Northwest Ireland August 2020

Actually posted this in the wrong section.

After doing a lot of research, my buddy and I are heading to Ireland this coming August. My wife and I spent a week there this past September that was not a golf trip (although I did get to play Lahinch on my birthday which was nothing short of amazing). We visited all the main tourist sites in Dublin and in the south/southwest including my ancestral home of Tipperary. it was an incredible trip but it hurt to literally drive past the gates of Dooks, Tralee, Old Head, Waterford & Adare Manor with my golf clubs stored in the back of the car! 36 years of marriage forces one to make sacrifices. As I moaned, my sweet wife said "Just come back next year with one of your buddies and then go to Scotland the following year" Yes, she is a keeper! (my other ancestral home is Kirkintilloch Scotland)

So, with my wife's blessing, one of my best friends and I are off to Ireland. Rather than expand the trip to 4 or 8 guys, I kept it to 2 so I don't have to play tour guide, nursemaid or referee. I just wanna go and enjoy the golf. Both of us are in good shape, non drinkers (hes a 22 year friend of Bill W & I am a friend of Brigham Y) experienced walkers/carriers in our mid 50s who play and walk between 140-175 rounds per year (yes, life is pretty good!). We do Bandon trips together and have walked/carried as much as 54 holes in a day there (walked 42,000 steps in one day last March and only lost 3 toe nails that week). We both have smaller carry bags which we find on these type trips is much easier than using a trolley. Our plan is to play 36 a day for 5-6 days. We have been fortunate enough to play many great courses but I have always had a soft spot for the hidden gems and off-the-beaten-path kind of places. Because of my love for Bandon (Old McDonald is my favorite course there) & my experience at Lahinch, I love links golf. Having read up on the subject in books, blogs etc (If you haven't read Tom Coyne's book "A Course Called Ireland" I strongly suggest you do and then read his book on Scotland), we have settled on the northwest area of County Donegal Ireland for August of 2020 with our intention to play the great Links courses of that area.

Would be interested in any comments/suggestions regarding experiences any of you have had with any of these courses. So far we have booked flights, hotel and car. Will make golf reservations after the 1st of the year. Did not go thru a tour group so interested in thoughts of doing this type of trip as a self plan & self drive (yes I am aware of the small roads and the occasional 'scrubbing" that takes place as I drove from Dublin,to Galway to Ring of Kerry and back). Has anyone else done this trip? I am, wondering how much of a risk will it be to only book rounds the 1st 3 days and leave the last 2 to booking the day before or even walking on. Our plan is to play early each day to take advantage of some early bird pricing, have a nice lunch and then play our afternoon round. Will we be able to get on those courses for follow up rounds on short notice?

Here is the Itinerary as we have laid it out for the week of August 17-24

Day 1 Fly from LAX to Belfast by way of London. Rent car and drive to Letterkenny where we will stay the entire trip. My research shows that all daily drives should be under an hour each way so rather than stay at a different place every night and check in /check out, we will just use Letterkenny as our base of opps. Not too concerned with crossing borders being an issue even with Brexit. We both have Passports with Global Entry

Day 2 Play Ballyliffin Glashedy & Old Course

Day 3 Play Rosapenna Sandhill & Old Tom Morris and depending on our energy level, possibly driving over and playing Cruit Island

Day 4 Play Port Salon in morn and hen take the fairy to Rathmullen and play Buncrana (North West)

Day 5 Return to play 36 at either Rosapenna or Ballyliffin depending on which one we enjoyed more. (Or play Murvagh & Narin Portnoo)

Day 6 Pay Castlerock & Port Stuart. then return to Belfast

Day 7 Fly home

Packables

Golf Clubs

4 golf towels

2 doz balls

tees/divot tool

range finder

Garmin watch

2 pair golf shoes

4 new golf gloves

2 pair shorts

golf belt

6 pair of socks-change out every round!

1 pair pants

6 pair underwear

2 long sleeve golf undershirts

1 golf vest

1 golf pullover

2 golf shirts (will buy at least 2 more there)

2 golf hats (will buy at least 2 more there)

rain jacket (Galvin Green Gortex)

rain pats (Galvin Green Gortex)

bucket hat

rain hood

beanie

rain gloves

Toiletries

tape

mole skin

sunscreen

chapstick

tweezers/pocket knife

laptop

Reading Glasses

Sun Glasses

iPad

air pods

head phones

I know many will say to play Royal County Down or Royal Portrush and others will say Carne, Sligo & Enniscrone. So many incredible options and trying to keep the trip to a week makes for difficult choices. When I walked off the 18th at Lahinch , I knew I would be coming back. I feel pretty confident that I will have similar emotions next August as I head back to the airport. After all, I still have to come back and play those wonderful tracks in the south west...

Got nothing to suggest about your itinerary, seems just fine to me. Yeah, you're choosing to miss some great ones, but you're playing some great ones too. A couple of years ago I stayed in Ballyliffin, and had a wonderful time before we moved on towards Sligo. This was June 2016, and I didn't even need to make tee times in advance, I had watched the online tee sheets and they just never really booked up. We drove up from Shannon on our arrival day, visited the pro shop, and made tee times for the following two days. If you're around Buncrana around supper time, I can recommend the Railway Tavern and Firebox Grill in Fahan.

If you are looking for gems, don't miss Cruit Island. It pairs very well Narin & Portnoo...Murvagh is a quite a distance from N&P.

If you are going to Castlerock, be sure to play the 9 hole Bann Course.

I agree with Gringo. Narin and Portnoo make for a very nice day of golf without too much driving. Do that as a day rather than returning to Rosapenna or Ballyliffin.

On your next visit you need to go further west to play Rosses Point, Enniscrone and Carne

edited to correct typo

I'm laughing as I read your comment. I just started reading Ancestral Links (which starts out on first tee of Carne) and immediately was on my phone checking driving distances to Sligo/Mayo just in case I chose the wrong trip. I stopped myself and texted my buddy that we are committed to Donegal in 2020 but in 2021 we return with 2 more guys and go far west! So many choices I don't think you cam make a bad one. I love Ireland!

If you like to view photos to whet your appetite for where you're going to play, here's a link to mine. https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/collections/72157669255656750/

They look best if you open them up in full screen size and scroll through

PS - Love the name Costanza

Need a little help from those that have played in County Donegal.

Just found out that Rosapenna Sandy Hills will be closed the week I am in the area this coming summer. So, have to make an adjustment in the schedule. A Play Old Tom Morris in the morning and then Port Salon in the afternoon or B drive an hour to Donegal and play Murvagh, then drive drive another hour to pay Narin & Portnoo followed by another hour drive to Cruit Island for 9 holes then drive the hour back to Letterkenny.

A is attractive because of the price and the short travel time but B looks like better golf even though it is more expensive and would mean about 4 hours in the car that day. I really want to see what Gil Hanse has done to Narin & Portnoo and if I do not make it to Rosapenna, we can do t hat next year and St Patricks will be done by then.

Any thoughts?

We loved Murvagh/Donegal and would have gone on to Cruit Island but for scheduling issues. So if you dont mind the driving I would say Plan B.

Donegal is a good course. However, I think once you see Cruit Island you will want to play it twice. It makes sense to drop Donegal and play N&P with CI if you don't mind the drive. Otherwise Portsalon and Rosa OTM are just as good as the other options.

Donegal works well with Enniscrone, Strandhill and Rosses Point.

One option is to play Lough Erne - while not links, it is a very good course. I love the place.

I'd pick B, but for only 30mis more drive past Donegal, you can play Rosses Point (Co. Sligo) which in my opinion is better.

As for Rosapenna, just play the Old course and don't worry about the other one. Seemed tricked up to me. Nairn was really fun and Cruit Island was a treat. and at 9 holes it's nice because it's not a slog if you've already walked 18 that day. However if the weather is nice and you're up for it, you'll want to go around again after experiencing it.