Another Ireland thread

[Maximilian]

Hi!

 

Sorry I know Ireland has been discussed a lot, but searching around gave me kind of a headache. If someone wants to direct me to a particular thread, please do! Or if you don't mind replying here, that would be great!

 

So anyways, me and a friend are trying to plan a trip to Ireland. We are planing to go in about two weeks, we haven't booked flights yet, but will try to go either on Thursday evening and back Sunday Evening, Or Friday Evening and back Monday Evening.

 

We would like to play 36 holes on two days and probably only 18 on the last (depending on what flights we get). Best would obviously be courses close to each other since we don't have much time. We do not have a preference between North, South, East or West and we don't mind playing one course twice. We are preferably looking at playing only "real" Links style courses, but don't care if all are not "pure" Links. We don't care how famous or not famous the courses are.

 

We both have young families at home and would not like to spend more than necessary for a great experience, if that makes sense. So perhaps not playing only the most expensive courses would be nice, but we are willing to pay more if the difference is night and day.

 

Overnighting at a golf course would be very comfortable, but we are looking at all possibilities, so if you have any recommendations on that too, that would be awesome!

 

And finally, my friend is a high handicapper. Think he has like 31 or something like that. He is fairly fast and respects others and the courses though, so he really is not in the way of anyone, just don't know if the handicap requirements could cause problems? I'm a low handicap if that makes a difference (not trying to Internet brag I swear, haha).

 

Any advise or input would be greatly appreciated!

Max

[Cfd74]

I have included a link below for my website. The site includes photos and blogs from our trips over the years. You will find a lot of insights that will prove useful. Hope it helps.

Frank Davis

www.fairwaysndreamsgolf.com




Frank Davis
wow.fairwaysndreamsgolf.com

[Maximilian]

Thanks a lot Frank, will check it out right away!

[puttnforthe8]

Handicap cards are not needed in Ireland. Just don't be slow as stated.

Since you still have not booked the trip, I would just do the east coast and stay in Dublin. From Dublin you can do the Island and Baltray at reasonable prices. Then you have European Club that is a great course. Of course there is Portmarnock which is the famous course. Those are great choices for the trip. You could include(while not links), Carton House(2 courses and 1 is inland links) and/or Mt Joliet where they have held the Irish Open and WGC event.

West coast becomes a different trip since there is a little more driving between places. But a good trip could include Rosses Point, Enniscrone, Carne, Connemara, Donegal, Lahinch, Doonbeg and Adare Manor in some form. Donegal is a great place to stay more north and Galway south.

Have fun

[bogey2scratch]

I'm heading there in a month and puttnforthe8 has some good tips. Dublin does provide a great base for a long weekend. I'm partial to the west of Ireland so let me suggestion some options to Shannon Airport and see that side of the country:

1. Lahinch, Doonbeg, Dromoland - stay in Ennis (Cost saving option for golf - Kilkee)

or

2. Ballybunion, Waterville, and Tralee - Stay in Tralee (Cost saving options for golf - Dooks, Dingle Golf Links, Castlegregory)


There are lots of combinations and despite being a Banner County (Clare) man I'd do the second option if it was my first trip to Ireland. I think you want a balance of good golf and not spending the rest of your time in the car. That's one of the reasons I suggested Dromoland rather than the longer drive to Adare or even Ballybunion.

Also because you're talking two weeks from now and overlap on a weekend make sure you check courses for availability. I'd love to hear your report back when you return because I'll be about three weeks out from my trip.

[BigManSlim]

Northern Ireland has the best golf IMO...little bit tougher to get to though for a short trip

1) Royal County Down is the GOAT
2) Portrush
3) Portstewart

Royal Belfast is a good little track on a getaway day I would say.

That's all you need right there. Pure links as good as it gets.

[Maximilian]

Thanks everyone for the great advice! I am looking into everything!

[puttnforthe8]

[quote name='bogey2scratch' timestamp='1409942849' post='10071233']
I'm heading there in a month and puttnforthe8 has some good tips.

1. Lahinch, Doonbeg, Dromoland - stay in Ennis (Cost saving option for golf - Kilkee)

or

2. Ballybunion, Waterville, and Tralee - Stay in Tralee (Cost saving options for golf - Dooks, Dingle Golf Links, Castlegregory)


[/quote]

Nice trips...Love these too!

[az2au]

I was there a couple of weeks ago and did a very similar trip:
Enniscrone (36) on day 1
Narin & Portnoo (18) on day 2
Ballyliffin Glasheedy and Ballyliffin Old (36) on day 3

Going back next weekend and playing Lahinch on Saturday and Tralee on Sunday.

In an unrelated note I am playing at Kingsbarns today and Royal Lytham & St Annes tomorrow since I am stuck in the UK for work for 3 weeks.

[Maximilian]

Hi!

I'm back from my trip now! We had a really great time! We looked at all the alternatives and prices for traveling and everything, but realised that we got a much better deal on a set travel package from a Swedish group that was heading that way. Even though I understand that the North and West might have more exotic courses and we did not manage to play a few of the really nice ones around Dublin either, we still had lot's of fun!

We played Portmarnock Links. Good condition, all in all fun course!

We played Royal Dublin. I thought this was a really nice course, even though it was a bit flatter and did not really look as spectacular as some of the others. Smaller greens, but not so drastic run off areas, so it played a bit easier around the greens I thought, but some others in the group did not agree. Some of the holes played really long into the wind! This was surprising to me since it's such an old course, I was expecting it to be shorter.

We played Corballis which was not really up to the standard of the other courses, but it still was a lot nicer than I had expected since we heard from several people that it was no good. Sure it was a bit quirky and short (par 66), but it was still really fun! Great greens too, probably the nicest greens we played actually! Especially the first nine that was set along the sea were very nice! The last nine were a bit weird looped, two par fours actually shared the same fairway and you crossed each others holes to get to the green. Dangerous! But still fun though.

And finally we played The Island which I thought was by far the nicest. It was really cool and quite stunning visually! Huge grassy sand dunes and really interesting holes! It was difficult, but still fare. I really enjoyed everything about it!

I'll definitely try to make it back some day and play more of the courses that we couldn't do this time around.

An interesting side note, we stayed at a hotel close to Portmarnock, not in Dublin, and I don't think I met a single person that was not an enthusiastic golfer! The cab drivers, the people working in the food stores, the waiters in the restaurants/bars (even the ones that were not placed on a golf course) all gave us tips on strategy for the course we were going to play the next day! Golf really is ingrained in the community over there! Very friendly atmosphere!

Max