Ireland Golf Trip Report

[ESOX ZO]

Golfed 7 times in 13 days with plenty of hiking/sight seeing in between. Had 2 additional rounds on the docket, but unfortunately my wife and I both got sick. Weather from what we were told was a bit unseasonably cool. 

 

 

Round 1 - Ballybunion Old Course 

My first golf experience on the links course really started off with a bang. 20-30mph winds and a slamming rain made Ballybunion the toughest course I've played to date. Out of pure excitement I showed up at 6:15am to get some practice reps in and hit the pro shop up but didn't realize nobody would be there until 7. Didn't get much for pics as everything was soaked. Hard to properly rate this course with the tough conditions and not playing the ball well, but what a first round it was! Hit my first tee shot in Ireland into the graveyard...played with a family from PA and enjoyed their company. Wife sat back at the hotel, glad it worked out.

 

Favorite Hole - #16 makes you feel like you're exiting the tunnel heading onto the football field with the narrowing of the fairway to the green, a bold shot over the dune leaves you with a gettable green with the wind at your back

Sleeper Hole - #7 pictured below, green perfectly framed by this monster dune sitting behind hit

 

 

Round 2 - Tralee

Stopped in Tralee for lunch after Ballybunion - nice little town walked around a bit and had some good Thai food. Once we got to the course I noticed the more generous rough if you got off the fairways, which was nice for the wife/sister-in-law given the windier conditions. Some strong holes on the front including the stretch from hole 6 to 8, holes 7 and 8 played into the wind making them challenging. The back 9 is so much fun, stuck a good drive on hole 12 in the left rough/fairway and the chasm ate my ball up. Although hole 18 felt more bunkered than the rest of the course, felt a bit out of place. Routing was decent, not saying it was a tough walk but didn't flow like some of the courses on the trip. Was a drastically different day from my morning round at Ballybunion the wind was still up but got some sun and a incredible sunset. Ate afterwards at The Oyster Tavern and was a bit let down from the food/service there, back to Ballybunion Hotel that night. 

 

Sleeper Hole - #8 I am a sucker for a Par 4 wrapping along the ocean its nostalgic for me and brings me back to our honeymoon hole 16 at Poipu Bay

Favorite Hole - #13 the dune sitting behind that green is just incredible went up there to watch the group behind us hit as well..good fun

 

 

 

Round 3 - Lahinch

 

Checked in to Lahinch Coast Hotel and got to the range 30 minutes before our 4:00pm tee time. Caught a few light rain showers throughout the round, took video of the whole round so only snapped photos on my phone here. First round with a forecaddie, younger kid who was leaving the following week to go caddie in New York for the summer. Boy did he hustle as my wife and I didn't play good partner golf and often times found ourselves on opposite sides of the hole.  Drove the ball really well, but didn't score well at all. Hole 9 found the fairway then landed a decent iron on left side with a left pin, but that was a big mistake. Missed and rolled off the back into thick rough and ended up taking a triple on the hole after a promising drive. Wife and sister in law both brought up they thought the walk was a bit more challenging here than at Tralee. The routing though was magical, wish I could take that route everyday after work to walk the dogs. Finished up here around 830, went back to the hotel and then luckily found some food at Danny Mac's. Best service of the trip by our waitress, excellent desserts to boot as well. Woke up the next morning and had the Cliffs of Moher all to ourselves for sunrise. 

 

Sleeper Hole - #3 after this trip I've come to blind out I love blind tee shots to a angled fairway, hitting the perfect shot shape and seeing a successful tee shot is a great feeling, one I wish I felt more during the trip

Favorite Hole - #5 Dell wish I could play this hole everyday of my life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continued...

 

Edited July 12 by ESOX ZO
duplicate photo

[hammergolf]

34 minutes ago, ESOX ZO said:

Golfed 7 times in 13 days with plenty of hiking/sight seeing in between. Had 2 additional rounds on the docket, but unfortunately my wife and I both got sick. Weather from what we were told was a bit unseasonably cool. 

 

 

Round 1 - Ballybunion Old Course 

My first golf experience on the links course really started off with a bang. 20-30mph winds and a slamming rain made Ballybunion the toughest course I've played to date. Out of pure excitement I showed up at 6:15am to get some practice reps in and hit the pro shop up but didn't realize nobody would be there until 7. Didn't get much for pics as everything was soaked. Hard to properly rate this course with the tough conditions and not playing the ball well, but what a first round it was! Hit my first tee shot in Ireland into the graveyard...played with a family from PA and enjoyed their company. Wife sat back at the hotel, glad it worked out.

 

Favorite Hole - #16 makes you feel like you're exiting the tunnel heading onto the football field with the narrowing of the fairway to the green, a bold shot over the dune leaves you with a gettable green with the wind at your back

Sleeper Hole - #7 pictured below, green perfectly framed by this monster dune sitting behind hit

 

 

Round 2 - Tralee

Stopped in Tralee for lunch after Ballybunion - nice little town walked around a bit and had some good Thai food. Once we got to the course I noticed the more generous rough if you got off the fairways, which was nice for the wife/sister-in-law given the windier conditions. Some strong holes on the front including the stretch from hole 6 to 8, holes 7 and 8 played into the wind making them challenging. The back 9 is so much fun, stuck a good drive on hole 12 in the left rough/fairway and the chasm ate my ball up. Although hole 18 felt more bunkered than the rest of the course, felt a bit out of place. Routing was decent, not saying it was a tough walk but didn't flow like some of the courses on the trip. Was a drastically different day from my morning round at Ballybunion the wind was still up but got some sun and a incredible sunset. Ate afterwards at The Oyster Tavern and was a bit let down from the food/service there, back to Ballybunion Hotel that night. 

 

Sleeper Hole - #8 I am a sucker for a Par 4 wrapping along the ocean its nostalgic for me and brings me back to our honeymoon hole 16 at Poipu Bay

Favorite Hole - #13 the dune sitting behind that green is just incredible went up there to watch the group behind us hit as well..good fun

 

 

 

Round 3 - Lahinch

 

Checked in to Lahinch Coast Hotel and got to the range 30 minutes before our 4:00pm tee time. Caught a few light rain showers throughout the round, took video of the whole round so only snapped photos on my phone here. First round with a forecaddie, younger kid who was leaving the following week to go caddie in New York for the summer. Boy did he hustle as my wife and I didn't play good partner golf and often times found ourselves on opposite sides of the hole.  Drove the ball really well, but didn't score well at all. Hole 9 found the fairway then landed a decent iron on left side with a left pin, but that was a big mistake. Missed and rolled off the back into thick rough and ended up taking a triple on the hole after a promising drive. Wife and sister in law both brought up they thought the walk was a bit more challenging here than at Tralee. The routing though was magical, wish I could take that route everyday after work to walk the dogs. Finished up here around 830, went back to the hotel and then luckily found some food at Danny Mac's. Best service of the trip by our waitress, excellent desserts to boot as well. Woke up the next morning and had the Cliffs of Moher all to ourselves for sunrise. 

 

Sleeper Hole - #3 after this trip I've come to blind out I love blind tee shots to a angled fairway, hitting the perfect shot shape and seeing a successful tee shot is a great feeling, one I wish I felt more during the trip

Favorite Hole - #5 Dell wish I could play this hole everyday of my life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continued...

 

Awesome report! What did you think about Klondike and The Dell? I’m heading back in 6 weeks and can’t wait.

Edited July 12 by hammergolf

[ESOX ZO]

Round 4 - Donegal

 

The beginning of the sickness round - I loved this course and I wish I would've had the wife play here with me as it was a bit more generous and tame than the 2 courses she played this far. Went out solo early as they were very accommodating for an early tee time request. Some straightforward holes to start with generous fairways with some rumpling. The course really kicked off starting on hole 5, awesome testy par 3. Finished in just under 3 hours here, drove back to the hotel to eat breakfast and everything went downhill from there.  Asked my wife to drive as we were headed up to St Patricks links for a 2:30pm tee time, she made it about 10 minutes until I couldn't handle her driving HA. Off I went trying to keep my nausea from defeating me. 

 

Sleeper Hole - #9 felt like a scoreable hole with an almost blind tee shot because if you want to cut the corner you're going in blind 

Favorite Hole - #8 choices are plenty here and you finally get that ocean feel albeit short lived on this course

 

[ESOX ZO]

18 minutes ago, hammergolf said:

Awesome report! What did you think about Klondike and The Dell? I’m heading back in 6 weeks and can’t wait.

Loved them, I crushed my drive into the hill on the Klondike. Hit a recovery shot that probably went 20 yds just to get over the mound and saved par. 

 

 

[jvincent]

23 minutes ago, ESOX ZO said:

Round 4 - Donegal

The course really kicked off starting on hole 5, awesome testy par 3.

 

One of the best names for a hole in Ireland: Valley of Tears.

[hammergolf]

1 hour ago, ESOX ZO said:

Round 4 - Donegal

 

The beginning of the sickness round - I loved this course and I wish I would've had the wife play here with me as it was a bit more generous and tame than the 2 courses she played this far. Went out solo early as they were very accommodating for an early tee time request. Some straightforward holes to start with generous fairways with some rumpling. The course really kicked off starting on hole 5, awesome testy par 3. Finished in just under 3 hours here, drove back to the hotel to eat breakfast and everything went downhill from there.  Asked my wife to drive as we were headed up to St Patricks links for a 2:30pm tee time, she made it about 10 minutes until I couldn't handle her driving HA. Off I went trying to keep my nausea from defeating me. 

 

Sleeper Hole - #9 felt like a scoreable hole with an almost blind tee shot because if you want to cut the corner you're going in blind 

Favorite Hole - #8 choices are plenty here and you finally get that ocean feel albeit short lived on this course

 

LOVE #8! Such a great par 5 design.

[ESOX ZO]

Round 5 - St Patricks Links

 

Incredible last bit of the drive into town here, passing Lough Salt was spectacular. The signage wasn't very well laid out and we lost a good chunk of time finding the correct clubhouse/course, that's probably on me but I was feeling pretty crappy at the moment so it is what it is. Had another forecaddie here, another young fella and had an awesome time.  Routing was awesome, albeit a bit tougher walk than anticipated. Both my wife and sister-in-law agreed this was there favorite course of the trip. The course blew away my expectations, the scale of which I've never seen was crazy at times. Huge speed slots in the fairways, massive false fronts and the greens were the most fun set of greens I've played on. I could write a hole by hole review on this course, cannot wait to get back here someday. Dinner afterwards at Goose & Gander was excellent.

 

Sleeper Hole - #7 hit your drive far enough and you'll shoot down a slope for an extra 50 yards or so

Favorite Hole - #14 Incredible dogleg right, will you tackle those bunkers and give yourself a shorter approach in or play it safe out to the left

 

[ESOX ZO]

Round 6 - Royal Portrush

 

On paper heading into the trip this was the course I was most excited for. After St Patrick's the next day we woke up early to get a head start on the day with a stop at Old Bushmills for a tour/tasting. After sampling a variety of selections I ended up walking out with the Distillery Exclusive which in hindsight with the 7 different bottles I brought back was my least favorite. I finally started finally somewhat decent with my energy levels coming back up. We caught a cooler, on and off rainy day after a sunnier time the day prior. Another forecaddie here who was excellent and told some awesome stories. The first couple holes ease you into the course which I somewhat appreciated having no driving range at the moment. My wife found out this is a driving course and got penalized from fairway bunkers on 3 of the first 4 holes.  The beauty of this course struck me with it's subtle defenses. The routing if not for the halfway house would've made me feel like there wasn't a back or a front 9 rather a continuous flowing 18 holes of pure links golf. 

 

Day after we checked out - Dark Hedges, Giants Causeway and then head down to Belfast to spend the afternoon. Titanic museum was incredible and we were blown away.

 

Sleeper Hole - #8 one of the holes that made you think of your shot selection off the tee box, almost felt like a Pete Dye view line 

Favorite Hole - #16 although my first one didn't clear the massive chasm, I took a provisional off the tee and ended up making a respectable bogey after a dropped shot. 

 

 

[ESOX ZO]

Round 7 - Royal County Down

 

Last course of the trip and one I had high expectations for given the ratings. RCD made me realize how much I love blind shots. The massive poles for aiming points were so much fun taking aim at and even my wife said how cool it was. I could play the front 9 on repeat and never grow tired of it. Hole 14-15 felt a bit out of place for me for some reason, maybe because it was off routing just slightly...enjoyed them nonetheless. A fair challenge in my opinion and actually scored the best round of the trip here. The Burrendale hotel was a bit outdated and probably the least favorite hotel of the trip, which was a bummer as we basically just relaxed there as my wife was sick and not feeling great. Also the food at Doc's was the worst the trip, a hard pass from a Fish n Chips standpoint. Not to backtrack but, on the way from Portrush to Belfast to Newcastle we took the scenic route down the coast which I highly recommend. 

 

Sleeper Hole - #7

Favorite Hole - #9