● Lahinch · Ballybunion · Doonbeg
Links Golf
Links golf is the game as it started: dunes, wind, and ground that makes you think. Ballybunion — the course Tom Watson called one of the best in the world — Lahinch above its bay in Clare, Old Head of Kinsale out on a cliff two hundred feet over the Atlantic, Portmarnock twenty minutes from Dublin Airport. These aren’t resort courses; they’re pilgrimages.
My partner company gets the tee times, the clubs and the caddies sorted, and I make sure the rest of the party has a day worth writing home about while you play. Guests will tell you the golf days with me are the ones they still talk about — it’s in their letters on the reviews page.
Days I actually arrange here
- A morning round at Ballybunion, Lahinch or Doonbeg
- Old Head of Kinsale — golf on a cliff edge
- Tee times, clubs and caddies all sorted
- A proper day out for the non-golfers while you play
Planning Links Golf from the US
Most American visitors give Links Golf two or three nights inside a week-to-ten-day trip, and that’s the right instinct — it’s the moving between places that wastes a holiday, not the staying. I’ll tell you honestly whether it belongs in your itinerary at all, which famous stops nearby aren’t worth your day, and what time to leave so the coaches are behind you rather than in front.
The trip itself is delivered by one of two or three family-run Irish companies I’ve vetted over seven years — usually with a private driver-guide who knows this ground, though self-drive and small-group options exist. Everything is priced in US dollars, the $250 Welcome Home is included when you book through me, and my phone answers the whole time you’re here. If you’re working out dates, my guide to the best time to visit Ireland and the ten-day west-coast itinerary are the two things to read first.
None of this is a package — it’s the raw material. Tell me your dates and your people and I’ll tell you honestly whether this region belongs in your trip.
Plan your trip