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. (Click here to read the article in full)

There’s an old Irish adage that states ‘an ounce of breeding is worth a pound of feeding’ — in essence it translates to mean that thoroughbreds are born not made, pedigree can only be refined it can not be created. And so it is with golf — great golf courses, great golf holes are born from a fusion of natural forces, refined only by the subtle hand of an Arnold Palmer or a Tom Morris. Nowhere has golfing pedigree like Ireland and nowhere can the task of picking a signature 18 be more challenging.

While our selection displays a penchant for links golf — in the land of Ballybunion & Lahinch, Portmarnock & Royal County Down we feel more than justified in our selection.

Hole No. 1 (Doonbeg) – As you approach the first on this Greg Norman creation your eyes begin to wander. As you look seaward, one and a half miles of crescent shaped beach acts as a fitting backdrop to the imposing maran grass dunes. The first fairway runs gently from the tee — an accurate drive will set you up for the second which has to avoid some fairway traps before playing into the large green protected on all three sides by monumental dunes. (Click here to read the article in full)

With one Ryder cup venue firmly in hand, Ireland has secured its place as the natural destination for many seeking fantastic golf holidays. But if you leave The K Club out of our discussion, Ireland can still dazzle the golf travel enthusiast with over 400 courses spread across an exquisite geography.

Separated from mainland Europe almost 8000 years ago, Ireland is the 3rd largest island in the continent and home to a little less than 6 million people. A mild, temperate climate peppered with generous rainfall leaves Ireland’s landscape lush and green earning it the sobriquet of Emerald Isle. It only helps a golf vacation that Ireland is also blessed with a variety of geography from plains and river sides to sandy beaches. You can stride out on every kind of surface on a golf tour in Ireland! (Click here to read the article in full)