THE CHALLENGE

Royal Portrush Golf Club is one of the biggest and best-known Golf Clubs in the world. Having previously hosted in 1951 and 2019, Royal Portrush is hosting the 153rd Open Championship in 2025 and needed a new website that was much more reflective of their brand and prestige of the venue.

The previous website was several years old and dated. It was key to showcase the upcoming plans for The Open and the world-famous Dunluce Links course, along with the wider offering for visitors from other countries.

THE CREATIVE SOLUTION

Royal Portrush Golf Course is now one of the most beautiful websites in the Golfing sector, reflecting the latest web design trends and User Experience (UX) principles. It has elevated the brand and digital presence to the next level, giving Royal Portrush the foundation for future growth.

To deliver this beautiful new website Ardmore deployed its 4-step Website Development methodology.

Click the headings below to find out more

STEP 1

Define the objectives, audience and strategic role of the website

We first identified the key audience segments and defined the customer journey and the role the website has to play. Alongside the functional UX requirements to develop a world-class enquiry and booking experience, the new website had to leverage every physical and brand asset available to inspire the audience with beautiful content in fitting with the club’s 134 Year History and prestige.

It was also important to include Royal Portrush’s plans to go carbon neutral by 2030 and its work within the community, and to showcase Portrush, Northern Ireland as an area of outstanding natural beauty.

STEP 2

Design the UX and Creative Content

Next we developed a detailed functional specification, sitemap and delivered a UX research and design process, including a technique known as Card Sorting. A prestigious and premium creative design was then visualised to prototype the full suite of page templates for Desktop and Mobile.

The Ardmore Creative team delivered a strong vision in terms of colour scheme, typography and photography and began the process of designing and delivering the photography, film and copywriting assets required.

STEP 3

Develop and build the new website platform

The new website platform was then built on WordPress to enable ease of content management, integration and scalability with several surrounding technologies, such as the future development of a new Members Area and EPOS system, and easy optimisation for search and mobile.

Features included:

  • a navigation structure that would respond down well on tablet and mobile screens. This took the form of a mega menu and secondary menu bar for each parent section on desktop. However, on mobile, the menu was replaced by hamburger style menu.
  • a scrolling, mobile responsive timeline to represent the 134-year history of the Club.
  • Playful 404 page that displayed as a bunker affectionately referred to as Nellie and
  • Booking integrations.

STEP 4

Deploy and launch the new website platform

A detailed process of testing and quality assurance was carried out by Ardmore’s web development and creative team, identifying, tracking and addressing all technical tickets, before client review and approval.

With testing complete the website was successfully deployed and launched.

Future plans include integration with a new Club Shop and EPOS platform and a new Members area.

10%

GROWTH IN TRAFFIC IN THE FIRST 6 MONTHS

THE CHALLENGE

Royal Portrush Golf Club is one of the biggest and best-known Golf Clubs in the world. Having previously hosted in 1951 and 2019, Royal Portrush is hosting the 153rd Open Championship in 2025 and needed a new website that was much more reflective of their brand and prestige of the venue.

The previous website was several years old and dated. It was key to showcase the upcoming plans for The Open and the world-famous Dunluce Links course, along with the wider offering for visitors from other countries.

THE CREATIVE SOLUTION

Royal Portrush Golf Course is now one of the most beautiful websites in the Golfing sector, reflecting the latest web design trends and User Experience (UX) principles. It has elevated the brand and digital presence to the next level, giving Royal Portrush the foundation for future growth.

To deliver this beautiful new website Ardmore deployed its 4-step Website Development methodology.

Click the headings below to find out more

DEFINE

STEP 1

Define the objectives, audience and strategic role of the website

We first identified the key audience segments and defined the customer journey and the role the website has to play. Alongside the functional UX requirements to develop a world-class enquiry and booking experience, the new website had to leverage every physical and brand asset available to inspire the audience with beautiful content in fitting with the club’s 134 Year History and prestige.

It was also important to include Royal Portrush’s plans to go carbon neutral by 2030 and its work within the community, and to showcase Portrush, Northern Ireland as an area of outstanding natural beauty.

DESIGN

STEP 2

Design the UX and Creative Content

Next we developed a detailed functional specification, sitemap and delivered a UX research and design process, including a technique known as Card Sorting. A prestigious and premium creative design was then visualised to prototype the full suite of page templates for Desktop and Mobile.

The Ardmore Creative team delivered a strong vision in terms of colour scheme, typography and photography and began the process of designing and delivering the photography, film and copywriting assets required.

DEVELOP

STEP 3

Develop and build the new website platform

The new website platform was then built on WordPress to enable ease of content management, integration and scalability with several surrounding technologies, such as the future development of a new Members Area and EPOS system, and easy optimisation for search and mobile.

Features included:

  • a navigation structure that would respond down well on tablet and mobile screens. This took the form of a mega menu and secondary menu bar for each parent section on desktop. However, on mobile, the menu was replaced by hamburger style menu.
  • a scrolling, mobile responsive timeline to represent the 134-year history of the Club.
  • Playful 404 page that displayed as a bunker affectionately referred to as Nellie and
  • Booking integrations.

DEPLOY

STEP 4

Deploy and launch the new website platform

A detailed process of testing and quality assurance was carried out by Ardmore’s web development and creative team, identifying, tracking and addressing all technical tickets, before client review and approval.

With testing complete the website was successfully deployed and launched.

Future plans include integration with a new Club Shop and EPOS platform and a new Members area.

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