by Mel Kozek
Lahinch was my favorite course in Ireland. Iliked it better than Ballybunion and Tralee, two other great courses.
I think I had an 8 on the "klondyke" but a par on the "Dell". It is worth every penny to play here.
Ask about the goats on the course. There is great story about a broken barometer, goats gathering near the clubhouse in bad weather, etc.
When I was there they had killed all the goats because of the hoof and mouth scare.

by Daivid H.
Mel - I am considering a Father & Son Golf travel trip to Ireland with my Dad. I need to know the best golf tour companies to hire to arrange for planning and booking a summer golf trip for two. I have visited & played the Scotland and England links courses, and wanted to try Ireland for a change. Your advise and sage recommendations are appreciated.
David H.

by Mark Cummings
There is a lot of information available on the web and it would pay you to do your research. Everything depends on what sort of gofl tour you want to do, how much money you want to spend on greenfees, whether you want to play all the "big name" / world ranked courses. It also depends on whether you want to organise yourself or go with a tour, and how long you have. In two weeks you could play virtually every big name recommended course in Ireland but if you only have a week, due to the driving times (not necessarily distances) between courses you may want to focus on one or two areas.
The highest ranked courses are concentrated on the West coast. You can fly in to Shannon from the US. If you want to play the main west coast courses in County Clare and County Kerry, then you should have Lahinch, Ballybunion, Doonbeg, Tralee and Waterville on your list. These are all within one - four hours inital drive of Shannon (do not base yourself there, but travel around and stay where you play or where you will play the next day). These are the big name courses and the most expenive and harder to get on to. But scattered amongst them and further north and south are other great courses. The scenery on the west coast is truly amazing.
If you go further south to Cork, then Old Head of Kinsale and Fota Island are the must play venues. If you go further north to the counties of Galway, Mayo, SlLigo and Donegal, you could play Connemara, Carne (aka Belmullett), Enniscrone, Rosses Point (aka County Sligo), Murvagh (aka Donegal), Rosapenna, Portsalon, Ballyliffin. If you get to Northern Ireland, then Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, Portstewart and Castlerock are the must play places. On the East coast and around Dublin are Baltray (county Louth), Portmarnock, the Island and European Club.
I have named 25 golf courses above (some have two must play courses), all links courses, and have not even made any mention of the big name inland courses such as teh K Club, Malone, Dromoland Castle, Adare Manor, Mount Juliet etc.
So much food for thought.