237 - Galgorm Castle Golf Club

Location: Ballymena, Northern Ireland

Rating: 8.0

Second stop on our trip of Northern Ireland and a second attempt at playing Galgorm Castle for me. I’d had a round booked in a couple years prior but sadly due to heavy rains it was called off on the day of our intended play. A 45 minute drive north west from Belfast to a town called Ballymena, Galgorm Castle sits neatly just outside the town and is a beautiful resort. A very grand entrance of stunning old stone walls and a wonderfully manicured lawn leads you up towards the golf course and hotel and the grounds don’t only have these two features, there is plenty else to do here.

A former Irish Open host, as recently as 2020, it is clear to see that Galgorm is a great golfing destination with excellent practice facilities. After a quick warm up on the range, each bay accompanied by its own monitor, and a quick chip on the perfectly manicured chipping green it was time to head to the first hole.

What looks to be a fairly gentle par 4 to begin with is actually a huge dog-leg to the left and with the usual first tee jitteriness most would take an iron leaving a long approach to the green when in reality there is plenty of room to cut the corner. The 2nd is a very pretty hole and a driveable par 4 around 250m long but with two bunkers protecting the entrance to the green. The next three holes are neither long nor narrow and kind of give you a false sense of security on what remains to be a very tricky, challenging course. Tight in certain areas with plenty of streams, bush and out of bounds to contend with. Around the 8th is where it really starts to tighten up. The fairways start to weave through thick tree lines, requiring absolute accuracy off the tee,

Moving onto the back 9,  the par 5 10th is generously wide fairway leaving a green approachable in two but don’t too far offline as there is plenty of trouble and no easy approach as the fairway leads to the left of the green then cuts back sharply leaving anyone going directly at the pin and coming up short in the rough.

11 and 13 are two narrow par 4’s, streams running down the right will gobble up any errant shots. The flow of the course continues to follow in the same fashion, a flat course with fairways that move, weave and sharply change direction that could easily be narrowed or widened depending on the greenkeeper's mood on the day and all in very good condition.

Grateful that I finally managed to come and play Galgorm Castle and it definitely lived up to my expectations, a fun but very challenging course.