Rosapenna St Patrick's Links

The verdict

St Patrick's is the modern masterpiece of Irish links golf, the rare new course that feels as though it has been there for a century. Tom Doak and his Renaissance team took a vast tract of dunes above Sheephaven Bay, land that once carried two underwhelming courses, and routed eighteen holes that use the biggest sandhills with restraint and imagination. It opened in June 2021 and was inside the world top 50 within a few years.

What sets it apart is scale and width. Doak gave the fairways room so the wind becomes a strategic partner rather than a punishment, and the greens are large, wild and full of ideas, repaying the player who thinks about angles. Paired with the Old Tom Morris and Sandy Hills links on the same resort, it makes Rosapenna one of the great golf destinations on the planet, and the reason serious links golfers now make the long drive into northwest Donegal.

The holes worth the trip

St Patrick's reveals itself hole by hole through the dunes, never showing its whole hand. The par 5s give big hitters something to chase while leaving plenty of width for everyone else, and the short holes are a highlight, each framed by sandhills and asking for a different flight. The closing stretch swings back toward the clubhouse with the bay in view, a finish that feels both grand and inevitable.

Doak's signature is everywhere in the greens, which are large, boldly contoured and built to feed and repel in equal measure. Approach from the correct angle, often by flirting with trouble off the tee, and the green opens up; play safe and you leave yourself a putt across a ridge or a chip from a swale. The width is generous but it is strategic width, rewarding the player who reads the wind and commits to a line.

Because the course is new, the turf is firm and the bunkering crisp, and because the dunes are so large, the sense of seclusion is total. There are stretches where you see nothing but sand, marram and sea. For the travelling golfer chasing the best of modern links design, St Patrick's belongs on the same short list as Sand Valley, Barnbougle and the great new courses of the age.

Where to stay nearby

The Rosapenna Hotel sits at the heart of the resort, the obvious base for playing all three links over a long weekend, with the first tees a short walk or shuttle away and dining on site.

Donegal is remote and that is part of the appeal, but golfers often combine Rosapenna with Ballyliffin and Portsalon further along the coast for a complete northwest links tour, basing for a night or two near each to cut the driving.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts near Rosapenna.