Ireland is the 3rd largest island in Europe with golfing clubs in most towns, including Downpatrick.
Downpatrick is a medium-sized town about 33 km south of Belfast in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the county town of Down with a rich history and strong connection to Saint Patrick. It had a population of 10,316 at the 2001 Census. Downpatrick is where Down District Council has its headquarters. As the largest town in the Lecale area, Downpatrick is a commercial, recreational and administrative centre for the locality and serves as a hub for the nearby towns and villages. Within an hour drive of Belfast, the location serves as a commuter town for a large number of people. The town has a number of primary and post-primary schools educating students from all over the east Down area. Downpatrick is characterised by the rolling drumlins that are a feature of the Lecale area and a legacy of glaciation during the Pleistocene, the Down drumlins themselves are underlaid by Ordovician and Silurian shales and grits. A golf club is a private club organized to play golf. A golf club usually has its own golf course. The most exclusive golf clubs have extensive facilities, such as a restaurant, bar, and swimming pool for its members. Membership is usually by annual subscription. Sometimes the club expects its members to buy stock and has monthly food and beverage purchase minimums. Ireland built its reputation for golf around an array of traditional seaside links courses and interior parkland courses, many of which have earned attention from international golf publications for their quality and layout. The southern part of Ireland includes 120 different courses. Among them is Jack Nicklaus\' only design in Ireland, a favorite of one of golf\'s most famous writers, and a course designed by a four-time Open champion. Golf in Ireland is just too good to miss. Indeed, the country is home to two-thirds of the world’s total links courses, for a start. Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the northwest of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland is Great Britain, separated from it by the Irish Sea. The island is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the northeast of the island. The population of Ireland is approximately 6.2 million people. Just under 4.5 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland. Relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain epitomise Ireland\'s geography with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the 17th century.