Belfast

Jeremy Ellwood enjoys a mix of courses in and around Northern Ireland's capital, including a long-overdue maiden game at Rory Mcllroy's home club

- Jeremy Ellwood

My latest Northern Ireland jaunt was a new experience in that I travelled on the overnight Stena Line ferry from Liverpool to Belfast, with a cabin to while away the eight-hour crossing in the land of nod.

Hitting Belfast docks at 6.30am meant a dawn arrival as first out at Malone Golf Club, more of which in a future issue. But this article starts with my afternoon game at Scrabo east of Belfast, which had been brought to my attention by Irish golf journalist Kevin Markham's photos of the eye-catching tower that forms the backdrop to the difficult opening hole.

Scrabo Tower came on my radar when I was still eight miles away but the tee on the par-3 2nd is then right at the foot of it, with the 2nd green and 3rd tee offering stirring views out over Strangford Lough.