Winter Golf & Accommodation... try the Clanree Hotel in Donegal

The par five 15th at Narin & Portnoo.

Let's not beat about the bush... there are Irish holiday breaks galore around Ireland at the moment, with many of these targeted at golfers. If you tie accommodation and golf together you have an easy and attractive mix. The challenge is finding one that fits your budget and appeals to your golfing ambitions... and given the volume of courses and hotels at our disposal that is hardly going to be an arduous task

From the high end offers (K Club, Castlemartyr and Lough Erne), to the astounding

Lahinch Golf Club 125 Years

Chipping in to the 6th green.

The club was founded on April 15th 1892, in Sharry’s Hotel on the main street of Lahinch (where the post office is today). Members of the Black Watch Regiment met and signed a lease with Daniel Thynne, and the first game took place on that very day, with holes marked out by feathers and sticks.

In 1894, Old Tom Morris arrived to lend his design expertise and it says a lot that over a century later two of his greatest holes (Klondyke and The Dell)

North Coast 500 - A Scottish Golfing Tour. Day 5

Tain's 12th hole is sponsored by the local (and highly acclaimed)
Glenmorangie Distillery

Today, things ramped up a gear on the Scottish golfing front. Two gears, actually. Tain Golf Club is in a different class to what has come before. Before today, the emphasis of the courses was on fun, without any pretensions.

Tain is a Top 100 contender and it takes no time at all to see why… on the drive in

North Coast 500 - A Scottish Golfing Tour. Day 4

OK, so somebody’s having a laugh. On Friday I took a few photographs over the Moray Firth towards the northern mountains of the Scottish Highlands. Stark and brown, the mountainsides looked burned and bruised with the heather that splashes its colour over the slopes. Today, as I left Inverness, those same mountains had been painted with a dusting of white.

Twice today I have seen warnings for ‘icy

Irish Open Weeks - Part 2

Approach to the 10th at Concra Wood.

The Open Weeks rumble on, and they are all around the country. It makes it difficult to decide which way to go... but go you should.

Here are the events at 

1. Concra Wood
2. Dundrum House (Tipperary)
3. Galway Bay
4. Rosapenna

Divers Need Balls

A couple of years back there was a hullaballoo about golf balls in Donegal's Lough Salt, that were hit there by Old Tom Morris on his way to designing the course at Rosapenna. They are worth a few bob: estimates are in the region of €25,000... per ball.

Now an Irish businessman wants scuba divers to go retrieving golf balls from other lakes around the country. The balls won't be worth quite as much (€9 vs. €25,000) but he's obviously making it work and selling them on... probably back to the original owners.

So, if you're a diver and you have some free time, here's the piece in BreakingNews.ie:
http://www.breakingnews.ie/discover/oddball-idea-could-be-just-the-ticket-for-scuba-divers-633047.html

There's a link to the original job ad at the bottom of the piece.

Royal County Down – Inspiring The Soul (Part 2)

The 3rd hole (from the back tees)

David Owen flew in from the United States, landing in Dublin before sunrise. He drove his hire car ever northwards, heading for the rust-coloured Mourne Mountains that slide into the Irish Sea. Once there and in glorious sunshine he teed it up on the par five 1st hole of one of the world’s greatest courses, and split the fairway with his drive.

It doesn’t get much better than that… but it did. Two shots later, David sank an eight foot putt for an eagle. Royal County Down (RCD) doesn’t give up many eagles, and one on the 1st hole is as good as a trophy on the mantelpiece.  The Head Pro, Kevan Whitson, picked David’s ball out of the hole and expressed his admiration… I was still going from one side of the hole to the other, feeling like a spare wheel. David took three shots to get into the hole; I three-putted and still hadn’t found the cup.

Modern Links Masterpieces on the Emerald Isle

From Guest Blogger, Rory, a review of five of Ireland's most modern links.

The 8th at Ballyliffin. Photo by Aidan Bradley
www.golfcoursephotography.com

As we all know golf is an ancient game, rooted in tradition and history, played on courses that have remained largely unchanged over the centuries. While the age old courses are a great reminder of where the game came from, like all things, golf must move forward. Over the last couple of decades we have seen the arrival of some world class, modern golf courses.