The Royal Dublin Golf Club

Second oldest golf club in Ireland, located on North Bull Island

The Royal Dublin Golf Club, founded in 1885, is Ireland's third oldest golf club. It is a private members' club, with an 18 hole links course on Bull Island, Dublin, Ireland. The championship routing that we recognise today was by designed by Harry Colt in the 1920s. Over a three year period from 2004 the links was extended under the guidance of golf architect Martin Hawtree.

The Royal Dublin Golf Club was instituted at a meeting held at No. 19 Grafton Street in May 1885, pioneered by a Scottish banker John Lumsden. Originally called Dublin Golf Club, it received its Royal designation in 1891, when there were 250 members paying an £2 annual subscription (after an entrance fee of 8 guineas). It was originally located near the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park, moved to Sutton after a year, and finally in 1889 moved to its present home on North Bull Island (the name may be derived from the locality, Clontarf, which in Gaelic is Cluain Tairbh meaning the Meadow of the Bull).

Captain William Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty fame was, in the early 19th century, one of those invited to solve the long standing problems of providing shipping with a safe, straight and deep approach into Dublin. As a result, it was decided to build a sea wall three kilometres out from the shore. The resulting sand bank, Bull Island, still continues to grow. The timber bridge was built in the autumn of 1819 and the Great North Wall, more popularly known as the Bull Wall, was completed by 1823. The club owns the entire links, covering 65 hectares. During the First World War, the course was taken over by the military and used as a rifle and artillery range, and after the War, the clubhouse was in a very dilapidated condition and the course severely damaged. With £10,000 compensation from the military, and starting in 1919, 64 firing ranges were disassembled by hand, the clubhouse was re constructed and the links course was redesigned by H. S. (Harry) Colt, the world famous golf course architect from Sunningdale. The club website does not specifically mention restrictions for female members, however a 2017 Irish Times article highlighted the club's restrictive policy with respect to female members in the context of recent changes internationally, with the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews's in Scotland ending its policy banning female members in 2014. In 2021 the members of Royal Dublin voted to amend the clubs’ constitution to allow for female membership.