Castlemartyr Golf Club

Few Irish golf courses share their grounds with quite so much history. Castlemartyr Golf Club occupies the estate surrounding Castlemartyr Resort, a luxury property built around a 17th-century manor house and the ruins of a castle that dates to the 1200s. Playing here means moving through a landscape layered with centuries of human presence — old stone walls, formal gardens, and mature woodland that give the course a sense of weight and permanence you rarely find on purpose-built resort layouts.

The course winds through the demesne lands of the estate in east Cork, roughly 30 kilometres east of Cork city along the southern coast. This is lush, well-watered country, sheltered enough by hedgerow and woodland that it plays differently from the exposed links terrain Ireland is most famous for — this is parkland golf, green and soft underfoot, where tree-lined corridors and the estate's ornamental features shape nearly every hole.

As a resort course, Castlemartyr suits visitors looking to pair competitive golf with a destination stay. The setting alone earns it serious attention.