The Printed Edit · N° 05
An Ireland links week, in print.
Deborah Nunez, Editor
Salt air, soft rain, the long evenings after. This is the Ireland golf week we'd take ourselves. Five courses, three bases, no rushed tee times.
“The version golfers print before locking in tee times.”
American golfers planning a serious week of Irish links.
Ballybunion · Lahinch · Doonbeg · Adare · Waterville
Ireland has more great links golf inside a three-hour drive than any country on earth, and Americans regularly book it in the wrong order. The tee times are the constraint, not the hotels, and the ballot windows open long before most people start planning.
This edition has been rebuilt around the six destination clusters we now cover in full: Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, Lahinch, Ballybunion, Adare Manor and Portmarnock. Each one is written four ways, how to play it, three days around it, where to eat, and how to book it.
The week below is the southern route, five rounds and three bases, with a northern alternative for anyone building around Portrush and County Down. Play well, tip the caddie properly, and leave the last afternoon free.
Deborah Nunez, Editor
As printed, p. 3
14 printed pages. Tap any page to read it full size.
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Volume I · Seven days, five courses, three bases · 14 pages
I
p. 5Tee times first, hotels second, flights last.
Every good Irish golf week is built backwards from one immovable object, which is the tee sheet at the hardest course to get on. Book that, then build the rooms around it.
Adare is a house-guest rule. Ballybunion is a sheet. County Down is a ballot. Portrush releases online. Knowing which is which is most of the job.
II
p. 6The Fazio rebuild, the Ryder Cup calendar, and the house rule.
Adare is the softest possible landing after a transatlantic flight and the only course on this route where the room and the round are effectively one booking.
Play it on the second morning, not the first. The first evening belongs to the walk, the Oak Room and an early night.
III
p. 7The Klondyke, the Dell, and the village that gets it right.
Lahinch is the most enjoyable round in Ireland and the least pretentious great club in the country. The village works because it is a village, not a resort.
Doonbeg or the Cliffs on the second day, depending on the wind.
IV
p. 8The seventh, the eleventh, and the Old versus Cashen question.
The Old Course at Ballybunion is the reason a great many Americans come to Ireland at all, and it earns it, particularly from the seventh tee onward where the round simply becomes cliff golf.
Play the Old. Play the Cashen too if you have the legs, but not on the same day if the wind is up.
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p. 9County Down and Portrush, for the readers building the other week.
Royal County Down is the most beautiful golf course in the world and one of the least forgiving. Portrush is the Open venue and the better week for a mixed group, because the Causeway coast gives non-golfers something real to do.
Two clusters, four days, and a Belfast opening that is now worth two nights on its own.
VI
p. 10Portmarnock, and a first round inside forty minutes of the terminal.
Portmarnock is the great Dublin links and the most efficient first round in the country. Eight in the morning, back in the city for lunch.
A city base, a Wicklow round on the second day, and the golf week starts without a single long drive.
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p. 11Caddies, clubs, dress codes, handicaps and the rain day.
Irish links golf has a set of conventions that nobody writes down and everybody assumes you know. Tipping, dress, handicap certificates, and whether to ship your clubs or rent them.
There will be one day of weather. Plan the round you will not regret losing.
The stays we would book ourselves for this edition, and the one line that explains why each is here.
The room and the round are one booking. Worth the number.
The practical Clare base between Lahinch and Ballybunion.
The Shannon-side opening or closing night. Estate golf on site.
For the Dublin round without the city drive.
The Portrush base with the better evening.
Book the hardest tee time first and everything else falls into place behind it. Five rounds in seven days is the right number. The sixth is the one you will not enjoy.
The printed edition
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In short
TL;DR. Greens & Gorse. An Ireland links week, in print. American golfers planning a serious week of Irish links.
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