/ballyliffin-glashedy

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The first of two episodes from one of the best 36-hole golf clubs anywhere in the UK and Ireland. Next week we will talk about the more modern course, the Glashedy, but in this podcast we focus on Ballyliffin's Old Links, which opened in 1973.

Once established, it put a remote corner of Donegal on the international golfing map.

https://ballyliffingolfclub.com/

https://www.thegolfpilgrim.com/post/ballyliffin-old

This episode is produced with support from cmon.golf

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You won’t find the sea lapping at the edge of this Welsh links course, because Pennard is 200 feet above the bay. That’s why it’s been dubbed “The Links in the Sky.”

Throw in a  ruined medieval castle and ancient church, plus electrified fences to deter livestock, and this is definitely one of the more unusual settings for 18 holes

And according to the rankings, it’s the second best golf course in Wales. 

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Royal Portrush's second course now ranks in the Great Britain and Ireland Top 100 in its own right, so it deserves its own episode of The Golf Pilgrim.  If you're after the Dunluce Championship course, keep scrolling down our long list of episodes; we featured it in 2024.

We're lucky to have two men with in-depth knowledge as our guides: Gary McNeill, Head Professional at Royal Portrush, and Ricky Elliot, who grew up playing both courses and is now the long-serving caddie for 5-time major winner Brooks Koepka.

https://www.thegolfpilgrim.com/post/royal-portrush-valley

https://www.royalportrushgolfclub.com/courses/the-valley/

This episode is produced in association with cmon.golf

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Littlestone attracts a high standard of golfers - the average handicap of its membership is a good indicator.  But a few years ago it was graced by "the worst golfer ever to play in The Open"!

When filmmakers needed a course to shoot "The Phantom Of The Open" - the true story of hapless novice Maurice Flitcroft who somehow found himself among those trying to qualify for the Open Championship, they chose Littlestone.

It may not be as famous as some other Kent courses such as Royal St George's and Princes - which really have staged The Open, but like them, it's a true test of links golf.

https://www.thegolfpilgrim.com/post/littlestone

https://www.littlestonegolfclub.org.uk/

This episode is supported by cmon.golf

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Malone Golf Club sits in the midst of one of the most exclusive areas of Belfast, with 27 parkland holes around a huge lake.  The championship 18 is ranked as the best course in the city, and you sense that is true from the moment you enter via a Magnolia Lane-like entrance.

If you're staying in Belfast, or on a golf tour and fancy an alternative to Northern Ireland's famous links courses, you won't be disappointed.

https://malonegolfclub.co.uk/

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A near neighbour of Royal Porthcawl, P&K, as it is affectionately known, earns plaudits in its own right and is ambitious in its plans for the future.

A round here is a game of two halves - the original course was designed by Harry Colt, but newly acquired land after the Second World War allowed Philip Mackenzie Ross to plot a route through dunes for a new back nine.

https://www.pandkgolfclub.co.uk/

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A parkland course in the suburbs of Belfast, Belvoir Park takes you on a roller-coaster ride through tree-lined valleys, on a routing that has changed little since Harry Colt designed it a century ago.  Peter Alliss called it the "Augusta of Northern Ireland." 

Belvoir Park is so popular that the club has 1,200 members, and it hosts 50,000 rounds of golf every year. 

https://www.belvoirparkgolfclub.com/

This episode is supported by cmon.golf

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For decades, Swinley Forest was in a world of its own: an ultra-private members' club in a secluded area on the Berkshire/Surrey border, with few outsiders able to enjoy a course rightly rated one of the best in the world.

And while some traditions remain -  you can pick and place your ball all year round, and your WHS index isn't recognised  - it now welcomes visitors.

Harry Colt designed it, and golf historians believe it was his favourite of all his many great courses.  If you play here, you will understand why.

https://www.swinleyfgc.co.uk/

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"It's in the hole!!"

Yes, the moment every golfer dreams about… but was it Neil or was it Ian who celebrated a hole-in-one?

It was a perfect sunny day with barely a hint of a breeze, and Ardglass was looking at its most spectacular. Perched on cliff-tops with views of the Irish Sea from every hole, this course has become a favourite destination for golfers who also play at nearby Royal County Down.

Former US PGA winner Rich Beem is an honorary member of the club and tells us why Ardglass is so special.

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