When I see posts like this I realize just how nuts I really am with the itineraries I pull together for a golf trip. That being said, I love it that way! I always want to play as much of the best courses possible when I go to an area. The 19th hole is meaningless to me, especially since I don't drink so my buddy and I didn't spend any time in the pubs while in Ireland in September. We actually stopped into two pubs with the intention of grabbing something to eat and take in the experience I had heard so much about, but we didn't love the atmosphere and went to eat elsewhere instead. Maybe if I was a drinker I would appreciate that scene better, but we still had exposure to the locals while staying at B&B's, and interacting with people at the courses, talking with people at eating establishments, etc. Here is the itinerary I just did in September:
Day 1: Arrive in Dublin on the red eye at 8:15 AM. Pick up rental car, change clothes, and grab some food. 12:00 tee time at The K Club. Drive 3+ hours to the southern tip of Ireland. Fell asleep about 10 seconds after getting in bed after being up for over 24 hours straight.
Day 2: Play Old Head in the AM, drive 3+ hours, play Waterville in the PM. Drive nearly 6 hours straight north.
Day 3: Play County Sligo in the AM, drive just over an hour west, play Enniscrone in the PM. Drive another hour west.
Day 4: Play all 27 holes at Carne in the AM. Drive 5 hours back east and into Northern Ireland.
Day 5: Go to church in the AM and play Royal County Down in the PM. Drive an hour south back into the Republic of Ireland.
Day 6: Play County Louth in the AM, drive 2+ hours to the northern tip of N. Ireland, play Royal Portrush in the PM. Drive nearly 6 hours to the SW portion of Ireland.
Day 7: Play Ballybunion (Old) in the AM, drive 2 hours north, play Trump Doonbeg in the PM. Drive back 2 hours to the south.
Day 8: Play Tralee in the AM where the rain never let up for one second. Shower in the locker room and get full feeling back into all our fingers and toes. Drive 2.5 hours north and play Lahinch in the PM. Drive 4 hours east back towards Dublin.
Day 9: Play Portmarnock in the AM, drive 1.5 hours south, play The European Club in the PM. Get back to Dublin in time to hit a souvenir shop to take gifts back to my wife and seven kids. Eat kabobs for the third time on the trip.
Day 10: Fly home
I would have loved to build the itinerary with a more efficient driving schedule, but it was kind of a last minute trip when I found round trip tickets to Dublin from my hometown regional airport of Pocatello, ID for just $585. It was just a 3 day sale so we had to jump on the opportunity. Three days later those same flights were selling for $2,250 round trip. On Delta's website, flights in April from Pocatello to Dublin range from $1,200 - $3,500 roundtrip. Normally I fly out of Salt Lake City which cuts the flight cost a ton, but even from SLC it will generally be over $1,000 to fly roundtrip to Dublin. Since it was a trip that was pulled together without a lot of lead time, we had to schedule tee times on the days and times the courses could squeeze us into their already jam packed tee sheets. But like I said earlier, I have such a passion for getting to the best courses that we were willing to drive as much as necessary. Plus, it gave us a great chance to see the countryside and just chat about life and golf travelling course to course. Over the course of the trip we were rained on steadily for one round (Tralee), sprinkled off and on during two rounds (County Sligo and RCD), played in a fog with 100 yard visibility and no wind once (Old Head), played in high winds twice (Carne and The European Club), and then had mostly overcast days with stretches of sunshine and light winds the other rounds.
Nuts? Probably. Worth it? Without question.