Ireland Golf Trip Review

Just got back from a week long golf trip in Ireland. Posted this on the golf board, but figured some on here might find this interesting as well.

Planning/Transportation - In Ireland, we had a group of 8 that played 6 rounds in 6 days, and had accommodations for 7 nights in three different cities. Four guys from the group went the week before to Scotland and played four rounds there before meeting the rest of us in Ireland.

We used a company called Hidden Links Golf (https://www.hiddenlinksgolf.com) to set everything up. I was just a participant, so I can’t comment on how easy/difficult it was to work with them, but from my standpoint it was excellent. Hidden Links arranged all transportation, hotel (including breakfast each day) and tee times. They were very flexible when we wanted to move tee times a few times (had one too early in the morning, and another we wanted to get in before predicted weather moved in). We had the same executive bus and driver all week, which was nice to be able to leave clubs, shoes, jackets etc in each day. The bus had large leather seats, refrigerator, and table area that made the travel through each stop really comfortable.

Traveling to Ireland - I used reward points from Savannah to Shannon, connecting through JFK. Delta runs seasonal service to Shannon during the summer months, and it was pretty cheap round trip, even cheaper than some west coast trips I’ve taken. Both coming and going the flight was about 80% full, and my delta comfort seat didn’t have anyone next to me. I know United and American have flights there as well, and a few took a low fare rate with Air Lingus our of Boston.

Our first hotel was about 2 hours from Shannon in a town called Kinsale, which is the last town on the way to Old Head. We stayed at the Actons Hotel (www.actonshotelkinsale.com)which was right on the little bay, and within walking distance to everything in town. The hotel was fine - beds were a little small, especially since we did double occupancy at each stop. Overall Kinsale is a cool little town with lots of the quality pubs and restaurants you’d expect in Ireland. They also had an old fort that apparently is their main tourist attraction.

Old Head - Played here the first two days of the trip. It seemed odd to me that we were spending two days at the same course, but after being there, it’s completely justified. It’s the most amazing piece of property I’ve ever seen for a golf course. Several in the group said it tops Pebble and Augusta in their minds just due to the sheer scenery on every hole. The first day was spent soaking it all in, the second more focused on playing the course. Both days the weather was incredible - nearly 60 and sunny - though the second day the wind was very gusty, which made this difficult layout extremely hard.

Each group had one caddy, and the rest of us used pull carts. The caddy both days were nice, but not extremely helpful, though they did help with lines off the tee and finding stray balls for the group so we all tipped a bit after the rounds.

Course conditions were the best of the trip. The place was in immaculate shape. Despite not being a traditional Irish links course, it should absolutely be on any itinerary for a golf trip in that direction. I can’t wait to go back. My rating - 10/10





After our second day, we took about a 2.5 hour ride to Killarney and stayed at the International Hotel (www.killarneyinternational.com). Killarney was definitely the biggest town of the trip, and had the most going on in terms of restaurants and night life. They also have a horse track and the week long annual race was happening while we were there, so wandered out to the track one evening and watched a few races. The hotel was also the best of the three white nice, big rooms and comfortable beds. We stayed here for three nights and shuttled back and forth between the courses.

Tralee - After the two days at Old Head, we played our next round at Tralee which is a “newer” course designed by Arnold Palmer. The front 9 and back 9 are very different. The front has some nice views, but the back was beautiful. Course was in good condition, but the layout felt a bit forced a gimmicky - some blind shots into very unforgiving greens for example. Each group got a caddie again, and the guy in our group was the head greenskeeper for 25 years since the course opened, so he was very knowledgeable, though his green reading skills were pretty lacking. Overall it was a good course, but not sure I’d rush to play it again. My rating - 7/10





Waterville - Having never been to Ireland, Waterville was the type of links course I had in my head. The views were breathtaking, and the layout was challenging but fair. Our driver informed us the day before that golf carts were available at Waterville, and after walking three days on hilly courses, the group welcomed the break. Since we had the carts, we skipped caddies for the day and just relied on the yardage book which worked fine for most holes. The clubhouse has recently been refurbished and it was a nice place to grab a quick bite after the round. This is definitely a course I could play regularly. My rating - 9/10





Ballybunnion - the Old Course at Ballybunnion has a ton of history, and I was looking forward to playing it. All the courses thus far had pretty normal practice facilities, but this one was a little odd. The range was across the street from the clubhouse, and they shuttled you back and forth on carts, where you hit off mats instead of grass. We also decided against caddies since it was significantly more expensive then we had encountered thus far, though the pro tried to push us pretty hard to take one. As far as layout, most of the front 9 was along a pretty busy road, and personally I just didn’t love the configuration of a few holes. It was also in the worst shape of the courses we played, with lots of bare spots and ground under repair areas. To me, this is one that could have been skipped. My rating- 6/10




After our round, we drove about an hour and a half (including a 25 min ferry ride) to the town of Lahinch. We stayed at the Lahinch Coast Hotel (www.lahinchcoasthotel.ie) which had fine rooms and a nice bar where we watched the PGA championship. The town itself is tiny, about 1000 full time residents and one small street with a few pubs and restaurants. Apparently it’s a big surfer town as well, with some of those crazy people out in the freezing cold water well after 10PM.

Before our last round, we drove about 20 minutes out of town to the cliffs of Moher, which are about 14km of beautiful seaside cliffs. We only walked around there for an hour before heading back, but I’m sure a good half a day could be spent walking around the cliffs and checking out the little museum.