Driving from County Down to Fermanagh takes you on a journey through some more of Northern Ireland’s beautiful landscapes and fascinating heritage sites. Head west toward County Armagh, where you’ll find St Patrick’s Country – a region rich in history, with landmarks such as the impressive St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh City. Here, visitors can explore sites dedicated to Ireland’s patron saint, immersing themselves in Armagh’s unique cultural legacy.
Explore sites dedicated to Ireland’s patron saint in Armagh Credit: Tourism Northern Ireland
Then carry on through County Tyrone, where a highlight is the OM Dark Sky Park and Observatory in the Sperrin Mountains. As one of the few gold-tier dark sky sites in Europe, it offers stunning views of the night sky, perfect for astronomy enthusiasts and stargazing.
Go star-gazing at OM Dark Sky Observatory, where the night sky is at its best Credit: Tourism Ireland
There are steeples galore as you motor towards Enniskillen and the Lough Erne Resort, but there’s nothing prosaic about the idyllic spot where Sir Nick Faldo designed the stunning championship golf course that still thrills more than 17 years after McIlroy and Harrington played the first official round there.
Inspired by Loch Lomond, it was love at first sight for Faldo when he first set eyes on this lakeland beauty. “You’ve got Lough Erne and Castle Hume Lake literally 300 degrees around you and you won’t see a building,” he said.
Lough Erne’s stunning course was designed by six-time major winner and golf legend, Sir Nick Faldo
“There are some wonderful natural features out here in terms of vistas and atmosphere, some beautiful natural spots such as down on the eighth. Separation is something wonderful when each hole has its own individuality; that’s really important to our design team.”
The sumptuous, five-star resort hotel and spa opened in 2007 before the Faldo Course followed with great fanfare two years later.
Water is a frequent threat but not only are holes such as the driveable 10th a thrill to play, the par-fours and fives are challenging, the par-threes interesting and varied, and the three-hole finishing stretch eminently memorable.
Visiting Lough Erne is also a great excuse to go to MacNean House and Restaurant in Blacklion where celebrity chef Nevin Maguire has a restaurant offering incredible food, sourced from local ingredients, in a wonderful, cosy setting.
Tuck into local beef cooked to perfection at MacNean House and Restaurant Credit: MacNean House and Restaurant
But if you decide to remain at Lough Erne Resort, there’s more golf on offer right next door at Castle Hume Golf Club, a championship course situated within the grounds of the Old Ely Estate, which has hosted an unprecedented 10 Ulster PGA Championships.
Designed by John Carroll, the course offers a pleasant parkland test amid lakes, ponds, streams and mature trees with the signature hole the par-three 16th, Ely Island on the shores of Castle Hume Lake.
It’s an area of great natural beauty and a guided tour of the Marble Arch Caves is well worth the time as you are taken on special paths through the caves, where lighting displays show off the galleries and the cave formations, and the stunning visitor centre offers a wonderful virtual-reality experience.
Discover Marble Arch Caves where you can take a guided walk and boat ride through over a mile of underground tunnels Credit: Marble Arch Caves
For a place to rest your bones after your game and that refreshing swim, Roe Park Resort is one of Northern Ireland’s premier golf and spa resorts and an ideal base when exploring the region.
Overlooking its own stunning 18-hole golf course, it’s set among the gorgeous surroundings of the Roe Valley Country Park, which offers spectacular riverside views and woodland walks along with salmon and trout fishing, canoeing, rock climbing and orienteering.
It’s just 15 minutes from Derry-Londonderry at the start of the Causeway Coastal Route. It offers some challenging holes overlooking the River Roe and Lough Foyle, notably the 269-yard 15th, which requires a 250-yard carry over water for anyone dreaming of taking on the green.
It’s just a short spin from there to Foyle Golf Centre, a good test boasting wonderful new oak and birch trees that blend in well with the mature trees on what was the Gallagher farm near County Londonderry.
The family had an unexpected visitor in Amelia Earhart in 1932 as she was heading from Newfoundland to Paris in her single-engine Lockheed Vega 5B to emulate Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight.
After a cold and challenging journey lasting 14 hours and 56 minutes, she landed in Gallagher’s pasture, now the 14th. When a farm worker asked: “Have you flown far?” Earhart replied: “From America.”
Roe Park Resort has its own beautiful 18-hole golf course and plenty of outdoor pursuits on its doorstep
The uphill 14th is affectionately known as ‘heart attack hill’, but there are better holes, including the 353-yard 10th, which doglegs around a small lake, forcing you to choose your landing area wisely as you seek that birdie start to your back nine.
The 400-year-old walled city of Derry-Londonderry, seen by millions in the TV comedy Derry Girls, is a beautiful place, described so memorably in verse by the Nobel Prize winning poet, Seamus Heaney.
Doubling back over the Sperrin Mountains, you will love the Seamus Heaney HomePlace, an award-winning visitor centre which offers an inspiring journey through the life and work of one of Northen Ireland’s greatest writers. It’s situated between his two childhood homes at Mossbawn and The Wood and very near St Mary’s Church in Bellaghy where he is buried on the land he immortalised in verse.
Discover the verse of Derry-Londonderry’s famous literary son Seamus Heaney at this award-winning centre dedicated to his work
Finally on to the delights of Castlerock Golf Club. It has become increasingly popular with visitors to the region since The Open returned to Royal Portrush five years ago.
This lovely links course is set in rolling sand dunes on the beautiful Causeway Coast, offering fantastic coast views from the River Bann and the mountains of Donegal to the north-west to Scotland and the Isle of Islay to the east.
Sandwiched between the mouth of the river and the Londonderry to Belfast railway line, some of the most famous names in golf had a hand in its creation, from Ben Sayers, who upgraded the course from nine to 18 holes in 1909, to Colt and the prolific Eddie Hackett.
It was a memorable venue for the 2001 Irish PGA Championship, won by the great links specialist Des Smyth and the feature hole is undoubtedly the 200-yard third, a well-bunkered par-three known as Leg O’Mutton, protected by the railway line on the right and a stream on the left.
After the golf, why not visit award-winning Castlerock Beach, which is just under a mile long and great for swimming, surfing, fishing, horse riding, paddle boarding, kite surfing and kayaking.
Northern Ireland is the home of golfing greatness, where there is always a warm welcome on and off the course. Discover more at ireland.com/golf