Portmarnock Hotel Links

The verdict

Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links is the more approachable of the two great links on the Portmarnock peninsula, and a genuinely good one. Bernhard Langer laid it out as his first links design and it opened in 1995 on the old Jameson family estate, a par 71 of about 6,514 yards routed across real duneland with the Irish Sea close at hand. Now rebranded the Jameson Golf Links, it is attached to a comfortable hotel, which makes it one of the easiest top tier links rounds to secure in the Dublin area, ideal as the soft opening or relaxed finish to an east coast trip.

Do not mistake accessible for soft. The wind is the same wind that torments the championship club next door, the greens are firm and the closing holes, where Langer raised the greens and tees, demand precise distance control into the breeze. It will not out muscle the historic Portmarnock Golf Club for prestige, but as a playable, scenic, true links with a hotel on site and the city minutes away, it earns its place on any County Dublin itinerary and pairs naturally with The Island and Royal Dublin.

The holes worth the trip

Langer routed the course over a classic links landscape of low dunes and firm fescue, and the round rewards the player who keeps the ball under the wind and uses the contours rather than fighting them. The fairways have room, but the angles and the breeze do the defending, and the bunkering is placed to catch the careless rather than to punish the merely wayward. It is a course that flatters a sound, controlled game and exposes the one that relies on carry alone.

The character builds toward the finish. Langer elevated several of the greens and tees from the middle of the round through the closing stretch, raising them out of the dunes so they sit exposed to the sea wind and demand a confident, well judged approach. The closing holes, played back toward the hotel with the Irish Sea on the breeze, are the examination, asking for distance control and nerve when the round is on the line.

Throughout, the views across the duneland to the sea and back toward the Dublin mountains give the place a real sense of seaside golf, even with the comforts of a hotel a few steps away. It is not the fiercest links in Ireland, but it is an honest, enjoyable, true one, and a fine way to warm up for, or wind down from, the heavyweight rounds on the same coast.

Where to stay nearby

The simplest base is the on site hotel, which makes a stay and play straightforward and puts you minutes from the tee, with the rest of the Dublin links coast on the doorstep. From here you can pair the round with the championship Portmarnock Golf Club next door, the wild duneland of The Island, and the city centre links at Royal Dublin, all within a short drive.

For a wider trip, central Dublin offers an enormous range of hotels and dining and keeps you close to the airport and the north county links, while the seaside villages of Portmarnock and Malahide give a quieter, golf focused base. It is an ideal region to build a links itinerary around without long transfers.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels near Portmarnock.