Figure I'll keep you circus animals in the loop on this trip.

Golf doesn't start for another couple days. As we play I'll post some pics and share any tales worth telling.

Today is travel day. Rallying with the Denver crew in Newark. Two nights in Newcastle (taking in Newcastle-Liverpool tomorrow) before heading to Dublin.

Here's the golf itinerary:

Corballis
European Club
The Island
Portmarnock
***rest day***
Carne Hackett
Carne Wild Atlantic
Lahinch
Ballybunion
Tralee
Dooks
***head home***

Should be a blast. I love me some links golf. And I love high temperatures in the 60s. Literally 40 degrees cooler in Dublin than Dallas.

Happy to answer any questions as well.

Looks awesome. Enjoy!

Damn that's alot of golf. Hope you have some good weather and enjoy yourself.

Wow trip of a lifetime there! Looking forward to your thoughts and pics.

Our group might be playing The European and Ballybunion the same day as you. Only a guess as I extrapolated based on the schedule provided. Best of luck. Enjoy your trip.

We are playing European Club on Wednesday morning. Ballybunion the following Wednesday.

Well…we play The European on Monday. And Ballybunion on Monday. So I miscalculated. I can't wait to hear your story about your trip as we will be passing ships apparently.

Just got done with the Newcastle-Liverpool game.

Liverpool had two very late goals to pull out a win even though they were a man down.

Fantastic atmosphere. Would've been fun if the home team won but overall a very exciting game.

I thought your ***rest day*** was the profanity filter catching something and I couldn't figure out how to make a dirty word with 7 letters that ends in rest.

Well, we're waiting Ted Knight gif

I got back from an Ireland trip a week and a half ago we did:

St Patricks Links
Rosapenna Sandy Hills
Donegal
Ballyliffin
County Sligo
Carne Wild Atlantic
Enniscrone

Cant wait to go back

First day was Corballis. A nice warm up round. Lots of blind shots. Not really links golf but still very Irish. Big dunes but not the kind of turf on links courses. Pro shop sold lake balls on the cheap and advised we get some. Wise choice. If you don't know where you're going it's easy to lose balls.

A very good way to ease into the trip. Low cost and laid back. Wouldn't want my first round to be on a high dollar club while I'm fighting off jet lag.

Yesterday was European Club. Nice place kinda out in the country. About an hour from our hotel.

We'd heard from a lot of people that it is a tough course. Indeed it was.

Course record is 67. Shot by Tiger around 2002. If the wind had been blowing this course would've been insanely hard.

The guy who is the designer lives on the property. It's his baby. I guess he got joy from making it very challenging.

The course was very pretty. Lots of farm land all around so good views and you're right on the sea.

Strategically I thought this course was a bit of a dud. Basically every hole played the same. There's a relatively safe layup around 200 yards leaving you with a very long iron into the green (or to your layup). Beyond that you have bunkers that will maybe cost you two strokes and a pinched in fairway. Very high risk, pretty low reward for taking driver because it doesn't typically open up when you get longer.

I was not hitting it well and got pretty frustrated in the middle of the round. But even had I been striping it, I think it would've been a beating. They don't have caddies (oddly they are explicitly prohibited) so there's also a lot of times where you can end up in trouble you don't know is there.

Probably hard to give it a fair grade since I was playing really poorly. But no one in our group said they'd play it again on a future trip to Ireland.

Course guide pic is pretty representative of how almost all the holes played.

I love The European Club. It was my last round of a golf trip. American had lost my golf clubs in London and I had to play with a borrowed set of clubs. Got to hitting the ball really well and played my best round at The European Club. I'd play it again.

Druid's Glen is down in that area, but they are closed for renovations (I think!) That's my favorite parkland course.

Sick. Went with a group earlier this summer. Of the courses you listed, we played Lahinch, Ballybunion, and Tralee. Ballybunion (old) was my favorite of that group, followed by Lahinch. We also played Adare Manor, St. Patricks, Royal Portrush, and Royal County Down. Was an amazing trip.

Today was The Island. Thought it was fantastic. Challenging but fair. Very striking. Huge dunes and some pretty sweet holes.

One of the coolest par 5s I've played. The green just settles back into the dune like it was meant to be there.

I was playing better today which of course helps a lot. I give this one high marks. I'd play it again on a return trip for sure.

Running rankings:

1. The Island
2. The European Club

Prediction: Carne will be #1

I played The Island and loved it. This pic with the rumpled fairway is my favorite from there.
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Today was Portmarnock.

Teed off pretty early. Hustled to the course, had a quick warm up in some decent rain, but right before we teed off the rain stopped and we didn't get bothered by it for the rest of the day.

This course felt a lot more Scottish than the others we'd played. The course had a little more width to it and tiny pot bunkers. Basically a one stroke penalty for hitting into them in the fairway.

I loved it. Tons of great shots. Really cool holes. Some of the green complexes were insane. Reminded me a lot of Dornoch. Elevated greens protected by bunkers one side. Hit the green and you might not stay on. Miss it either side and you get rejected. Made for some exciting up and downs.

HIGHLY recommend this one. Super fun and challenging but fair.

1. Portmarnock
2. The Isaland
3. European Club

Another note on this one:

The hospitality was outstanding. They made us feel super welcome while we were there. Great guest facilities.

Today we said screw having a rest day and played County Sligo. Excellent decision.

Man what a course. There's a really big hill by the clubhouse. You play 1-4 on the side of the hill. Then on 5 you hit off the top of the hill to the flatter land on the other side. Still plenty of ups and downs but not to the extreme of the first few holes.

I'm struggling to remember a more fun collection of par 5s. All three were a blast.

Green complexes were tough. We didn't have caddies so we occasionally ended up in some interesting spots. Very true links course in that regard. Lots of mounds and elevated greens.

So far I feel like European Club and The Island have lived up to their reputation as very Irish. While Portmarnock lives up to its reputation as a bit more Scottish. I feel like County Sligo is half and half.

It also had more of a family feel. Lots of ladies and kids out there. And the layout had that vibe. Plenty of tough holes but also a few that were made to play a bit easier. More width than what we've seen so far as well.

I think when we are done with the trip, a few of the holes from County Sligo will be among our favorites from the whole trip. Very high fun factor but not quite designed to be a CHAMPIONSHIP course like a couple of the others.

I feel like I need to clarify my ranking system. These are based on "if you were taking a friend to Ireland for the first time, how would you prioritize what you've played?"

1. Portmarnock
2. County Sligo
3. The Island
4. European Club

Fantastic. Keep them
Coming!

Yesterday and today was Carne.

Yesterday we did the Hackett layout and today was Wild Atlantic Dunes. Wild Atlantic you play 1-7 of the Hackett, then the nine Wild Atlantic holes, then 8-9 of the Hackett to finish.

This place is unlike any other place I've been. It's so natural. Kinda crazy to me that someone could look at all these insane dunes and find a golf course in there. Every hole has a lot of movement in the fairways. Mounds and contours.

Yesterday we had some wind. Definitely made for some challenging holes. Very challenging for those of us who hit a fade. And it's hard to swing confidently when you are aiming into the trash.

Today it was VERY calm. Overall I feel like the landing areas are very generous. Fairway bunkers are rare. In some ways this makes it a little harder off the tee because you don't have good aiming points. And in some cases things are blind. Shots into the green are often blind especially if you're in the wrong part of the fairway.

It is kinda hard to rate this one since it's so different, but I think of the ones I've seen so far, it's the first one I'd go back to. If you could guarantee good weather, I think you'd have a great time playing Carne four or five times.

Tomorrow is Lahinch.

1. Carne
2. Portmarnock
3. County Sligo
4. The Island
5. European Club

Today was Lahinch.

Fan-****ing-tastic.

Spoiler alert: new #1. It was a combo of the course being awesome but also the setup. First course we've played that there has been quite a bit of intermediate rough before you get to three foot long sea grass. There was still some really nasty stuff out there, but if you got into it you really deserved it.

Also around the greens, your misses are punished but not BRUTALLY so. You can miss and still make par with a really good shot and bogey with a solid safe shot followed by a good lag putt.

The middle of the course was awesome. So many cool holes and a lot of old school links elements. Blind shots, pot bunkers, mounds, elevated greens.

I would love to go play it again. Just fantastic. Definitely the first one I'd play a second time if I came back. Combo of fun factor and excellent holes put this one at the top.

1. Lahinch
2. Carne
3. Portmarnock
4. County Sligo
5. The Island
6. European Club

these courses are wild!

glad you enjoyed Lahinch. The day i was there it was so crowded our round took almost 6 hours and kinda influenced my opinion.

For being early July, we got some wild wind and rain (and cold) at Lahinch, particularly holes 4-10, which includes some of the signature holes on the course. My caddy was also a pretty rough lad, all of which definitely influenced my opinion at the time. Even with all that, it was an awesome place I'd love to play again. Loved the feel of the course being a part of the blue collar, surfer town.

We teed off just before 8 and had next to no wind for half the round. All of us were playing decent so with good conditions we didn't spend a lot of time looking. It was crowded when we got done so I could see how it might be a beating later in the day.

Tomorrow at Ballybunion we tee off at 10:30ish. Hopefully it'll move along. I know it's another big tourist destination.

Yeah I had 4 groups of 5 Japanese tourists in front of me who probably went through 2 dozen boxes of balls each. It was a loooong day.

Today was Ballybunion.

This is a big kids golf course. Imagine Bandon but if you made every green complex twice as hard. Not sure that I've ever seen a tougher set of par 3s. A couple of them bordered on unfair.

There are some great holes out there. The back nine was quite dramatic. A really good closing stretch of holes.

It's hard for me to judge this one fairly because of the experience (and because I was playing poorly). On the front we were behind and I was trying to help us get back in position. So I was playing fast and it kinda messed with me to be behind. Especially because the guy in our group who was playing slow was pretty unaware. Also our caddie was worse than useless. That got me on tilt a little bit. Just very frustrating.

I played okay on the front. On the back I got beat up pretty bad. The wind picked up and a lot of it was in our face.

It was just a really tough test. Seems it'd be hard to play well unless you had no wind or you could really spin the ball.

Ranking is hard. It may very well be the "best" course we've played so far but mentally it was a bit of a slog. On the one hand I'd really like to give it another shot. On the other hand it was not the first one I'd run back to if I returned. Based on my criteria, I put it like this:

1. Lahinch
2. Carne
3. Portmarnock
4. Ballybunion
5. County Sligo
6. The Island
7. European Club

That first pic no. 11? Just a monster golf hole.

Yes I am pretty sure. It was a beast.

Other notes on Ballybunion:

Best conditioned course we've been to.
Most touristy course we've been to.
Best clubhouse.
Best practice area.

Felt kinda like St. Andrews vibe-wise. Only course we've been to that it felt like most people were Americans.

Today was Tralee. Far and away the most scenic and beautiful course we have played. In the conversation for the most scenic I've played ever.

The saying about Tralee is that the front nine was designed by Arnold Palmer and the back nine was designed by God. The two nines are VERY different. The first is out on the flatlands and the second is among the dunes. But both have fantastic views on every hole.

So many fun shots. And the course isn't easy but is designed to be playable. Not the severe tabletop greens we had at Ballybunion. Greens actually would hold good shots. Our caddies also said that the greens are longer right now as they are getting ready for a member-guest.

Not surprisingly it was the most modern feeling place we've been to. We played in the afternoon and we were waiting on a lot of shots. Longest round we have played since we've been here at almost five hours.

I don't have any real criticisms of the course. I'm sure it would've played a lot tougher if we'd been in some wind. I think it just lacks a little quirk and charm that older courses have. If anyone has ever been to Castle Stuart the vibe is very similar.

A new addition to the rankings is the line. Above the line I say it's a must play. It's getting super hard to rank them. Feels ridiculous that this incredible course is at #5.

1. Lahinch
2. Carne
3. Portmarnock
4. Ballybunion
5. Tralee
==========
6. County Sligo
7. The Island
8. European Club