Ireland Golf Trip- Leaving Thursday

[99Luftballoons]

Making my first golf trip across the pond this week :taunt:

heading to The Emerald Isle and would appreciate any tips , pointers, weather, etc :read:

 

Here are the courses we are playing:

 

Lahinch (Friday- right after we get off the plane :swoon: )

Waterville and Dooks on Sunday

Ballybunion (Old course) and Trailee on Monday

Old Head (Tuesday- lots of travel that day)

Both K Club courses on Wednesday

Portmarnock (Old) on Thursday

:golfer:

[johnnylongball]

Went Ireland for a week last year and played a very similar itinerary. My suggestions:

1. Hope for great weather but be prepared with rain gear, etc., in case you get the worst. You are unlikely to play this many rounds without getting wet at all.
2. If you have a little extra time, visit the Cliffs of Moher. It's about 15-20 minutes from Lahinch.
3. Request caddies as much as your budget will allow. Kevin O'Connell at Lahinch was the best caddy we had the entire trip. Highly recommended.
4. Drink Guinness.
5. Old Head was the most spectacular golf course I have ever seen.
6. You're going to have an awesome trip. The rest of us are jealous.

[Nej1140]

I know Ireland is a little farther away but Europe is all close together. The UK is having a terrible "summer" have a friend that lives there and said its rained constantly.

Something to do with wind currents carrying stuff off of Mexico or something.

Ireland might be tottaly Differnt, just a thought to check before you leave

[CynderBloc]

[quote name='Nej1140' timestamp='1340691653' post='5168654']
Ireland might be tottaly Differnt, just a thought to check before you leave
[/quote]Nope, the weather is rubbish at the minute, and it's not supposed to get better for a couple of weeks.

That being said, it's been mainly dry for the last few days. If you're lucky you might just hit the odd shower here and there, just don't expect much sun.

[99Luftballoons]

We figure it's going to rain a lot. Just hopefully more of the light stuff and not too many downpours

[Shemp]

Gore tex is your friend. You're going to be walking up to 14 miles each day, bring at least 2 pair of waterproof golf shoes and bring a roll of mole skin in case you develop a blister. Pace yourself, if you enjoy tipping a few it's easy to get carried away and ruin a day or two of golf. Caddies are critical, especially when you're playing links courses for the first time. If you plan on buying hats and shirts while there, don't pack many from home. Buy, wear, bring home.

We just got back a month ago and had "decent" weather, but I've been following eastern Scotland weather over the past week and they have had a regular monsoon season...... which brings us back to the whole Gore Tex thing agaion. The stuff is expensive, but worth every penny if you hit multiple days of 50F, 35mph winds and horizontal rain.

[puttnforthe8]

Only thing I would consider is only playing the Old Course at the K club....for the nostalgia. Go down the road to Leixlip and play either of the Carton House courses for the other round...or just add Carton House to the trip!!! Carton House is head and shoulders above K Club.

If you like your steak Medium...order it rare...most places will always overcook your steak.

Bacon = Ham
Rashers = Bacon like
Streaky Bacon = US Bacon
Chips = fries
Crisps = Chips
Pint of Guiness should be light brown head like a latte foam brown...otherwise it is old and will be skunky
When in Dublin go to Copper Face Jacks.
Salamanca is a good Spanish Restaurant in Dublin
There is a speakeasy on Dame Lane that is cool(29 Dame...if it is still there).
Get lost on the side streets and go into those pubs...while the ones in the main areas are filled with people, they are filled with mostly other tourists. The real Irish Pubs are on the side streets, etc. Better atmosphere, simple music and Irish patrons.
Security wise: Use ATM only indoors, one of the bigger scams is skimming of cards on outside machines. A thief can set up a skimmer and pull it down within hours and be off with your money.

[Nej1140]

Eat fish and chips....
Haddock is amazing

[BrianL99]

[quote name='99Luftballoons' timestamp='1340638209' post='5163596']


Here are the courses we are playing:

Lahinch (Friday- right after we get off the plane )
Waterville and Dooks on Sunday
Ballybunion (Old course) and Trailee on Monday
Old Head (Tuesday- lots of travel that day)
Both K Club courses on Wednesday
Portmarnock (Old) on Thursday

[/quote]

Great itinerary, but if there's any way you can swap out Portmarnock for Royal County Down, you'll not only get to visit Northern Ireland (which is spectacularly beautiful and much different than the south), you'll have played what many consider to be the #1 Golf Course in the world. I've never understood why Portmarnock is rated so highly.

[99Luftballoons]

[quote]Great itinerary, but if there's any way you can swap out Portmarnock for Royal County Down, you'll not only get to visit Northern Ireland (which is spectacularly beautiful and much different than the south), you'll have played what many consider to be the #1 Golf Course in the world. I've never understood why Portmarnock is rated so highly.[/quote]



We wanted to play Royal County but for whatever reasons it didnt fit into the plans (not sure if it was where we were at certain days and tee times)

[Harrowgolf]

[quote name='99Luftballoons' timestamp='1340719608' post='5169690']
We figure it's going to rain a lot. Just hopefully more of the light stuff and not too many downpours
[/quote]

I'd keep playing, I don't think the heavy stuff's going to come down for quite a while

[Harrowgolf]

[quote name='CynderBloc' timestamp='1340694210' post='5168730']
[quote name='Nej1140' timestamp='1340691653' post='5168654']
Ireland might be tottaly Differnt, just a thought to check before you leave
[/quote]Nope, the weather is rubbish at the minute, and it's not supposed to get better for a couple of weeks.

That being said, it's been mainly dry for the last few days. If you're lucky you might just hit the odd shower here and there, just don't expect much sun.
[/quote]

Slight thread jack, I am going to Ireland to golf as well. If you have played Rosapenna, what 18 should I play...Old Tom Morris or Sandy Hills?

[joe perry]

[quote name='Harrowgolf' timestamp='1341368901' post='5213998']
[quote name='CynderBloc' timestamp='1340694210' post='5168730']
[quote name='Nej1140' timestamp='1340691653' post='5168654']
Ireland might be tottaly Differnt, just a thought to check before you leave
[/quote]Nope, the weather is rubbish at the minute, and it's not supposed to get better for a couple of weeks.

That being said, it's been mainly dry for the last few days. If you're lucky you might just hit the odd shower here and there, just don't expect much sun.
[/quote]

Slight thread jack, I am going to Ireland to golf as well. If you have played Rosapenna, what 18 should I play...Old Tom Morris or Sandy Hills?
[/quote]


Are you playing Portsalon and Narin and Portnoo ? (both relatively close) - those 2 are superior in my opinion due to conditioning of the greens at Rosapenna 2 summers ago.

Differences between the 2 Rosapenna courses is that Sandy Hills is much narrower and has deeper bunkers - Also many of the greens at Sandy Hills have false fronts and that makes it very difficult to run or bounce a ball into certain greens !!! if it is cool and windy Sandy Hills is a very diffcult test of golf when compared to The Old Tom Morris Links.

[Harrowgolf]

We are playing N & P but not Portsalon.It was in the running but didn't make our cut, based on nothing but reading James Finegan's Emerald Fairways book.
Thanks for the advice on Rosapenna.

[swoop16]

Just returned from a trip to Ireland....stayed in Dublin. Wasn't specifically there for golf but did manage to play twice. First round was at the K-Club. Played the course the Ryder Cup was on. Felt like I was playing in the States, which is what we were expecting. The only issue I had with the course is they were mowing at the time and left all the clippings. Made a real mess, especially in the rough.

Second round was at Portmarnock. We took caddies and both were actually clueless, but still worth the money. The course is fantastic, everything I would want in a links course. Went right up to number 1 on courses I have played.

I did find it to be warmer than I expected. It was in the 60's with high humidity and I wish I had brought shorts to not only play golf in, but just to walk around. The forecast always looked bad when we were there, but the only time we had any rain was for a brief shower on the K-club and that was it for the week.

Also saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Croke Park.......awesome......

[99Luftballoons]

Just got back from the trip.

All I can say is ::: WOW!!!!!!

Lahinch was phenomonal. Got the full gammot of weather there. Sun, wind, drizzle, rain- exactly what i expected Irish golf to be like. Also had the worlds greatest caddy. Just a great round and a top top course.

We got a ton of rain on Waterville and Dooks but still were able to enjoy and apreciate the courses. We had a very cold and rainy day but was great. Waterville's back 9 is spectacualr.

We lucked out with Ballybunion and Trailee. Sunny and mid 60's weather, just some wind to deal with but was a nice change from the rain the day before.
Bally might be the best course i ever played. it's certainly right up there with Bethpage Black for me. Just loved it. Trailee was also great and the back 9 was superb. just an incredibly scenic course.
Teh one negatibe we hit was with old head. we had serious rain and unbearable fog You literally couldnt see 40 yards away. We played through it but was thoroughly unenjoyable due to the circumtsances and we didnt get to see what many consider to be the most scenic golf course in the world.

The K Club courses were ok. The old course (Smurfit) was a much better course IMO. The Ryder Cup course looked like a dozen other US courses i've played.

Portmornoc was great. Real links, we had great weather (sunny and mid 60's) and just some light wiond to deal with. LOVED the course.

All in all an incredible trip. Golf in Ireland is as superb and breathtaking as was told. Really lived up to it.