County Louth: Ireland’s most underrated course you have to play if you visit the Emerald Isle

If you are lucky enough to take a trip to Ireland to play some golf, you must add County Louth Golf Club to your list.

Also known as Baltray, County Louth is a hidden gem that runs through the whispy dunes along the Irish Sea. Smylie Kaufman and Justin Thomas, who played this course after The Open this year—and two days after I did—agree.

Not a single blade of grass is out of place, leaving you with the impression that you are walking along heavenly ground. It’s a firm, fair, brilliant test of golf—links golf at its finest. It’s a place where every golfer should play at least once.

Baltray sits four miles east of the town of Drogheda—the ‘g’ is silent—and 45 minutes from the Dublin airport, a convenience for those traveling from North America.

This golf course has plenty of accolades, too. Golf Digest Ireland has it ranked as the 8th best links golf course in Ireland, while many others around the British Isles rave about this place, too.

The DP World Tour’s Irish Open has visited twice, most recently in 2009, when Shane Lowry won the title as an amateur. The course also welcomes some of the best players in the world every June for the East of Ireland Amateur Open Championship, one of the four significant amateur events held on the Emerald Isle each year. The East of Ireland has been played here every year since 1941, except for 2020 and 2021, when the pandemic shut things down. Notable champions of the East of Ireland include 2011 Open Champion Darren Clarke and former top amateur Christo Lamprecht. This year’s winner, Caolan Rafferty, a former greenskeeper at nearby Dundalk Golf Club, won the 72-hole competition at 15-under-par.

The club will also host the Boys Amateur Championship in 2025, the R&A’s equivalent of the U.S. Junior Amateur. County Louth takes tremendous pride in its junior golf and family-friendly atmosphere, as it has 250 junior members, many of whom boast handicaps under 15. Competitions for juniors take place every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the summer and more sporadically throughout the winter months. Yes, County Louth’s climate allows it to operate 12 months per year.

The course has a total membership of about 1,500, much larger than most clubs in the United States, a large chunk of that being families. It’s been like that for nearly a century, too. The Connolly’s, Gannon’s, Garvey’s, Lyon’s, and the Reddan’s—to name a few—have all played a prominent role in ensuring the club’s success over the years, and they continue to do so to this day.

Hence, the tee sheet is loaded almost every day, and you will see young boys and girls playing everywhere you look, a welcome sight for any golfer of any age.

That also explains why hosting the Boys Amateur is such a big deal for County Louth, and the R&A gave it the ultimate praise in advance of next year’s championship.

Earlier this summer, an official from the R&A visited County Louth to scout the course and assess its condition. Like the United States Golf Association (USGA), the R&A prides itself on hosting its championships at the best venues.

So, while walking down one of Baltray’s lush fairways with County Louth General Manager Ryan Donagher and Head Groundskeeper Wayne Murray, the representative from the R&A began to shake his head in disbelief.

“This place is in better shape than any current Open Championship rota courses,” the official said.

County Louth Golf Club

“You have something special here.”

Yet, the course continues to make slight improvements

It will undergo a vast sanding program to make the fairways even firmer, making it a better links golf test. Donagher explained that, over the next five years, this sanding program would hopefully put County Louth in the sphere of Portmarnock, Royal Portrush, and Royal County Down—three of the best courses in the world, let alone in Ireland.

As someone who has played this golf course, it certainly has that potential.

Every hole is memorable, and the pot bunkers—well, they are pretty punishable. But by the time you reach the short par-4 14th, you have played 13 phenomenal golf holes, all of which go in varying directions and have different characteristics. But there is nothing quite like the 14th. You have the entire course in front of you, and the crisp, cool air from the Irish Sea whips off from your left, making you feel like you have transcended into an otherworldly golfing universe. And on top of it all, this hole is an engineering marvel. It plays as a short, 330-yard par-4 from the back tees, veering slightly from left to right. The hole works itself gently uphill, to a green that has severe drop-offs all around—not unlike what players saw at this year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

County Louth Golf Club

But every green at County Louth has numerous run-offs and collection areas, forcing players to use their imagination with their approach. That’s the beauty of links golf and of this course. After all, you must use the ground to your advantage in the British Isles, playing the ball low and out of the wind. You also have to use the contours of the landscape to tally the best score.

Take the par-4 4th, for instance—Donagher’s favorite hole on the property. Another short par-4, this 379-yard beauty has zero pot bunkers. Instead, a semi-blind tee shot leaves the player uncomfortable on the tee, as do the mounds encompassing the green. It’s a quintessential links golf hole, one where you can walk away with a three or a six—without finding any of Louth’s treacherous holes of hell.

County Louth Golf Club

Speaking from experience, you have to avoid the pot bunkers, or else an eight or a nine will show their ugly faces on your scorecard—a sight nobody wants to see. I unfortunately made a nine on the easy par-5 2nd, which should have been an easy birdie opportunity. But I looked like a foolish 30-handicapper in the bunker, smacking four shots into the revetted face before walking away with my tail between my legs.

And yet, I had a smile on my face all day because County Louth is that remarkable. When I finished my round, I texted my father, saying, “This is my new favorite golf course in the world. It’s that special.”

So, if you want to experience this extraordinary place, you can call the County Louth pro shop or use their online booking system. However, I encourage you to do so 12 months in advance because those tee sheets fill up quickly. Even then, it’s worth the wait and then some. I know I cannot wait to go back, and hopefully, for your sake, you add County Louth to your list, too. It will forever be among my favorites.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.