The European Club: 2026 Access and Booking Update
Pat Ruddy's beloved links in the dunes of Brittas Bay, half an hour south of Dublin, is the biggest story in Irish golf this year, and for an unusual reason: it is closed. Here is where access stands in 2026, what the Kyle Phillips redesign means, and how to plan around it.
The news: closed all year for a full redesign
The headline for 2026 is a big one. The European Club closed its doors at the end of 2025 and will stay closed throughout 2026 while a major reconstruction takes place. After buying the club in the summer of 2025, new owners Raymond Conlan and his son Nicky have engaged the architect Kyle Phillips, the man behind Kingsbarns among others, to reshape the course, and they have rebranded the property as the Brittas Bay Club. The plan involves significant changes to the links, and the work is expected to keep the course out of play for around eighteen months.
The practical upshot for travelling golfers is simple: there is no visitor golf at the links in 2026. If you have played the European Club before, the course you remember is being rebuilt; if you have never played it, you will be meeting the new Brittas Bay Club rather than the old layout when it reopens.
The course: Pat Ruddy's labor of love
To understand the news you have to understand what is being changed. The European Club was the life's work of Pat Ruddy, the golf writer turned architect who scoured the Irish coast by helicopter before settling on the dunes at Brittas Bay. He built and opened the links in the early 1990s and spent decades refining it, ending up with an unusual routing that included two extra relief holes, a par of 71 and a championship length comfortably beyond 7,000 yards. It became one of the most respected modern links in Ireland and hosted top amateur and professional play.
Kyle Phillips has spoken about wanting the reborn Brittas Bay Club to be capable of hosting big events on a grand stage while remaining playable for ordinary golfers the rest of the year, and the new owners have said it will stay a public pay and play course. How much of Ruddy's character survives the rebuild is the question every Irish golfer is asking, and one we will only be able to answer when it opens.
How to plan around it in 2026
Because the links is closed, the only sensible plan for 2026 is to route your Irish golf elsewhere and keep the reopening on your radar for a future trip. The redesigned course is expected to reopen in 2027, with reporting pointing to a planned opening around May of that year, so a 2027 trip to the Dublin and east coast region could be timed to be among the first to play it.
For 2026 itself, the good news is that the east coast and the wider country are full of alternatives. Build a Dublin based links trip around the great courses within easy reach, or push west and south to the heavyweight links coasts; either way you will not be short of world class golf. When you do plan a Brittas Bay round for 2027, treat any quoted date, green fee or access detail as indicative and always confirm directly before booking, because reopening schedules on projects of this scale frequently move.
Our take
Our take is that this is the most intriguing project in Irish golf and one we are watching closely, but it is also a real loss for 2026. Pat Ruddy's European Club was a genuine original, idiosyncratic and fiercely good, and any rebuild of a course people loved carries risk as well as promise. Kyle Phillips has the pedigree to deliver something special, and a public links with championship ambitions on the doorstep of Dublin is an exciting prospect.
For now, our advice is to park Brittas Bay until 2027 and spend your 2026 golf on the rest of Ireland, of which there is no shortage. Keep an eye on our Ireland course renovations roundup for progress, read the Ireland 2026 season outlook for where to go instead, and we will report back the moment the new course opens its tee sheet.
Plan your Ireland golf trip
With the European Club closed for 2026, tell us roughly when and who is travelling and one concierge builds and costs an Irish links trip around the courses that are open, with no obligation.
Questions
Is The European Club open in 2026?
No. The European Club closed at the end of 2025 and remains closed throughout 2026 for a major redesign by architect Kyle Phillips. The venue has been renamed the Brittas Bay Club under new owners and is expected to reopen in 2027. There is no visitor golf at the links during 2026.
Who designed The European Club and who is redesigning it?
The European Club was created by Pat Ruddy, the golf writer and architect who found the Brittas Bay site by helicopter and opened the links in the early 1990s. Following the sale of the club in 2025, the new owners have engaged architect Kyle Phillips to redesign the course, which will reopen as the Brittas Bay Club.
When will the Brittas Bay Club reopen?
The redesigned links is expected to reopen in 2027, with reporting pointing to a planned May 2027 opening. The Brittas Bay Club is set to remain a public pay and play course. Always confirm dates and access directly before planning a trip around it.
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Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Course facts, designers, ownership, closure and reopening details verified June 2026 from club, industry and golf travel reporting; reopening schedules on projects of this scale frequently move, so always confirm directly before booking. Last reviewed June 2026.