My Top 10 Golf Highlights of 2025

Very much a personal selection of highlights from my year... otherwise Rory winning The Masters would be right at the top, obviously!

(Not necessarily in order.)

1 Druids Glen Video
Druids Glen asked me to produce a video for the resort’s social media channels, celebrating autumn on the golf course. It was short – one minute – but it was both an education and an exhilarating experience putting it all together. I spent two days at the course, shooting dozens of clips, editing them to the right size and adding music. There may be more to follow, in 2026, but the first one will always carry a certain pride. 
During my visits I also got to see the elusive kingfisher that calls the par-3 8th hole home. It moved too fast to capture on camera or video, but I’ll try again next year.  

2 Dingle and the Battle of Clubhouse Food
Golf clubs have a real challenge when it comes to clubhouse food. It’s hard to make it financially viable. I visited over 70 Irish golf courses this year, and while I didn’t eat at all of them, I ate at enough to know that while the majority serve good food, it is the rare one that serves exceptional food. And that rare one is Dingle Golf Links. The restaurant is a destination in itself.

3 Meeting Jerome Bettis
Absolutely nothing to do with golf… but because of golf I got to meet one of my American Football heroes. Jerome Bettis, nicknamed ‘The Bus’, was the full back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, from 1996 to 2005. 
Fairways and FunDays looked after the Pittsburgh Steelers management team, which came to Ireland for the Steelers vs Vikings game at Croke Park. Jerome (far right in pic below) played with Ben Roethlisberger at Portmarnock and I was tasked with taking photographs of the Steelers’ day at the famous links. It was a real thrill and I got to chat with Jerome on the famous par-3 15th.

4 Front Cover
As a photographer there is nothing quite like the knowledge that you were in the right place at the right time… for just a few seconds. 
After playing Co Sligo with friends, I left the bar at sunset as I wanted to get behind the 17th green, for a photograph across the sea. A teenager was preparing to take a shot, heading down 18, with the sun directly behind him. I had just enough time to snap off a couple of frames. 

Not only did I get lucky with the shots I took, but after posting it on social media the Irish Examiner got in touch and said they wanted to use it on the front cover of the newspaper. It is my first front cover.

5 Making Par

I have played the brilliant Enniscrone probably 20 times, usually as part of the Atlantic Coast Challenge. The par-3 17th has always been my nemesis and, until 2025, I had never made par. Not impressive for a single-figure handicapper. Trust me, July 9th, 2025, was a major hurdle overcome. 

I ended that round with 39 Stableford points and thought that on a tough day, playing from the White tees, I might be in with a shout. Not so. 47 points won it!

6 Patron’s Day at Royal Portrush
Who doesn’t want to play an Open championship course in the year it’s hosting the Open! 

I was invited to play in the club’s Patrons Day. The stands for the Championship were being erected, the course was ours for the day and the sun was splitting the sky. I three-putted at least 10 times and got beaten badly at every turn, but when you’re playing a world-class course like Royal Portrush, with good people and the course in superb condition, how can that be anything but an unforgettable experience.  

7 Video Reviews

My goal of posting three to four golf course video reviews a year slipped up – again – as I only managed two: Bunclody and Macreddin. Still, it’s a huge amount of fun doing the filming and putting the videos together.

Find them here:

Bunclody Review Here

Macreddin Review Here

8 Curracloe Links

I have visited the course several times over the past two years and watching a brand new golf course take shape is a privilege. I photographed it when there were still trees standing and I have photographed it several times since, as things took shape, bit by bit, and the trees disappeared. Straka and Fry are the core design team – of Erin Hills fame – with Jeff Lynch the Irish architect managing the day to day operations.

The course is going to be fascinating to play and it will be unlike anything else on this island. It opens in 2026.

9 Royal Portrush (Valley)

The second course at Royal Portrush received a major makeover by Mackenzie & Ebert a few years ago, ahead of the 2019 Open Championship. It received another big upgrade by the same designers in 2024/25, with three brand new holes added. 

There are other changes, too, but when you have a links of this calibre – and very much under-appreciated, in my opinion – any changes made are going to stir interest around the world.  

It was an honour to visit and play the course.

10 Druids Glen Clubhouse Frames

The new clubhouse at Druids Glen needed some serious colour to brighten up the joint. Bare walls everywhere. Now they have 14 large frames of my images across the two floors.

It’s a real buzz seeing this work displayed so prominently.