sports around north down

Parkland course set on an island in Strangford Lough offering enjoyable golf with magnificent scenery....

The course has recently been extended to eighteen holes, including the dogleg 'pond' hole - the 6th. The redesigned par 5 14th requires a tricky shot over a ravine. The par 3 10th is also tough: 201 metres, with the green very close to the boundary hedge. The course is located one mile from the town centre on Huntly Road....

The Great Sea Loughs of Strangford, Belfast and Carlingford combined with the Coast of the Ards Penninsula provide the best sailing grounds in Northern Ireland. Visiting sailors can tie up at Ireland's largest and most modern Marina at Bangor or, indeed, at any one of the Coast's numerous sheltered harbours or visitor moorings and relax watching a world championship sailing event organised by one of the many yacht clubs dotted along the Coast. If racing and regattas are not your style why not...

Although Downpatrick is an inland course it has many of the characteristics of links golf - fast greens, tricky undulations and quite often a testing breeze. In many ways it is an ideal course for the amateur golfer to play; it is short enough to be enjoyable but great accuracy and a silky touch are required for good scoring.

Holes to watch out for are the 5th, 7th, 13th and 14th, all classic par 4s which require long straight hitting. Incidentally the view from the 5th fairway is...