Which European Ryder Cup Venue is The BEST

Which European Ryder Cup venue is the BEST?

Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to stay and play at many, but not all, of the modern day European based Ryder Cup venues. 

In fact, it’s only Valderrama in Spain and Marco Simone in Italy that I haven’t played. And it got me thinking. Taking everything into consideration - what would be the best venue for a stay and play golf break?

Taking the following locations into account - The Belfry, The K Club, Celtic Manor, Gleneagles and Le Golf National, I am going to rank each venue against each other by rating them 1-5 (with 5 being the best) based on the following categories: 

• Location
• Accommodation
• Food & Drink
• Ryder Cup Course
• Second Course On Site
• Golf Facilities
• Ryder Cup Experience

I haven’t included the price in this, as I’m basing this on my experience and some of these visits date back to 2013 and I know the cost would have gone up since then. For each category, I will provide a bit of context as to why some venues were ranked where they were - all just my own personal opinion. 

And if a venue is rated at 1 or 2, it doesn’t mean that it's bad, just that the others are better.

So without further ado, let's get stuck in!

Which European Ryder Cup Venue Has The Best Location?

Naturally, as I'm based in England, Le Golf National and The K Club do require a bit of work - but I appreciate if you’re reading this in Ireland or France (or Scotland, in fact) then these may well work out slightly differently. But coming out on top would be The Belfry sitting pretty much in the centre of the country. 

Whilst Le Golf National is away from the UK, it is fairly accessible via train or Eurotunnel, while The K Club, unless hopping on a ferry that I believe takes a while, is probably the only venue where you would look at flying. 

So I’m rating them as follows for location:

The Belfry - 5

Celtic Manor - 4

Gleneagles - 3

Le Golf National - 2 

The K Club - 1

Which European Ryder Cup Venue Has The Best Accommodation?

I have fond memories of Gleneagles and The K Club in particular as far as accommodation goes. The room sizes were fantastic, very grand in fact, and the hotel/premises themselves were very impressive buildings. On the other end of the scale, Le Golf National - whilst it excels in other areas - offered more of a ‘Premier Inn’ type feel to the room.

(Other hotel chains are available, naturally).

When it comes to accommodation, this is how I rate the venues against each other:

Gleneagles - 5

The K Club - 4

Celtic Manor - 3

The Belfry - 2

Le Golf National - 1

Which European Ryder Cup Venue Offers The Best Food & Drink?

It would come as no surprise that the same two venues feature highly here, whilst Gleneagles has a lot more to offer, those that may know me personally will know the tale of being blown away by the triple decker bacon sandwich that was offered up at breakfast on day two of my trip at The K Club - it has almost legendary status. 

Celtic Manor does better in this category too: 

The K Club - 5

Gleneagles - 4

Celtic Manor - 3

The Belfry - 2

Le Golf National - 1  

Which European Ryder Cup Venue is The Best Course?

This may potentially be the biggest talking point and one where most discussion will come from. I also think this is where we see the first switch in the rankings. All of these courses, naturally, are great, so ranking them 1-5 is hard, but it's also difficult to not take into account that other courses on site at some of these venues are head and shoulders above the actual Ryder Cup course - Gleneagles is a perfect example of this. I played the King's Course, which is one of the best courses in the UK. Likewise, I found the Montgomerie at Celtic Manor to be far superior to the Twenty Ten Course. Whereas I think the Brabazon is miles ahead of the other two courses on site at The Belfry. 

Le Golf National, personally, was the best of the bunch for me, a fun but forgiving layout, plenty of water and excellent condition. 

So, holding my breath, here are the rankings of the Ryder Cup course at each venue.

Le Golf National - 5

The K Club - 4

The Belfry - 3

Gleneagles - 2

Celtic Manor - 1

Which European Ryder Cup Venue Has The Best Additional Courses?

The beauty of visiting these venues is that each one has two or in some cases three courses to play, making them all a great option for stay and play breaks. 

There is one winner that is head and shoulders above the rest in this section, and for those that have been to Gleneagles, you will know the quality of the King's and Queen's courses, in fact, these are both so good that I could easily hand them a 6 or 7 rating. But 5 it will be. 

The K Club is interesting in this category too, because I found both courses on site to be of similar quality and test albeit different styles of layout. But the Palmer and Smurfit are definitely the two courses that are closest to each other in terms of all round experience. 

So, beyond the Ryder Cup course, which venue has the best additional layouts to play?

Gleneagles - 5

The K Club - 4

Celtic Manor - 3

Le Golf National -  2

The Belfry - 1

Which European Ryder Cup Venue Has The Best Golf Facilities?

This is another tough one to rank - as you would expect, the facilities at these venues are always excellent. I remember the range and short game area at Gleneagles being superb whilst the driving range at Celtic Manor is very good too. 

Le Golf National once again doesn’t score well here, but it is by no means poor. 

Gleneagles - 5

The Belfry - 4

Celtic Manor - 3

The K Club - 2

Le Golf National - 1  

Which Venue Offers The Best Ryder Cup Experience?

Being a host venue of a Ryder Cup is a feather in a venue's cap. Some, I found, do a better job of celebrating this than others in terms of leaning on this to add to the experience of the visit. 

The Twenty Ten Clubhouse at Celtic Manor was designed and built for the purpose of hosting the Ryder Cup. The locker rooms here still have the players' names on them and when you visit, you might be lucky enough to share a locker with one of your golfing heros - they will even put your name on it next to theirs. A great touch. The Ryder Cup boards still surround the back tees on the first hole, which is a great photo opportunity. 

Le Golf National still has a lot of Ryder Cup branding on site, including two buggies - Team Europe and Team USA - out on display. They also have a similar feel around the changing room and some entrance signs still up that you walk through as you enter the course. 

Whilst excelling in other areas, the tunnel at Gleneagles that was converted into a Ryder Cup style mural, including past players that you walk through on the way to the first tee, was in need of a little TLC. The venue has so much more to offer that very little Ryder Cup feel is left. 

Celtic Manor - 5

Le Golf National - 4

The K Club - 3

The Belfry - 2

Gleneagles - 1

Which European Ryder Cup Venue is The BEST?

So there we have it. Five venues, seven categories and a very tight leaderboard indeed. 

If you could combine the course at Le Golf National with the Celtic Manor Ryder Cup experience, the accommodation of Gleneagles, along with its second and third courses and facilities, and wrap that up with the food at The K Club, it would make for a perfect venue. 

If you roll that combination up and drop it in Sutton Coldfield, it would make the dream Ryder Cup experience for me - but we don’t live in a dream world. 

So, the final ranking is as follows and the winner is...

1. GLENEAGLES - 25

2. The K Club - 23

3. Celtic Manor - 22

4. The Belfry - 19

5. Le Golf National - 16

I would love to know if you agree or disagree with my ranking and where you would place the venues for each category.

Should you now fancy experiencing Gleneagles - our winner - for yourself, then please visit Golfbreaks.

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