So here’s the plan. Son lives in Dublin and will be driving to Donnegal. Combination of touring and golf with wife. Planning on playing N and P. Also Portrush Valley. The way that the trip is working port salon, Northwest, or Ballyliffin will work. Just a matter of which one?
The Causeway Coast tournament is in early June and they use Portrush Valley that week. I think they also use Ballyliffin Old.
Ballyliffin will be getting ready for the Irish Open in July and the Glashedy course will close in early June. That means that The Old Links will have a lot of pressure for play and the complex will be dealing with the complexities of setting up for the championship.
I plan to be out of there by June 6th and cut my time short. I would ordinarily would recommend playing there. Last year I tried to play Portstewart about a month before the Irish Open, but the preparation process had the course set up to optimize conditions for the toirnament, so I opted not to play, as there were many drop areas to protect fairways, some tees were closed etc.
So June won't be a good month to go to Ballyliffin.
As someone who played 23 different courses on my first trip to Ireland, I came to appreciate the fact that the lower tier courses and clubs have a special character and some offer good craic. I have generally returned to places where I felt welcome and many of the lower tier courses offer a warm welcome.
Email a couple of them, offer a couple of dates, and tell them you are on a family holiday and have an interest in playing the course. I am more inclined to go places that are not burdensome to access. If one won't work for some reason, maybe it wasn't meant to be.
I have yet to play a course in Donegal I didn't like and wouldn't go back to. Most are ranked between 4 and 6 on the Doak Scale, which means they are all worth a play if you are in the area.
If you stay at Rosapenna, they once offered stay and play psckages that included Portsalon and one or both of the Rosapenna courses.
Take a look at Google maps for driving times. That might clarify options.
Charles Lund