{"id":52822,"date":"2026-08-19T13:14:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/52822\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T13:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:14:07","slug":"irelands-soaring-green-fees-golfers-pay-e500-for-18-holes-at-top-courses-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/52822\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s soaring green fees: Golfers pay \u20ac500 for 18 holes at top courses \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The prices of green fees for Ireland\u2019s top golf<\/a> courses have soared in the past four years and will rise again for 2027 as the golf industry continues to benefit from US tourism.<\/p>\n

When the newly redesigned Adare Manor <\/a>launched in 2018, it was as the most expensive green fee in Ireland, at \u20ac340 in peak season. By 2022, it had risen to \u20ac430, with Old Head in Kinsale and Royal County Down the only other two to cost more than \u20ac300 for standard green fees in the high season. Now, several of the island\u2019s top courses plan to charge more than \u20ac500 to play in 2027.<\/p>\n

Every course in Irish Golfer magazine\u2019s top 10 best courses for 2026 will increase its price next year, capitalising on increased interest from the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor<\/a> and the Open Championship at St Andrews, from where many tour groups are sent to Ireland instead of Scotland when St Andrews closes.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Lahinch Golf Club hikes green fees by 20% for visitorsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Royal County Down will cost \u00a3495 (\u20ac577) in 2027, up from \u00a3255 in 2022 and \u00a3450 (\u20ac525) last year, as it continues to enjoy its place on top of Golf Digest\u2019s list of the best courses in the world. Open Championship venue Royal Portrush is not far behind, at \u00a3475 (\u20ac554) for 2027, and both are already booked out. Royal County Down sold its allocation of tee times in just seven hours, showing the demand of Ireland\u2019s top courses. <\/p>\n

Some top clubs offer Golf Ireland four-ball rates at limited times during the year, Portrush for a comparatively reasonable \u00a3600 (\u20ac700) for a four-ball, at \u00a3150pp (\u20ac175pp).<\/p>\n

The Golf Course at Adare Manor costs \u20ac550 to play in 2026, although that was dependent on being a resident of the hotel, with room rates of well over \u20ac1,000 per night for the golf season. Next year will be atypical, with the Ryder Cup being hosted there and the only golf being offered on its website in the months leading up to the tournament is an \u201cExclusive Golf Experience\u201d with a luxury stay-and-play package for \u20ac7,500.<\/p>\n

\"AdareAdare Manor Golf Club will host the Ryder Cup in September 2027 <\/p>\n

Old Head Golf Links, where Kerry-born former owner John O\u2019Connor was unapologetic about its exclusivity, maintains its spot as one of the most expensive in the country at \u20ac550 for next year. Portmarnock Golf Club is Dublin\u2019s most expensive green fee at \u20ac530 for 2027, which includes lunch, while Lahinch (Old Course), Ballybunion (Old Course), Waterville and Tralee Golf Club are all \u20ac500.<\/p>\n

County Louth Golf Club at Baltray will increase its fees for next year from \u20ac365 to \u20ac385 \u2013 and it may increase further \u201cdue to limited availability\u201d and high demand. For Irish golfers, Baltray has a Golf Ireland rate of \u20ac200. The Island in Dublin will rise by \u20ac50 from \u20ac325 to \u20ac375 for next year.<\/p>\n

Irish Open venue Trump Doonbeg has dynamic pricing on its website, where you can play for \u20ac225 at certain twilight times, but rises to as high as \u20ac645 at peak weekend times.<\/p>\n

Many of these golf courses require a caddie, which generally costs \u20ac90 to \u20ac120.<\/p>\n

The increase of golf fees follows similar rises in the UK, where the average top 25 course costs \u20ac475 in 2026. Trump Turnberry costs an eye-watering \u00a31,000 (\u20ac1,167) for a round, where to follow in the footsteps of Tom Watson and others, you must pay the most expensive green fee in the world.<\/p>\n

The best value way for Irish golfers to play the top courses in Ireland remains to play in open competitions or to know a member. For example, Lahinch Golf Club costs \u20ac50 for the first 10 times a member takes out a guest, before rising to \u20ac100. County Louth can be played for \u20ac125 on an open day, while County Sligo (Rosses Point), which makes the top 10 Irish courses in some rankings, can be played for \u20ac80 in such competitions.<\/p>\n

\"RoyalRoyal Portrush has played host to the Open Championship twice. Photograph: Richard Heathcote\/Getty Images <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The prices of green fees for Ireland\u2019s top golf courses have soared in the past four years and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1619,44,16650,15030,4059,3422],"class_list":["post-52822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-adare-manor","tag-golf","tag-lahinch","tag-portmarnock-golf-club","tag-royal-portrush","tag-ryder-cup-2027"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}