Ireland Golf Trip - 2024

Comments from our group I jotted down after each round. Also showing subjective current rankings from top100golfcourses.com:

Royal Portrush

World Ranking: 14

GB&I Ranking: 6

Northern Ireland Ranking: 2

FBGC Notes:

Cold, rainy, and windy morning. Got lucky as rain subsided and wind died down for our afternoon tee time. Very difficult course. Any miss off the fairway was easily lost in thick fescue. Coastal holes have amazing views. Green complexes weren’t overly impressive, but rolled great with subtle breaks.

 

Overall course was “fair”… but rough made it a challenge. We loved it despite high scores.

Routing was fantastic, moving in all directions without repetition. 

Longest rough we have EVER seen on these trips. Rugged, but naturally beautiful. Gonna be fun to watch The Open here in 2025. We were told they cut the rough every other year around Christmas.

Royal County Down

World Ranking: 3

GB&I Ranking: 1

Northern Ireland Ranking: 1

FBGC Notes:

 

One of the most visually stunning courses we’ve ever seen. Backdrop of mountains on the links was amazing. Had blue sky and sun but wind was whipping. We were all mentally defeated after the round, but loved the setting.

Rough was more playable than Royal Portrush… but anything off the fairway still had 50% chance of being lost.

Fescue greens were amazing. Firm but true. One of those “need to leave it below the hole” set-ups.

 

Worthy of the ranking… but exists for the elite golfer. I could not imagine playing it every day. Irish Open is coming here later in 2024.

 

Trump Doonbeg

World Ranking: n/a

GB&I Ranking: 56

Ireland Ranking: 9

FBGC Notes:

 

A 5-star hotel resort course. Beautiful weather in the mid-50s with a cold wind. Landscape was farmland links with dunes sprinkled throughout.

Wide fairways meander around the dunes before eventually heading into them, and then back down to the beach. Greens on the smaller side, with contours limiting pin-able areas. 

 

It will never win any awards, but we all enjoyed it. 

 

Definitely an "easier" course, which was much appreciated after our first two rounds.

Ballybunion

World Ranking: 17

GB&I Ranking: 7

Ireland Ranking: 1

FBGC Notes:

 

Another day of nice sunny weather, and this time with zero wind. Perfect conditions for low scoring!

And most of us got pummeled by Ballybunion (Reid played ok).

Described as the top course in Ireland (ie: Southern Ireland) and one of the most "fair and true" tests of golf… we came away thinking it was tricked up. Almost all of us had it at the bottom of our list after the trip. Not that the course was bad, but rather it was overly penal. Perhaps we need a few rounds to "get it."

 

Stunningly beautiful, with a very natural routing… but narrow landing areas with thick fescue and steep dunes if you miss the fairway. Huge fall-offs on the greens, especially the par 3s. Putting surfaces were by far the slowest we’ve seen.

 

Tralee

World Ranking: n/a

GB&I Ranking: 70

Ireland Ranking: 16

FBGC Notes:

 

Today was brutally windy, but the golf course was one of our favorites.

Front nine is very enjoyable, and reminded us of Scotland courses — which were easier and "flatter" with smaller dunes. 

 

The back nine is wild, very much like Ballybunion but easier to navigate. The wind we had made a few greens-in-regulation an impossible task.

Views were spectacular. Would definitely recommend this course.

 

 

Dave came up short on this par 3. Posted so you can see the scale of the dunes. Drop-off is over 100 feet.

 

Waterville

World Ranking: n/a

GB&I Ranking: 35

Ireland Ranking: 6

FBGC Notes:

 

Weather forecast was so bad most of the tee times in front of us cancelled. But it turned out to be a nice sunny day. We got extremely lucky as the entire area around us received rain.

Waterville was definitely a favorite. Perhaps the easiest course of the trip. 

 

Smaller dunes, weaving throughout a peninsula. Very fair with only one or two "blind" shots. We'd highly recommend this course if you're ever in southwest Ireland. Just a fun place to golf.

Old Head

World Ranking: n/a

GB&I Ranking: 71

Ireland Ranking: 17

FBGC Notes:

 

One of the most amazing golf "experiences" for a multitude of reasons. 

 

First... it was blowing sustained 30mph all day. Winds at the highest and most exposed section of the course — the signature 12th hole — were 50mph sustained with 100mph at the cliffs edges, as wind was collectively forced up the 300ft faces. It was literally impossible to swing "normally" in those conditions. The club head would be blown offline as you took a backswing. At one point, my beanie blew off my head!

 

Multiple shots throughout the round required you to aim 50-100 yards away from your target. It was also cold, and we got a light sprinkle of rain off-and-on. This specific round was as difficult as our experience at Pacific Dunes... but a lot less miserable due to lack of hard rain.

However...

 

The views can not be matched anywhere on earth. It didn't even look real. Imagine playing golf on the edge of the Grand Canyon.

The golf course itself was good. If that routing was anywhere else it'd be like... Southern Dunes maybe? Good routing, playable, nothing to complain about. The greens were very fast, which made putting impossible in the weather we had. Overall conditions of fairways, rough, etc were probably the best on the trip.

 

I can't even include this course on my own personal rankings, because it exists more of experience of the senses than one of golf. Go see this place at least once in your lifetime.

 

Tee shot on the 12th. Fairway blind to the right. Green way off in the distance. Wind left-to-right sustained 50mph.

Portmarnock

World Ranking: 44

GB&I Ranking: 15

Ireland Ranking: 4

FBGC Notes:

 

Final round of the trip was perhaps the most "proper" — ie: Scottish — golf layout. Very flat, deep riveted faced bunkers, interesting elevated greens, firm and fast conditions. We had light wind and lots of sun. A great way to finish as all of us were pretty beat down physically after Old Head.

 

Everyone on the grounds confirmed that Portmarnock will host the British Open sometime between 2028 and 2035. When it does, it'll be the first ever course outside of the UK to do so. They're going to have to tweak the routing for the event, and will have some infrastructure issues to figure out. And if there is no wind, the pros will destroy this course.

But we had fun and loved it.