Ireland’s oldest club, on a Colt layout running down to Belfast Lough since 1926.
Royal Belfast was founded in 1881 and calls itself Ireland’s oldest golf club. Since the 1920s it has played on the Craigavad estate on the County Down shore of Belfast Lough, between Holywood and Bangor, on a parkland course by Harry Colt. It is a private members’ club, but it welcomes visitors who belong to a recognised golf club and sells visitor tee times online at set hours every day of the week. For anyone flying into Belfast City Airport, it is the closest course of any stature: the club puts the drive at ten minutes.
Book through the club’s online BRS page or the pro shop on +44 28 9042 8165, option 1; current green fees show only when you choose a time. Visitor times are fixed. Monday and Tuesday: before 8.50am and from 10.40am to 4.50pm. Wednesday: 3.10pm to 4.50pm. Thursday: before 8.50am and 10.40am to 3.50pm. Friday: before 8.50am and 10.40am to 1.20pm. Saturday: after 3.40pm. Sunday: 10.10am to 12.10pm and after 2.40pm. You should be a member of a recognised club, and a handicap certificate may be asked for before play. To change a booking, contact the club office or pro shop. Golf Ireland members have their own rate; phone option 1 for details.
Thomas Sinclair came back from St Andrews keen on the game and, with George L. Baillie, laid out nine holes at Kinnegar, near Holywood; the first competition was played on Boxing Day 1881. The Prince of Wales became patron four years later, bringing the Royal title. The club moved to Carnalea, near Bangor, in 1892, and after the First World War to Craigavad House, a 140-acre estate built in 1852 by John Mulholland, later the first Lord Dunleath. Harry Colt, assisted by W.A. Murray, designed the 18 holes in 1925, the course opened in 1926, and the club says much of Colt’s routing survives. It is 6,309 yards and par 70, with narrow landing areas and fast, subtle greens. The 4th is a 142-yard par three ringed by bunkers; the 9th, 408 yards along the Lough, is rated the hardest hole; the 11th is a blind uphill par three over gorse.
2026 marks the club’s hundredth year at Craigavad, and the Victorian house is still the clubhouse, with formal and casual dining before and after the round. Warm up on the two putting greens and the short, irons-only practice range. Clubs, buggies and trolleys can be hired. If you are travelling as a group by minibus or coach, check the vehicle height first: the bridge at the entrance is 11 feet. The club asks for smart attire on the course and in the clubhouse, and players should be on the 1st tee ten minutes before their time.
George Best Belfast City Airport is about ten minutes away by car, Belfast International about 40 minutes and Dublin Airport around two hours, according to the club. Belfast Harbour, where ferries arrive from Scotland and Liverpool, is about 15 minutes. The club is on Station Road, Craigavad, and the Belfast to Bangor railway has a stop at Craigavad.
Nearby: 1. Ardglass Golf Club (46 km) · 2. Royal County Down Golf Club (50 km) · 3. Ballycastle Golf Club (66 km) · 4. Royal Portrush Golf Club (80 km) · 5. Portstewart Golf Club (Strand Course) (82 km) · 6. Castlerock Golf Club (Mussenden Links) (85 km) · Compare all Northern Ireland tee times
There is no lodging at the club. The Culloden Estate & Spa sits in the hills above Holywood, a few minutes back along the shore towards Belfast, and The Old Inn is in the village of Crawfordsburn, just past Craigavad on the Bangor side. Clandeboye Lodge, on the edge of Bangor, is a little further. For a city base, central Belfast hotels such as the Grand Central, the Fitzwilliam, the Merchant and the Europa are roughly 20 to 30 minutes away by car outside rush hour.
Holywood Golf Club and Clandeboye at Bangor are short drives, and Belvoir Park in south Belfast is another Colt design. Royal County Down is a little over an hour south. Off the course, the Ulster Folk Museum and Ulster Transport Museum are next door at Cultra, and Titanic Belfast is about 15 minutes away in the city’s docklands.
These packages have a confirmed round at Royal Belfast Golf Club in the itinerary, with the other courses, nights and hotels listed so you can compare like with like.
10 nights B&B, 7 rounds
Rounds: Portstewart · Castlerock · Royal Portrush (Dunluce) · Royal County Down · Royal Belfast · Portmarnock Old · The Island
Stay: Bushmills Inn on the Causeway Coast, the Europa Hotel in Belfast and the Grand Hotel Malahide
All three royals of Ulster plus Portmarnock and The Island, from three bases, with rest days in Belfast and Dublin.
Prices are Golfbreaks’ published per-person guide prices in US dollars, checked November 2026; your quote depends on dates and group size. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. How we work
Being parkland on a wooded slope, the course plays softer and slower than the County Down and Antrim links, especially from late autumn to early spring. Weekday visitor windows are generous but Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday are short, so plan around them. The club runs open competitions in the season; dates are on its website.
Explore golf by monthYes, if you are a member of a recognised golf club. Visitor times run every day at set hours, and they are bookable online. The club may ask to see a handicap certificate before play, so carry proof of your club membership and handicap.
The club describes itself as Ireland’s oldest golf club, founded in 1881 at Kinnegar near Holywood. It has moved twice since, to Carnalea in 1892 and to the Craigavad estate in the 1920s, so the current course dates from 1926.
The club does not publish a fee table on its website. Current rates appear when you select a time on its online booking page. Playing members of Golf Ireland clubs have a separate rate, which the pro shop gives by phone on +44 28 9042 8165, option 1.
No. It is a parkland course on a wooded estate that slopes down to Belfast Lough. The 9th runs along the shore, but the course plays on parkland turf with trees, gorse and bunkers rather than dunes.
Last checked 11 November 2026. This is an independent planning guide, not a first-hand review or a booking service. Check live availability, access, fees and travel details with the operator before booking. Airport suggestions are starting points for route planning.
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