by Karen Misuraca, KarenMisuraca.com

In the 1700s when the sport of golf was born, the first courses were simply shorn meadows between sand dunes and shrubs, with few trees or water hazards. The pioneering architects walked the breezy seaside hillocks, shaping their layouts not with bulldozers, but according to the lay of the land. The term “links”, which is what all of the original courses were, comes from a Scottish word for unfarmable land between the sea and the farmland—the link between the two. Traditionally, links courses are laid along the coastline in an outward nine, returning in the opposite direction in an inward nine, making it necessary for players to cope with opposite wind patterns, out and back. (Read the article in full)

Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links Location - Stand Road, Portmarnock, County Dublin Details -The Portmarnock Hotel in Dublin is a vintage blend of old and new. Created from the former home of the famous Jameson whiskey family, this elegant hotel offers luxurious modern accommodation alongside the lovingly restored public areas of the 19th century building….. More Details

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Royal County Down Golf Club is a golf club in Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is one of the oldest golf clubs in Ireland. It has two eighteen hole links courses, the Championship Course and the Annesley Links. The Championship course measures over 7,000 yards from the back tees and the fourth and ninth holes are featured in the book The 500 World’s Greatest Golf Holes. In 2005 the Championship Course was ranked as the fourth best course in the world outside the United States by Golf Digest, and in 2007 it was ranked first.The Annesley Links is a lot shorter but is considered to be just as challenging, the stretch from 5-13 is regarded as senic and as fun as any course world over. Both the courses are generally considered to be the best maintained in the world. (Read the article in full)

Pádraig Harrington (born 31 August 1971) (pronounced /ˈpɑːdrɪg/ in English, not /ˈpædrɪg/) is an Irish professional golfer. He has won tournaments on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He won the 2007 Open Championship, in which he defeated Sergio García in a four-hole playoff by one stroke. In doing so, he became the first European to win a major since Paul Lawrie won the same tournament in 1999, at the same venue (Carnoustie in Angus, Scotland). He was crowned the European Tour Golfer of the Year for 2007.

Career
Harrington was born in Ballyroan, Dublin, Ireland. The Ballyroan Parish is the birth place of two other touring professional golfers-Paul McGinley and Peter Lawrie. It is a great golfing locality with several golf clubs on its margins- The Grange, Stackstown, Rathfarnham, Slade Valley, The Castle, Newlands.His father was Paddy Harrington, a Garda (Irish police officer) who played Gaelic football for Cork. After a successful amateur career, including winning the Walker Cup with the Great Britain & Ireland team in 1995, Harrington turned professional later that year, joining the European Tour in 1996. (Read the article in full)