The Golf Collection
Old Head of Kinsale: How To Play, Stay And Eat
Two miles of Atlantic promontory, the most expensive round in Ireland, and the town that earns the other two days.
Photograph: Jonjobaker / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Old Head is not a links, whatever the name on the gate says. It is a clifftop course laid across a 220-acre diamond of land that runs two miles into the Atlantic, with caves beneath your feet and the ocean 300 feet below on both sides. Nine holes play along the cliff edge. All eighteen look at water.
It is also the most expensive single round in Irish golf. The club's published 2027 high-season green fee is €550. That number decides the shape of the trip, because a €550 round is not something you squeeze in between airports. It wants a base in Kinsale, a caddie, and two days either side that are worth the flight on their own.
Four chapters, in order. Play, plan, eat, book. Every yardage, fee, date and contact detail below is taken from Old Head's own published pages, and we say plainly where something is not published.
Read In Order
Four chapters, in sequence.
The way we walk visiting friends through Old Head of Kinsale. Play first, plan second, eat third.
- I
Chapter I
How To Play
The card hole by hole, which of the six tees to play, and the three holes that decide your score.
8 min readRead chapter → - II
Chapter II
Three Days Around
A Kinsale base, Charles Fort and the Scilly Walk, and the second round worth adding.
8 min readRead chapter → - III
Chapter III
Where To Eat
Bastion, Fishy Fishy, the harbour pub, and the reservations to make before you fly.
8 min readRead chapter → - IV
Chapter IV
How To Book
The €550 high-season fee, the 14 April to 31 October season, the caddie rates, and the clifftop suites.
8 min readRead chapter →
Continue Planning
The trip around Old Head of Kinsale.
Where to sleep, how to shape the wider week, and which destination to open next.
Perryville House, Kinsale
Adults only, on the harbour front, five minutes' walk from the best eating in the town. No restaurant, which is the point in Kinsale.
Seven Days · Golf In The South Of Ireland
Shannon to Cork, with Old Head as the dramatic day rather than the centrepiece.
Open the itineraryBefore You Book
What visitors usually ask about Old Head of Kinsale
- How much is a round at Old Head of Kinsale?
- Old Head publishes €550 for eighteen holes in high season, which the club defines as 14 April to 10 October 2027, and €275 in the low season window of 11 to 31 October. It is the most expensive single round in Irish golf, and the club does not discount it for groups.
- Is Old Head a links course?
- No, despite the name. It is a clifftop course on a 220-acre promontory, par 72, running from 5,494 yards off the red tees to 7,150 off the black. Nine holes play along the cliff edge and all eighteen look at open water. The turf and the wind behave like links golf. The elevation changes do not.
- Do we need a caddie at Old Head?
- Old Head is a walking course and the club asks members and guests to walk it with a caddie. Roughly 160 professional caddies work the club through the season, and the published rates are €90 for a senior caddie with a single bag, €70 double, and €80 for a forecaddie with one player. Caddies are requested rather than guaranteed, so ask when you book, not on the morning. Caddies at the top Irish clubs are professionals and the tip is the largest line item of the round. Budget €70 to €100 per bag on top of the caddie fee, more if you have played well or been walked around a big course in bad weather. Cash, in euro (or sterling in Northern Ireland), handed over at the eighteenth.
- When is Old Head open?
- The 2027 golf season runs from 14 April to 31 October. The course closes over the winter, so a February or March trip to Cork cannot include this round. Book the shoulder weeks in April or late October if the green fee matters more than the odds of calm weather.
- Can we stay at Old Head?
- Yes. The club has clifftop suites, published at €850 to €1,500 per night in high season for two people with breakfast, and no children under twelve. There are also 18-hour and 36-hour golf-and-stay packages. We still usually base guests in Kinsale itself, because the town is the reason to give the trip three days rather than one.
- How do we get to Old Head from Kinsale?
- It is a short drive south from Kinsale town out onto the headland, through the club's own gateway. There is a helipad that takes up to four helicopters if you are moving between courses by air. The club's number is +353 21 477 8444 and reservations go to reservations@oldhead.com.
Before You Play
The working manual.
Five planning questions we get asked every summer, answered honestly.
The CaddieMost relevant here
How much to tip
The €60 on the eighteenth green that changes the round.
ReadThe Bag
Renting clubs in Ireland
Which pro shops carry the good sets, and when to reserve.
ReadThe Clubhouse
The real dress code
What Irish clubs actually enforce at the door.
ReadThe Freight
Shipping your clubs
Courier or Aer Lingus, and where the bag should land.
ReadThe Ballot
Which courses need a handicap
Where a certificate is checked, and where it is not.
ReadThe Budget
What four days actually cost
The honest line-item number, green fees to the last pint.
ReadThe Walk
Caddie, buggy, or trolley
Where buggies are banned, and where the caddie is the point.
ReadThe Solo Round
Playing Ireland as a single
Which clubs pair a party of one, and which times to ask for.
Read
The questions we answer before every Ireland golf trip, gathered in one index.
The full planning Q&A