Holywood Golf Club

Holywood Golf Club is situated high in the hills overlooking Belfast Lough, it dates backs to 1904 so enjoys a long history. It is a mature course that provides challenges to all level of golfer. The course is a par 69, 6,118 yards from the blue tees, so is relatively short course. It is probably best known as being Rory McIlroy’s home club and has a mini-museum of memorabilia.It is an 18 hole undulating parkland course bordering Redburn Country Park on the edge of Belfast City. In a serene location overlooking the city, Belfast Lough and the Antrim Coast, the views are stunning and unrivalled in the area. To score well here you need to be accurate in your driving, the course requires less brawn and more thought, good approach shots are needed to find the greens. You will find the course enjoyable to play whilst being amazed by the scenery.It is an undulating course set amongst the hilly terrain, the front and back holes vary greatly. The course has a nice layout with a good variety of holes, some good long ones and some blind ones. It is a nice course to walk around as it wanders through the mature trees, by a small stream and local terrain. There are three interesting par 3 holes, and a number of par fours that will challenge your ability to play. Its length is not challenging and for the average golfer, you will find plenty of opportunity to score well.The front nine holes are mainly on the level making it easy to walk around, the fairways are wider here so allow for some error. The back nine however are infinitely more challenging, the terrain is vastly different, comprising of elevation changes that will challenge you all the way, the views here are incredible.The course is nicely maintained, the greens are firm and surprisingly fast, the fairways are quite tight and the bunkers are well placed.Being quite a short course, it is an ideal course if you prefer a shorter game. In fact Rory McIlroy has attributed this course with improving his short game as well as his shot making skills.