Town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Portrush
A small County Antrim seaside town that hosted golf's oldest major, lured Victorian holidaymakers by train and once ran a tram powered by a waterfall.
Key information
- County
- County Antrim
- Nation
- Northern Ireland
- Known for
- Royal Portrush Golf Club, Curry's Fun Park (formerly Barry's), the North West 200, sandy beaches
- Famous people
- Graeme McDowell
About Portrush
The Open came to Ireland, once, and it was here
Royal Portrush is the only course in Ireland ever to have hosted the Open Championship. The first time was in 1951, when Max Faulkner won, and it was the only occasion in the first century of the tournament that the Open left England and Scotland. Then came a long wait. In 2019 the Open returned to the Dunluce Links, and Ireland's own Shane Lowry won it by six shots in front of enormous home crowds. The championship came back again in 2025. The club began in 1888 as the County Club, with the old master Tom Morris involved in the early layout. It gained royal status in 1892 as the Royal County Club, and adopted the name Royal Portrush Golf Club in 1895. The Dunluce Links as golfers know it was reshaped by Harry Colt in the early 1930s, and its dunes, blind drops and sea views have been admired ever since.
A 16-year-old shot 61 here
In 2005 a teenage Rory McIlroy played Dunluce Links in 61 during the North of Ireland Championship. He was 16, and it was the record for the old layout of the course. The links was later redesigned, and Shane Lowry shot a record 63 on the Open layout in 2019. Portrush has produced its own champion too. Graeme McDowell grew up in the town and learned the game on these links. In 2010 he won the US Open at Pebble Beach, and he became a local hero long before the Open returned in 2019.
The train that made a seaside resort
Portrush was a modest harbour and fishing spot until the railway from Coleraine arrived in 1855. Victorian families poured in on day trips and holidays, and the town grew guesthouses, hotels and promenades on its narrow peninsula. Two sandy beaches sit back to back, East Strand running towards Whiterocks and Dunluce, and West Strand looking out over the harbour. Ramore Head, the headland that gives the town its shape, divides them. The railway gave the town another claim to fame. In 1883 the Giant's Causeway Tramway opened between Portrush and Bushmills, and it was extended to the Causeway itself in 1887. It was one of the first electric tramways in the world, and it drew its power from a hydroelectric station on the River Bush. It ran until 1949.
Amusements, ice cream and the Big Dipper
For generations, a Portrush day out has meant the seafront arcades and rides of the amusement park that opened as Barry's in 1926. After its sale it reopened in 2022 as Curry's Fun Park, carrying on the seaside amusement tradition. Its rides and sea-air screams are part of many Northern Irish childhoods. Then there is the ice cream. Italian families settled along the north coast in the early twentieth century and made ice cream a seaside tradition, and cones on the promenade are still a ritual, whatever the weather. The Arcadia building on the seafront, a landmark of the resort's glory days, still catches the eye from the water.
When the town becomes a race track
Each May the roads around Portrush, Coleraine and Portstewart become one of the fastest road circuits in the world. The North West 200 motorcycle race has run since 1929 and draws huge crowds to the triangle of public roads. Riders reach extraordinary speeds along the straights, with spectators standing just behind the hedges and barriers. For a few days a quiet seaside town turns into a festival of engines.
Cliffs, castles and a short drive to the Causeway
Portrush is the best base on the Causeway Coast. A few miles east, Dunluce Castle stands on a cliff edge, and part of its kitchen is said to have fallen into the sea in 1639. The Giant's Causeway and the rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede are both a short drive away. The name itself comes from the Irish for 'port of the promontory', a fair description of the little finger of land that carries the town into the Atlantic. Sea, sand and a very good golf course are the reasons people still come.