Northern Ireland Golf Courses: Life Beside the Fairways
Northern Ireland golf courses are among the finest in the world, attracting buyers who value both the game and the exceptional homes that line their fairways.
Across Northern Ireland, golf is a defining part of the landscape, shaping communities and property markets for generations. For discerning buyers, homes beside the fairways offer a rare combination of prestige, tranquillity, and enduring value.
Here we look at some of the country’s best golf courses and some of the most desirable addresses to live nearby.
Royal Portrush and the Causeway Coast: Prestige on the edge of the Atlantic
Royal Portrush is one of the most celebrated Northern Ireland golf courses. The Dunluce Links, host of The Open in 2019 and in 2025, sweeps across headlands and dunes above the Atlantic Ocean.
Playing at Royal Portrush is an experience, with rolling fairways and views across the Atlantic to the Skerries Islands and the distant hills of Donegal. The course is challenging, but also deeply atmospheric with golf played against the elemental backdrop of wind, salt air, and sea.
Where to live near Royal Portrush Golf Course
The appetite for homes around Royal Portrush Golf Club has remained consistently high. Buyers are drawn here not only by the prestige of the course but by the lifestyle that surrounds it, one defined by the sea air, sweeping coastal views, and an easy connection to nature.
Portrush has a rare balance between sophistication and informality.
Restored period houses line the harbour, while contemporary coastal homes with wide panes of glass open directly to the horizon.
There’s a lively hum through the summer months, and a quieter, more reflective rhythm in winter. Independent cafés, restaurants, and boutique stores give the town year-round character, creating a sense of community that feels both cosmopolitan and close-knit.
Cultra and Holywood: Refined living beside Royal Belfast Golf Club
While the Portrush coast is wild and rugged, the shoreline of Belfast Lough tells a different story, one of order and cultivated charm. Here, golf and relaxed living have long gone hand in hand.
At its heart lies the Royal Belfast Golf Club. Founded in 1881, this iconic golf club has fairways rolling towards the water, mature trees, and sweeping views. It’s a course that rewards patience and precision rather than sheer power, a reflection of the club’s old-world charm.
Where to live near Royal Belfast Golf Club
The Royal Belfast Golf Course is near the desirable, leafy suburb of Cultra. Here you’ll find wide avenues, period villas, and discreet contemporary homes offering privacy without isolation.
The nearby Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club adds to the genteel maritime lifestyle, with sailing and golf often going hand in hand.
Just along the coast is the nearby town of Holywood. Previously named Northern Ireland’s Best Place to Live by The Sunday Times in 2021 and recognised again in the 2025 guide as one of Northern Ireland’s most desirable places to live, it offers a more modern energy.
Independent cafés, boutiques, and a lively high street give it a youthful feel, while the town’s own golf course, where Rory McIlroy first honed his swing, adds to its sporting credentials.
The quiet village of Helen’s Bay is just minutes away from the Royal Belfast Golf Club, offering a refined living experience, and with its own 9-hole golf course too.
Malone and Belvoir Park: Belfast’s prime homes with fairways at the doorstep
Closer to the heart of Belfast, the parkland settings of Malone Golf Club and Belvoir Park Golf Club bring a sense of rural calm to the city’s edge. Both rank among the most admired Northern Ireland golf courses and are surrounded by some of its finest homes.
Malone Golf Club, founded in 1895, lies south of the city in rolling countryside that feels a world away from urban life. One of the most prominent Northern Ireland golf courses, it has 27 holes laid out in a parkland estate and a 20-acre lake. The atmosphere here is traditional, welcoming, and deeply rooted in Belfast’s social fabric.
A few miles away lies Belvoir Park Golf Club. Founded in 1927, it’s known for its mature woodland, undulating terrain, and stunning views towards the Belfast Hills. Despite its central location, the course feels wonderfully secluded.
Where to live near the Malone and Belvoir Golf Courses
Property-wise, the Malone area features grand period and contemporary homes, often with substantial gardens, as well as spacious townhouses and apartments.
There’s lots of green space in the area, plus convenient neighbourhood pubs and restaurants. Malone has excellent connectivity to the rest of Belfast and Queen’s University.
Belvoir Park is a peaceful, family-friendly neighbourhood known for its plentiful woodlands, green spaces, and red squirrels that live in Belvoir Park Forest.
Period terraces, handsome detached homes, and modern townhouses attract professionals and families alike. Residents can enjoy the convenience of city life with nature, a balance that defines much of Belfast’s most coveted property.
The areas around these two golf courses offer some of Belfast’s prime homes with fairways on the doorstep.
Portstewart’s Strand course: coastal beauty and lasting appeal
A short drive from Portrush brings you to Portstewart Golf Club, where the landscape seems purpose-built for golf. Here, the land rises and falls in great sandy sweeps, with views that spill out to the Atlantic on almost every hole.
The club (formed in 1894) is steeped in heritage and variety. Its three courses each offer their own experience: The Strand (host to the 2017 Irish Open) provides a thrilling, challenging test of strategy and stamina, while the Old Course and Riverside Course offer a more relaxed pace.
Where to live near Portstewart Golf Course
Named the Best Place to Live in Northern Ireland 2024 by The Sunday Times, Portstewart is upmarket and sedate.
Along its Promenade, grand Victorian terraces overlook the bay, while behind them, newer homes and modern apartments take advantage of the light, with floor-to-ceiling windows embracing the sea and sky.
As with other leading Northern Ireland golf courses, Portstewart’s prestige has a direct effect on local property values.
For example, the globally-known Strand Course attracts not only golfers, but also discerning homebuyers in search of a coastal lifestyle.
And with exceptional views of the dunes, the River Bann estuary, and the open Atlantic, a combination that’s rare even on this scenic coastline, homes here are priced accordingly.
Development opportunities along this protected stretch of coast remain limited, meaning prime homes near the course typically hold their value over time.
Living near one of the top Northern Ireland golf courses
Many of the finest homes close to renowned Northern Ireland golf courses are sold long before they ever reach the open market. That’s where we can help.
At Garrington Property Finders, our team combines first-hand insight with long-standing relationships across the region, uncovering exceptional homes that others may not even know are available.
Acting with discretion and care, we’ll guide you through every stage of the process, from refining the search and shortlisting the properties that most suit your requirements, to negotiating and completing the purchase.
Owning a home beside one of Northern Ireland’s golf courses is about choosing a lifestyle shaped by space, calm, and a genuine connection to the landscape. If that sounds like your next move, please get in touch. We’d be delighted to help.
