Ballycastle Golf Club

Rivers first, then the hills above the bay.

Ballycastle is the far north-eastern corner of the Causeway Coast, where the Glens of Antrim meet the sea and the ferry leaves for Rathlin Island. The golf club sits on the Cushendall Road at the eastern edge of town, yards from the shore. It is a round of two halves: a handful of parkland holes beside two rivers and the ruins of Bonamargy Friary, then a climb into seaside hills that look across to Fair Head, Rathlin and, on a clear day, the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland. It is short, cheap by north-coast standards and easy to book online.

Ballycastle Golf Club green fees and tee times.

Book online through the club’s BRS visitor page; the club recommends booking ahead and says visitors are welcome throughout the season. The green fee table has three visitor categories. Guests of members pay the lowest rate, playing members of Golf Ireland clubs pay £42.50 on weekdays and £47.50 at weekends in the 2026 main season, and the overseas visitor rate is £140 on any day. The table has no separate category for golfers from Britain, so ask which rate applies when you book. Groups of 12 or more are asked to phone for society rates. The club publishes no handicap requirement on its fee page. Phone 028 2076 2536 for visitor and society enquiries.

The round, in perspective.

Twenty-six local golfers led by Commander Alfred Malcolm Causton founded the club in 1890, and the first ground was nicknamed the Warren Links for its rabbit holes. In 1891 Ballycastle was one of the founding clubs of the Golf Union of Ireland. New land in 1906 let the nine holes be lengthened, and the course went to 18 holes in 1926; the club says it has stayed largely the same since. The opening five holes run along the Margy and Carey rivers; the 1st is a 456-yard par five beside a line of trees with the river out of bounds on the right. The round then crosses to links ground for the rest of the way. GolfPass lists the 17th as a 183-yard par three and the course as par 71 and a little under 5,900 yards from the white tees; the club does not publish a scorecard total on its own pages.

Know before you go.

Buggy

£40

Electric trolley

£20

Club hire

£50

Groups

12 or more: phone for society rates

Make the trip work.

At under 5,900 yards, Ballycastle is a course where most of the challenge comes from the wind on the hill holes and the rivers early on, not from length, so it sits well as a second round on a day or as a gentler day between the big north-coast links. The clubhouse restaurant, run by Katherine Carr, takes table bookings separately from tee times. Hire clubs, electric trolleys and a buggy are all available at the pro shop, and the club offers caddies on request. GPS course information is on the club website if you want to look at the holes before you go.

Belfast International Airport is about 50 miles south, roughly an hour and a quarter by car on the A26 through Ballymena. City of Derry Airport is a similar distance west along the coast. The A2 coast road through the Glens of Antrim is slower but scenic. Ballycastle has no railway; the nearest station is Ballymoney on the Belfast–Derry line, about 16 miles away.

Where it is.

Nearby: 1. Royal Portrush Golf Club (26 km) · 2. Portstewart Golf Club (Strand Course) (31 km) · 3. Castlerock Golf Club (Mussenden Links) (35 km) · 4. The Machrihanish Golf Club (40 km) · 5. Machrihanish Dunes (43 km) · 6. The Machrie Golf Links (51 km) · Compare all Northern Ireland tee times

Somewhere to settle in.

The Marine Hotel faces the harbour in Ballycastle, and the town has a good spread of guest houses and self-catering cottages within walking distance of the seafront. For a longer north-coast trip, Portrush and Bushmills, around half an hour west, put you closer to Royal Portrush and Portstewart and have more hotels. Rathlin Island has a small guest house and hostel for anyone who wants a night offshore.

Make a trip of it.

Royal Portrush, Portstewart and Castlerock are all within about 40 minutes west, so Ballycastle fits neatly onto a Causeway Coast itinerary. Off the course, the Rathlin Island ferry leaves from Ballycastle harbour for the island’s seabird colony at the West Light. The Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge is a few miles west on the coast road, and the Giant’s Causeway about a 20-minute drive.

Find your season.

The club’s main season, and its higher rate, runs from 1 March to 31 October. The town is busiest on the last Monday and Tuesday of August, when the Ould Lammas Fair fills the streets, so book rooms early if your trip falls then.