“In Case You Missed It” is a GGP+ feature that highlights a story from Global Golf Post‘s Monday magazine. This story first published on October 20.
There is a danger in great expectations because there is more room for disappointment than for happy surprises.
But among the many blessings of Ireland is the sense of happiness that comes with each visit, whether you’ve been there often enough to know the lay of the land or, as a first-timer, you are taking it all in like a long, slow drink from a freshly poured pint of Guinness.
Ireland is all you hope it to be and more.
Partly because of hearing me talk longingly about my visits there through the years and partly because of the romantic images projected onto movie and television screens, my wife Tamera wanted to see it, feel it and be embraced by it herself.
Everyone has their bucket list.
Ireland sat atop hers.
That’s how we found ourselves stuffing our luggage and my golf clubs into a rental car at the Dublin airport, as fresh as we could be after a direct overnight flight from Charlotte, to set off on a week-long tour that included a little golf, a fair bit of Guinness and a scrapbook-like collection of moments and memories that brought Ireland to life in all of its summer glory.
For many, a trip to Ireland is built entirely around their golf itinerary but the best version of the island is to blend being a tourist between tee times. Instead of making it a buddies trip where every day means packing up your golf bag, make it a couples trip and enjoy all of it together, and if your significant other wants to tee it up, all the better.
There may be no greater introduction to Ireland’s unique charms than, 12 hours after leaving another 93-degree North Carolina day, standing at the Cliffs of Moher as a gusty wind whips your hair and the 60-degree air feels as refreshing as an overdue shower.
The cliffs are a thing of beauty, rugged and raw and a proper place to be introduced to Ireland’s charms, which are as big as the 700-foot rocky walls spilling into the sea and as small as a slice of soda bread that comes with a rich bowl of seafood chowder that tastes like the place.
On the three-hour drive from the Dublin airport to Lahinch, what begins as a long ride on a motorway quickly turns into a labyrinth of winding roads that can only generously be described as two lanes.
It is a wonderful, if sometimes harrowing, introduction to the Ireland that exists beyond the glossy travel brochures. It means trusting there is no other vehicle coming around the blind curve, hugging the edge if there is and hoping the vegetation that occasionally brushes the left side of the car doesn’t leave any lasting marks.
When we arrive in Lahinch, a surfing center on Ireland’s western coast which also happens to be home to one of golf’s most famous links, the innkeeper at the Vaughan Lodge Hotel smiles at the path our satellite navigation device brought us.
“When we have big events around here, we have people out there to wave people off those roads and send them a different way. Those roads weren’t made for motorcars. They were made for horse and buggies,” he said.
Lahinch, it seems, is made for surfing despite temperatures Americans more commonly associate with football season. Surf shops abound and, despite the whipping wind, dozens of surfers are in the water while the nearby shops and pubs hum with activity.
We stop in the Corner Stone Bar for a bowl of Irish stew that hits all the right notes with a side of the addictive soda bread then make our way down to The Nineteenth bar where a couple of locals strike up a conversation while enjoying their pints. The subject turns to American sports, they’re surprisingly familiar with NFL football and when I’m asked if I’ve ever been to the Masters Tournament, my answer (which happens to be only for 42 years) generates a quick, salty response with a good-natured middle finger pointed in my direction.
The accents may be different but we speak the same language.
The championship course at Lahinch is the first true links I ever played and the wind-blown dunescape was a revelation. It’s raw and rugged and will be an ideal host for the Walker Cup matches in 2026. The pro shop and clubhouse have been updated – dinner in the restaurant overlooking the course is an excellent option – and golf groups were streaming through.
There is no truer links experience than the championship course at Lahinch.
A morning stop at Hugo’s, where the line snakes down the sidewalk for the fresh pastries and coffee, is followed by a round at Lahinch’s Castle Course, a flatter, gentler relative to its more famous sibling. It plays a little under 6,000 yards and the famous dunes are across the street but the Castle Course is a lovely option where birdies are easier to find.
The Wild Atlantic Way is a tourism trail that runs along the western edge of Ireland and it is spectacular. It showcases the natural beauty of Ireland and is filled with spots big and small to admire as you drive along or to stop and become a part of it.
Our drive from Lahinch to the more cosmopolitan Galway winds through towns with charming names such as Ballyvaughan and Clarinbridge, places that embody the classic image of Irish towns. Blooming flowers in a collection of Crayola colors fill window boxes and gardens, adding paint drops of color to Ireland’s famously green landscape.
The drive also takes us along the edge of the Burren, an eye-catching landscape made of glacier-aged cracked limestone, giving it a prehistoric look. It’s a place that prompted the famous English soldier/statesman Oliver Cromwell to say the Burren is “a country where there is not water enough to drown a man, wood enough to hang one nor earth enough to bury one.”
Galway pulses with activity, especially along the aptly named Shop Street near Eyre Square. Shop Street is closed to vehicular travel, giving shoppers and strollers free rein to explore the stores, many of which feature familiar high-end brands. There are also plenty of pubs to grab an outdoor table, sip another Guinness and watch the world walk by especially on a sunny, 75-degree day.
Should you need a break from the golf and touring, the Spirit One Spa at the Galmont Hotel in the heart of the city provides a perfect bit of pampering.
We followed our pampering with dinner at Rúibín, a wonderful restaurant located on the edge of the Port of Galway. After a cocktail at the small bar downstairs, we moved to the main dining room upstairs, which features brick walls, wooden tables and views of the port.
Should anyone hold on to the outdated notion that the food in Ireland is nothing special, Rúibín is one of many places we found that prove otherwise. From the butterbean/spinach dip with homemade seeded crackers through the short ribs with polenta, the sliced pork chop with black garlic ketchup and the heirloom tomato salad, dinner at Rúibín was among the highlights of our week-long visit.
Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,” words that ring particularly true these days.
It has been said many times but it bears repeating – some of the most fun you’ll have playing golf in Ireland is at the places that may not be the most famous but they are a joy to play. Connemara is one of those places.
Driving along Ireland’s west coast, the small narrow road suddenly opens up to Connemara’s collection of 27 holes situated alongside the sea. “Go any more to the west and you’ll be in New York City,” the gentleman behind the counter told us.
Connemara doesn’t have the heaving dunes like Ballybunion to the south but it embodies the idea of golf being a lovely walk, right down to the small summer flowers blooming in the wispy rough. On a sunny, breezy, 70-degree day the challenge of links golf hits early. A driver and long iron into an easily reachable 520-yard par-5 is followed by a 440-yard par-4 in the opposite direction that demands two hearty shots.
After a morning at Connemara, we begin our drive to Westport with a stop at Kylemore Abbey along the way. The drive itself is a spectacular showcase of Ireland’s natural beauty, the views at times looking like scenes from “Yellowstone,” the mountains and vistas seeming to absorb us.
Kylemore Abbey is situated between two mountains which are so close they seem to lean on the grey stone buildings. It is where Benedictine nuns found safety after being forced to leave Belgium in 1932, and its 1,000 acres are a true sanctuary well worth any visitor’s time.
Less than an hour away is Westport, as charming a spot as there is in Ireland. It’s the kind of place you can imagine a Hallmark movie being set with its shop-filled streets, flowers spilling out of window boxes and even a spot to pose for a selfie on a bench with Paddington the bear, a marketing gimmick that proved so popular that locals decided to keep it.
As Americans traveling through Ireland, we noticed the accents, just as they noticed our soft southern drawls. It’s not just Irish accents, though. There are voices from eastern Europe, Spanish voices and Asian accents.
It is a reminder of the value of travel. It shrinks the world, even if you’re fighting jet lag and placing all of your faith in your navigation system to get you where you’re going.
Couples, families and tour groups keep the sidewalks crowded in the center city and keep the pub owners busy.
Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,” words that ring particularly true these days.
It also has a way, particularly in Ireland, of making life seem simpler. Maybe it’s being away from our daily routines but there is an undeniable feeling of shedding the clutter that becomes familiar at home.
The Knockranny House Hotel is a casually elegant spot atop a hill on the edge of Westport’s quaint but bustling business district. The Fern Grill is an ideal spot to let the evening wind down, taking advantage of the lingering sunsets (it’s light until after 10 p.m. in mid-summer) to sit on the terrace to look at the nearby islands and the Atlantic Ocean in the distance.
Making our way from Westport across the country to Dublin means a three-hour drive and leaving behind the small towns for a vibrant and thriving city. If you prefer being city-adjacent, nearby Malahide is a fine option on the water but we wanted the full Dublin experience.
In the heart of summer, Dublin is a popular spot for tourists, and record-setting passenger numbers at the Dublin airport reinforce its popularity. Couples, families and tour groups keep the sidewalks crowded in the center city and keep the pub owners busy.
There is excellent golf to be found near Dublin including the Island, Jameson Golf Links at Portmarnock Resort and the nearby European Club. If you can score an invitation to Portmarnock Golf Club (expected to be named a future Open Championship site soon), you’ve hit the golf lottery.
Beyond the golf, Trinity College in the heart of Dublin is a must-see. You’re free to wander on your own but spend a few euros to get a student-led tour. Our guide’s sense of humor and sense of the place brought it to life, especially his colorful story of drunken students taking a gun to a college administrator who demanded they pipe down as we stood beneath the window where the administrator met his sudden end about a century ago.
Trinity College is where Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett spent some of their formative years and it’s also where the Book of Kells is housed. The Book of Kells is an extraordinarily illustrated manuscript depicting the four gospels of the New Testament, dating back more than 1,200 years.
Thanks to a friend, we scored a hard-to-get reservation for dinner at Mister S, one of the hottest restaurants in Dublin. When the concierge at our hotel overheard our destination, he said, “Do you mind if I ask how you got a reservation there? I’ve not had any luck getting one.”
No wonder. It’s a small place and the food and the experience are both exceptional. It features dishes cooked over an open fire and it’s the kind of place where everything works.
The burnt end rendang spring rolls are worth making a trip back to Ireland to have again. The same can be said for the grilled prawns with smoked garlic butter and vinaigrette, the piri piri chicken with lemon crème fraîche and the grilled pork chop with a sticky glaze.
And don’t forget the orange and vanilla panna cotta with saffron syrup to finish it off.
What better way to finish off a trip to Ireland than with a visit to the Guinness Storehouse. Sure, it’s a touristy place but it’s also a seven-story celebration of the iconic brew. Working your way toward the Gravity Bar atop the building for your free pint, the Guinness story comes to life. Taking in the 360-degree view of Dublin from the seventh floor with a fresh pint and an order of chips (Americans call them French fries) makes it hard to leave.
That’s the charm of Ireland. Whether it’s the golf, the scenery or the hospitality – more likely it’s all of those things – there is a feeling that comes with being there.
It’s a feeling that travels and stays with you – until the next visit.