Customized Ireland Golf Vacations

A golf trip to Ireland works like a charm. You fly overnight, land mid morning, tee it up early afternoon on a links legend. Arrive in Shannon and you've got Lahinch and Doonbeg less than an hour and a half away. Proceed south and look forward to Ballybunion, the Emerald Isle's most beloved layout played through some of the most dramatic dunes in links golf, plus Palmer's gem Tralee, the Killarney Golf and Fishing Club, and resoundingly retooled Waterville. In 2003, Tom Fazio, who had cut his "touch up" teeth at Augusta, Winged Foot and Pine Valley, remodeled eight holes basically doubling the character of an already treasured links. This path also leads to Old Head, several hours east on Ireland's southern coast. There is no more spectacular setting in the game than this 220 acre rock promontory perched hundreds of feet above the Atlantic on nearly every side. You are now in line to visit the Waterford Crystal factory, which it is well worth the two hour tour as you make your way north en route to The European Club.

Should you prefer roads less traveled from Shannon, you will find none to match those that lead to the sensational links courses in north west Ireland. The collection of Connemara, Eddie Hackett's Carne (Belmullet), Enniscrone, Co. Sligo (Rosses Point), Donegal, Rosapenna with Pat Ruddy's new Sandy Hills now complimenting the original 1891 layout, plus Ballyliffin's Old Course and Glashedy Links stand as tall as any in the entire British Isles.

If you fly to Dublin, you can reach Portmarnock, Bernard Langer's Portmarnock Links, the K Club, The Island, Druid's Glen and Co. Louth all within an hour. Steer north and two masterpieces await which are likely to define your visit. At world #9, Royal County Down, Old Tom Morris broke ground first in 1889, followed with changes by Harry's Vardon and Colt in the 1920's. It is easily an Open caliber layout, with groves of gorse and heaving dunes set before the most magnificent of backdrops, the Mountains of Mourne. Continuing north, you will come to world #12, Royal Portrush (Dunluce Course), the only venue in Ireland to have ever hosted the British Open (1951). Kowledgeable players agree widely that Duluce is Ireland's crown jewel. Sharing a 25 mile stretch of the dramatically duned North Antrim Coast, clubs Portstewart, Castlerock and Ballycastle are all longstanding favorites in the area.

Ireland Issue – Tee Times eNewsetter

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Golf & Travel Editorial

Rosapenna Golf Club, Ireland (Recommended by Larry Lambrecht) by: Chris Santella
Each year, photographer Larry Lambrecht travels to Ireland to collect photos for his calendar on the links of Ireland.  “On each trip, I try to find a new venue, a new jewel,” Larry said.  “I’d heard about Rosapenna way up in County Donegal in the past, that there was a nice hotel there, and an old Tom Morris course.  In 2003, there was word ... Read more

An Irish Sojourn by: John Strawn
The best golf resort in the world is Bandon Dunes in Oregon, but the best region in the world for a golfing holiday is the west of Ireland.  Bandon has borrowed some of the Irish spirit to make the resort a welcoming place, just as the designers of its courses drew inspiration from the great links of the British Isles.  The constellation of courses arrayed ... Read more

Old Head Golf Links, Ireland by: Chris Santella
The Old Head of Kinsale is a startling peninsula that extends some two miles out into the Celtic Sea from near the bottom of Ireland.  On the morning of May 7, 1915, Old Head played small, sad role in World War I history; roughly eight miles off the peninsula, a German U-boat torpedoed the ocean liner Lusitania, which sank, taking the lives of 1,198 passengers ... Read more

Royal County Down, Northern Ireland, Recommended by Damian Pascuzzo by: Chris Santella

Old Tom Morris – greenskeeper, clubmaker, golf champion – was a busy man.  Between all his other activities centered around St. Andrews and the Old Course, he managed to contribute to the design of some 30 links golf courses in Scotland, England and Ireland, including Muirfield, Carnoustie, Prestwick, Royal Dornoch, Lahinch…and what some consider to be his finest piece of work, Royal County Down.  Minutes ... Read more