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. (more…)

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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…..

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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. (more…)

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Situated on the beautiful North Antrim Causeway Coast, Royal Portrush occupies a triangle of giant sandhills with views of the hills of Donegal in the west, the Isle of Islay and Southern Hebrides in the north, with the Giant’s Causeway and the Skerries in the east. The course is overlooked by the ruins of 13th century Dunluce Castle and this gives its name to Royal Portrush’s famous Dunluce course.

This beautifully natural golf course is one for enthusiasts of the game but it is a difficult challenge for high handicappers and anyone who is liable to stray of the straight and narrow. From June or July on the rough is well named and discretion rather bravery should be your watchword. Highlights of the course include the famous 14th, Calamity Corner[2], a Par 3 in excess of 200yds requiring a full carry to the green over an imposing ravine.

The club was founded in 1888 as “The County Club” it became “The Royal County Club” in 1892 under the patronage of the Duke of York and assumed its present name in 1895 under the patronage of the Prince of Wales. In 1947 a club member Fred Daly, became the first Irishman to win The Open Championship until Pádraig Harrington’s victory at Carnoustie in 2007. Four years later, when the club hosted the Open, the victor was the Englishman Max Faulkner. More recently the course has hosted the Senior British Open Championship in 1995-99 and 2004.

It has an agreement with a second club, Rathmore Golf Club, when members of Portrush can play the Rathmore course, “the Valley”, at any time and members of Rathmore may play the Dunluce course at any time.

There is also a driving range, open to members only, where the club professional Gary McNeil and his assistants give lessons.

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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. (more…)

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The Montgomerie course was recently ranked 10th in Ireland by Golf Digest magazine, the world’s largest golf publication. As a mark of its success, Carton House Golf Club was the venue chosen to host the European Tour’s Nissan Irish Open in 2005 and 2006.

The Golfing Union of Ireland, the longest established golf union in the world, have since located their national headquarters on the estate. This facility also comprises the GUI National Academy, a 22-acre teaching facility for up and coming golfers as well as being a facility available to all golfers in Ireland.

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The K Club is one of only four Irish 5-red-star hotels (as rated by The Automobile Association). The hotel contains two world-class golf courses designed by Arnold Palmer.

Golf courses
The Palmer Course (7,337 yd), also known as the North Course or Old Course.
The Smurfit Course, also known as the South Course or New Course.
The Palmer Course has hosted the Smurfit European Open since 1995, except in 2004 and 2006 when the event was played on the “inland links” Smurfit Course. The Palmer Course also hosted the 2006 Ryder Cup, the first time the event had been staged in Ireland. This years European Open (2007) will be played on the Smurfit Course.

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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! (more…)

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