How To Play Trump Doonbeg: Nine Out, Nine Back, And The Atlantic On Sixteen Of Them

Getting There And Arriving

For most Americans, Doonbeg starts at Shannon Airport, which makes it one of the few great Irish links you can reach on the same day you land. We still would not play on arrival day. Drive across, check in, walk the beach in the afternoon and let the flight wear off. The round will be better for it.

Our golf collections place Doonbeg about thirty minutes south of Lahinch along the Clare coast, which is why the two pair so naturally. If your group is based at Lahinch, you can reach Doonbeg for a morning tee time without strain. If you are staying at Doonbeg, Lahinch makes the natural second round.

When you book, tell the resort the size of your group and whether you want the same tee time on more than one day. Larger groups who arrive with a clear plan get a better morning than those who sort out the details at the desk. If anyone in your party is not playing, plan their day at the same time, so nobody is left waiting at the clubhouse.

The Card, And What It Tells You

Five par threes and five par fives is not a normal shape. Most championship courses carry four of each. The extra short holes mean you need a reliable long iron or hybrid into the wind, and the extra par fives mean the scoring chances come in bunches rather than evenly.

At 7,026 yards from the back, the course is long enough that the back tees are for low handicaps on a still day only. Ask the starter which tees the course is playing and step one set forward of your habit. The wind does the rest.

We read a card like this as a warning about rhythm. A round with ten par threes and par fives rarely settles into the steady four after four that most of us find comfortable at home. You will swap clubs constantly, and you will have more full long irons than you expect. Spend ten minutes on the range with your longest iron and your hybrid before you tee off, because those two clubs will decide your score.

The back tees are not a badge of honour on a course like this. We have watched more good rounds lost to pride on the first tee than to any single hole on the card. Pick the tees that let you reach most par fours in two with a mid iron, and you will enjoy the day. Pick the tees that need a perfect drive every time, and the Atlantic will remind you of that choice on each of the sixteen holes it can see.

Nine Out, Nine Back, And The Wind

A single out and back loop means the wind is the story of the round. Whatever helps you on the way out will be in your face on the way home, and the resort itself says the speed and direction of the wind cause consistent daily variations in play.

Our rule here is simple. Bank shots on the downwind nine, and do not try to recover them on the other. Take one more club than the yardage into the breeze, and keep the ball low under it.

Ask the starter or the professional which way the wind is blowing before you leave the first tee, and decide then which nine is your scoring nine. It sounds simple. It is also the decision most visiting groups never make, and they spend the inward half trying to win back shots that the conditions were never going to return.

On a calm morning the routing feels gentle and you will wonder what the fuss is about. That is exactly the morning to play patiently, because a calm start rarely lasts on this coast. We plan every round here for the wind we expect at the turn, not for the weather on the first tee.

The Atlantic is in view from sixteen holes, which also means the Atlantic weather reaches you on sixteen holes. Pack a proper waterproof jacket and trousers, a spare glove, and a warm layer even in summer. We keep a towel in a plastic bag so there is always one dry grip in the bag.

Keep the ball low and let it run. On links turf, the shot that lands short and bounces on is almost always better than the high approach that hangs in the wind. If you only practise one shot before the trip, practise the low punch with a mid iron. You will play it more often here than any other shot.

The Dunes And The Short Holes

Because the course follows the natural line through the dunes, many greens sit in hollows or on shelves of sand, and the ground around them matters more than the flag. Play to the fat side and let the slopes work. On the par threes, the miss that stays on short grass is always the right miss.

The five par fives are where a sensible golfer scores. Three shots, two of them in the fairway, will beat a heroic second into the sandhills nearly every time.

We also recommend putting from off the green more often than feels natural. On firm links turf, a putter from the fringe is usually a smaller miss than a pitch. The resort says the course is designed to be challenging yet enjoyable for players of every skill level, and the ground game is what makes that true for the average American golfer.

Treat the five par threes as the heart of the card. Write down the club you hit on each and how it finished. By the second round you will know which ones play long in the prevailing wind, and you will stop guessing. That small notebook habit is worth a couple of shots a round to most of the golfers we travel with.

Reading The Greens And Playing The Ground

Links greens built into natural dunes rarely break the way an American eye expects. The slope of the surrounding sandhills usually tells you more than the green itself. Before you read a putt, look at where the land around the green falls away, and you will have the first half of the answer.

Your caddie, if you take one, will read these greens better than you will, so ask. If you go without, putt firmly enough to hold the line. On firm, wind dried turf the ball keeps rolling longer than you expect, and the putt that dies at the hole on a soft green at home will slide two feet past here.

The same logic applies around the greens. Chip less and run more. A seven iron bumped into the bank and released onto the surface is the shot local golfers play, and it is the shot we recommend you learn before the trip.

Lessons, Pace And Booking

The resort offers golf instruction for individuals and groups throughout the year with its resident professional, which is worth an hour on arrival day if your group has come straight off the flight. Plan for four and a half hours on the course, as the resort states.

Book tee times directly with the resort, and check the published rates page for the season you are travelling. We do not quote green fees here because they change through the year.

If you are staying at the resort, ask when you book whether a lesson can be arranged for the afternoon before your round. Our advice for groups is to put the Doonbeg tee time on the second morning of a Clare stay, not the first, so that the flight is behind you and the swing has had a day to settle.

Who Doonbeg Suits, And Who It Does Not

Doonbeg suits the golfer who wants a full dunes experience without the remoteness of Carne or the reputation pressure of Ballybunion. It suits groups of mixed ability, because the forward tees make the course playable and the setting is the same from every tee box. And it suits anyone who wants to stay on the course and walk out to the first tee in the morning.

It is less suited to the golfer who wants a short, sheltered round on a wet day, because the course gives you very little shelter from the Atlantic. On those days we would rather you take the lesson, rest, and play the next morning. You will get far more from the course in kinder weather, and the week is long enough to wait.

How To Fold It Into A Trip

Doonbeg pairs naturally with Lahinch, further up the Clare coast, and with Ballybunion across the Shannon estuary. A sensible Clare week is two nights at Doonbeg or nearby, a round on each course, and the Cliffs of Moher on the morning you are not playing.

We would not try to play Doonbeg and Lahinch on the same day. Each deserves a full morning and a slow lunch afterwards. Two consecutive mornings, with an afternoon on the coast between them, is the rhythm that keeps a Clare golf week pleasurable rather than rushed, and it is the one we plan for every group.