[Darren_Kilfara]

One of my East Coast buddies back home is talking about flying across to Ireland for just 3-4 days to play some golf - his schedule is such that he couldn't take a longer trip than that, but he has friends who have taken similar trips and really enjoyed themselves.

Strongly considering the logistics of such a trip, where would you go to maximise the quality of golf relative to the amount of travel time involved? (Ideally we'd be talking about a good golfing centre with a number of interesting courses but also within a few hours of a major airport.)

Cheers,
Darren

[Nick Pozaric]

Fly into Dublin and you have Portmarnock, Island, European Club, Royal Dublin, and Royal Co Downs which is 2 hours north

[Darren_Kilfara]

Nick, that's certainly the easy option in terms of logistics, but I'm not convinced that the quality of the golf would be good enough to justify a Transatlantic flight. (Northern Ireland might be worth it for Portrush x2 and RCD alone, but I'm not a fan of the European Club, and are Island/Royal Dublin really worth seeing?)

[Voytek Wilczak]

As I discussed with Bob Hundley recently, one can fly to Shannon for about $300 in the off-season from Newark Liberty (Nov - March). Short flight, too, as flights across the pond go.

I'd hop on that plane, rent a car, and play Ballybunion and Lahinch multiple times over 3 days.

[Sean Walsh]

I would go with Voytek's suggestion.  You could even throw in a round at Doonbeg.  That way your friend could compare and contrast classical links versus the more contrived version.


Darren,
 In answer to your question.  Yes The Island is worth it, especially if you like some quirk.  I would also add Baltray to the Dublin reckoning.  Your friend could quite easily do The Island, Portmarnock, Baltray and RCD in the one 3-4 day trip.

[Padraig Dooley]

There are three options.

1. Dublin- play a combination of Portmarnock, Baltray, The Island, Royal Dublin, The European Club, you could go as far north as Royal County Down, 2 hours drive.

The Island and Baltray are well worth playing, Royal Dublin has just finished a remodel and has received some very good reviews.

2. Shannon- Ballybunion, Lahinch, Waterville, Doonbeg, maybe Tralee all should be seen at some stage.

3. Belfast- Play Royal County Down first, south of Belfast then move north and play Royal Portrush, Portstewart, Castlerock.

[mike_malone]

I made a trip that started at The Island, inside 1/2 hr. from the airport, then we went to Portmarnock the next day, then drove to RCD . Day three we played RCD and Ardglass, but I can see 36 at RCD.

   As we made our way back to Dublin we played Baltray . On day five we played Royal Dublin .

    Unless they have finished a bypass around Dublin, I would not go south of town to The European Club.


   You could easily compress this into four days. If you play one Dublin area course the day of arrival and two on the second day then go to RCD you can play 36 there on day three. Day four would include Baltray on the way back.

    I researched courses like Laytown-Bettystown and Seapoint but did not play them.


     While it is not golf related , I highly recommend a stop at Newgrange on your way to RCD.It is outside of Dundalk and is one of the most impressive historic sites I have ever experienced. It  is a Druid burial site and is  more impressive than Stonehenge.

[ForkaB]

Shannon.

[michael j fay]

Fly to Shannon, rent a car and go to Ballina. Play Carne, Innishcrone and Sligo. Play Innishcrone again and go home.

[Mike Policano]

Darren,

Portmarnock and the Island Club are definitely worth the trip.  If on an expense account, stay at The Merriam Hotel in Dublin.  Dublin also has the best restaurants in Ireland and great bars in the Temple Bar area.

Mayday,

How was Royal Dublin after the work done?  I played it a few times before the work and I wasn't its biggest fan.

[Dub_ONeill]

I have not played in the Nortwest, but have played some in the other areas. I also think the Dublin option is the best choice for such a trip. I don't understand why the Southwest option always seems to get the nod from most people, although apparently not on this thread.  I agree that with these time constraints the best plan is to skip the European Club and concentrate on Dublin and County Down.  One could fly into Dublin and limit play to County Down, Portmarnock, and County Louth and have a great three or four day trip.  If you add The Island to the mix, you have a variety of large dunes and low profile links along with old fashion links weirdness all in a relatively small area with the City of Dublin thrown in for good measure.  

[mike_malone]

 We stayed in Malahide, right next door to The Island and close to Portmarnock, and took a train into Dublin. That worked fine.

[Brad Tufts]

Despite the allure of Ballybunion, Lahinch, or the NW, it sounds like your best bet would be to stay near to Dublin.  You wouldn't want to use most of a day (of 3-4 days) driving those unpredictable roads.....Ballina is probably 4-5 hours (at least) from Shannon..and then you have to drive back...

I'm headed to the Dublin/N. Ireland corridor next summer, and I can't wait!!

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

All plans sound good, but forget the European Club. I like the Shannon ones best though.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Darren, Either
Dublin or Shannon are both great.  
Dublin:  Stay at the Pormarnock Links Hotel for two nights.  Play the hotel course, Portmanock, and the Island from the Hotel.  Drive to Baltray stay at the club, play there and Royal County Down.  Skip Royal Dublin and the Eiuopean Club is too much of a hastle to get to for one round.  The traffic in and around Dublin going south is awful.

Shannon;  stay at a B&B in Dingle.  Play both at Ballybunion, Waterville, Dooks, Tralee, and trek up to Lahinch.

Eiether one is a can't miss four day trip.

[Ally Mcintosh]

here's the best advice you've had yet... forget the north of ireland (county down, portrush, castlerock, portstewart, ballyliffin) unless you can get a direct flight to belfast... also forget the west / north west (enniscrone, county sligo, donegal, rosappena, carne, connemara) because they are too far away from an airport and some hefty drives...

to shorten your flight time, go for the south west (ballybunion, tralee, waterville, lahinch, doonbeg) flying to shannon... almost all dublin flights have to land at shannon first anyway before taking off again for dublin... there are some lengthy drives with this itinerary as well though...

alternatively add on a bit of flight time to dublin and stay near the airport where you are in striking distance of portmarnock, the island, baltray, royal dublin or seapoint and not that far away from co. down with the new road.... you could also travel south to the european and risk the dublin traffic but why bother...

in short: south-west equals shorter flight but more driving... dublin equals longer flight plus less driving (theoretically)

[Jack_Marr]

Personally, I think the European Club is excellent. The M50 has been extended, so you can get down there in now time at all now, depending on the time of day you choose to travel.

The Island is also well worth playing - on the East coast, you could play the european club, Portmarnock, the Island, Baltray, Royal County Down, Royal Dublin (don't know what this is like now). I wouldn't bother with Seapoint or Laytown and Bettystown (although the latter is nice).

The southwest is also an option, as is the northwest.

Why not visit Aidan's website and look at a few photos of the courses... www.golfcoursephotography.com

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Waterville is another one that does not live up to billing. It is a good course and not even close to the con the European Club is. It is not a great course, especially the first few holes before the dunes holes kick in. I like Dooks for fun golf but have not ever seen the greens faster than a 5.

[Andy Doyle]

... not even close to the con the European Club is.

Ouch.  I've only played the European Club once, but I really enjoyed it.  The only thing I didn't like about the course was the wood, railroad tie-like faces on the bunkers - I about gave myself a lobotomy on the very first hole.

Andy

[Tommy Williamsen]

Hey, I love the European club but it is out of the way.  Royal County Down is an easy trip through the Mourne MTs from Baltray.  

[Andy Doyle]

Darren,

Since I've been dying to get back to Ireland to play your post has really fired my imagination.  Here's what I would do with 4 days to golf (including arrival day):

Day 1
Fly into Shannon
Drive to Ballybunion (~ 2 hours)
Play Ballybunion Old:  http://www.ballybuniongolfclub.ie/
Stay in Ballybunion: http://www.easygolfballybunion.com/accommodation.php

Day 2
Play Ballybunion Old, Cashen
Stay in Ballybunion

Day 3
Drive to Doonbeg(~1.5 hours via ferry), play Doonbeg 1 or 2x
http://www.doonbeggolfclub.com/
Drive to Lahinch (~ 0.5 hours)
Stay in Lahinch

Day 4
Play Lahinch Old 2x
http://www.lahinchgolf.com/

Depart Shannon (~45 minutes)


You get 2 top-ranked courses and 2 other good courses with minimal driving time.

Andy

[Jack_Marr]

Hey, I love the European club but it is out of the way.  Royal County Down is an easy trip through the Mourne MTs from Baltray.  

I would also play Royal County Down ahead of the European Club, but it's not that far out of the way now with the new road. Of course, it's an easier trip to RCD now with another new road going north.

I also love Waterville. I prefer it to Ballybunion. Some not great holes on both courses.

[Darren_Kilfara]

Thanks very much, everyone - very helpful stuff! Having played RCD, Portrush and the European Club in my limited Irish travels already, I have a preference to see the Shannon-centred courses myself, but Dublin is nearer to where I'm coming from (I'd likely be taking the ferry from Troon to Larne and driving to meet my friends coming across from America), so it sounds like we wouldn't go wrong either way...

Cheers,
Darren

[Bill_McBride]

My wife and I and another couple are going to attend the Walker Cup at Royal County Down in September next year.

The Walker Cup last summer at Chicago Golf Club was arguably the best golf event I've ever attended, in terms of accessibility to the players, no ropes, etc.  RCD should be a fabulous venue.

We are going to follow that weekend up with a round Monday morning at Ardglass, followed by a drive up to Castlerock where we will stay in Papa Huckaby's cousin's B&B.  Couples golf to follow at Castlerock, Portstewart and Royal Portrush.  On the way out of Belfast we will play the Friday before departure day at Belvoir in Belfast.

Not a lot of driving, very low key, can't wait.

[Jason McNamara]

here's the best advice you've had yet... forget the north of ireland (county down, portrush, castlerock, portstewart, ballyliffin) unless you can get a direct flight to belfast...

Continental has non-stops from Newark, fwiw.

almost all dublin flights have to land at shannon first anyway before taking off again for dublin...

These days it's typically a triangle, for example Atlanta - Shannon - Dublin - Atlanta one day, then the reverse route (a-d-s-a) the next day.  So Darren, if your friend is able to time it just right, he may be able to avoid the stop-over (no matter whether he chooses east or west).

Btw, of more general interest is the fact that the mandated Shannon stopovers will end in the next year or two.  Could well be that many of the Shannon flights become summer-only, or they might simply move to Cork.  Though Aeroflot might continue to stop there!

Jason

ps.  Ally, once the US gets non-stops to Knock, then the NW courses won't be as much of a problem.  

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