, the dream western Ireland golf trip moves on to our final destination, Carne Golf Links in Belmullet.

This course came highly, highly recommended to me by a friend, but I’ve always had such a great curiosity for the this place due to the way that Sports Illustrated’s J

In case you skipped the link above, the words he used, and the sincerity behind it had an impact on me, and served as possibly the strongest endorsement for a golf experience that I’ve heard.

“Every summer I leave Kansas City to spend a week on what I call the finest stretch of golfing ground in the world. It’s not Cypress Point. It’s not Pebble Beach. It’s not even the Old Course at St. Andrews. It’s the Carne Golf Links in County Mayo, the Republic of Ireland.”

It was these few sentences that inspired me to schedule a Friday morning tee time at Carne, knowing it would be about a four hour drive from our Thursday gaunt around Lahinch. The driving in this part of the world is less than ideal, and for an American used to driving on the other side of the road and from the other side of the car, it can be quite intimidating. But if a respected golf writer is going to endorse a place that strongly, it has to be worth the trip, right?

For our final round on the trip, it was only fitting that we got one more perfectly sunny day. Another wide open links style golf course, but yet again, a completely different challenge from the day before, and a monumentally different golf course from any other track we experienced throughout the week. The winds whipped as strong on this day as they did on our first day at Waterville, and did not let up for one single hole.

One thing that John Garrity most certainly did not lie about was the dunescape. I’m not sure how many times in these recaps I’ve mentioned that pictures don’t do a place justice, but perhaps nowhere is this statement more relevant than when discussing the size of the dunes that frame the holes at Carne. (Unfortunately, I lost a ton of my photos 

). What came as a surprise to me was the remarkable undulation of the fairway to match it. This added an entirely new layer to the challenge, leading to many blind shots, uneven lies, and even fatigue. This was our 7th round in six days, and little did we know, we had saved the toughest walk for last.

The first hole, before my phone crapped out

An example of the extreme undulation in the fairways

If I had to choose a word to describe Carne, it would be raw. Perhaps I felt that way just compared to the other courses, but it was easily the least groomed and manicured course that we played on the trip, and I mean that in a good way. People often say that a good quality of a golf course is one that feels “discovered” rather than “designed,” and Carne is probably the best example of that of any course I’ve played in my life. They will proudly tell you that they did not use bulldozers to shape the holes or the dunes, and it’s easily believable.

There are no smooth walkways between the holes. The turf seems a bit more firm, and is harder on your feet. The wind whips just a little bit harder. The bounces are more extreme, and the putting surfaces less predictable. If any of this is perceived as faint praise, trust me, it is not. This golf course is so incredibly unique that I feel like playing it just the one time was not enough to appreciate how special it truly is.

It’s difficult to describe just how remote of a location Belmullet, Ireland is. Throughout the entire day, we saw two other groups on the golf course, and only a handful of people working in the pro shop and the bar. I’ve traveled all over the world in the last two years trying to find Anthony Kim, and for the first time, I felt like I was finally in a place I might see him. If there was ever somewhere a golfer wanted to go and hide out from the world, it would be this golf course.

From many of the elevated tee boxes, you can see for miles. But you don’t see much. A few houses sprinkled in the distance. The bright blue sea at the horizon. And without exception, a challenging golf hole in front of you. I’m looking back at my pictures, the scorecard, the yardage book, and the website, and I can’t think of one hole I would call easy.

One of the signature holes, #11. Biggest dunes I’ve ever seen on a golf course.

I’m getting nostalgic all over again just looking at these

Dad on one of the signature holes, the par-3 14th

It’s hard to pick one hole as a signature hole, but if you held my feet to the fire, I would say the 16th (pictured below) takes the gold, with the 11th and 14th (above) on the other two podiums in some order. And if you played out there, your top three holes might include three I haven’t even mentioned in this post.

Coming off the 15th green, you climb a huge hill to get to the plateau that is the 16th tee box. On this day, it was easily the most exposed piece of land on the entire course. With no dunes around to protect you, the wind hits you with its full force, and you’ve got a few seconds to try to figure out a plan to get the ball out of the air as fast as possible. On this day, the wind was straight off the right, and playing 175 yards. With this significant of an elevation change, with no wind, I would have opted for an 8-iron under normal conditions, but the thought of the golf ball getting more than 20 feet above my head gave me vertigo. The wind might just take that ball off the property.

I took out a 5-iron and opted for about a 65% swing, trying to basically just punch it through the wind. While I managed to miss the green long and right, I’m still not sure what the right strategy is on a shot like this, and I can’t say I’ve ever had to hit a shot like that in my life.

Can’t remember what these putts were for, but I can promise it wasn’t for birdie

The Hackett course at Carne was the most unique blend of elevation change mixed in with a links course that I’ve ever experienced. I don’t think I was fully prepared for it, and would love to get another chance to play there again.

One more splendid perk of the Carne Golf Links is that after 18 holes, you’re not done (well, if you’re my dad, you’ve had enough of a beating and you’re done). There’s a new nine holes, built in 2013, called the Kilmore course. If you thought the first 18 holes appeared “discovered” and not “designed,” then it’s hard to even call the Kilmore discovered. The greens have not fully taken shape, and the nine holes wander through the property seemingly haphazardly. Legitimately on more than one occassion, I walked off a green and did not know where to go to the next tee. There’s no walkways, and the location of the next hole doesn’t necessarily even make sense. The course guide helps you a bit, but for the most part, you are pretty much alone out there trying to “discover” where the next tee is. It’s awesome!

The par-3 2nd hole on the Kilmore Course (photo credit Eamon Mangan)

This may sound like a criticism, but it most certainly is not intended to be. Those nine holes were some of the most unique nine holes of golf I can ever remember playing. It felt like one of those extreme courses you unlock in a video game once you’ve mastered all of the pedestrian courses. The same elevation changes, enormous dunes, and an heightened sense of freedom made for a pretty special way to wrap up this trip.

More enormous dunes on the Kilmore Course (photo credit Eamon Mangan)

For more photos from the Kilmore course, 

check out this incredible album from Eamon Mangan

As much as we enjoyed the golf experience at Carne, my dad and I both agreed that we may have overdone it a bit. I wasn’t sure when I would have the chance to play in Western Ireland again, and with the things I had heard about Carne, I did not want to miss it at any cost. In hindsight, having this walk as our final round, after a week’s worth of 18/36 hole days, hours of driving, and little sleep, was probably a bit too much. I would love to play Carne again with full energy and the mental preparedness required for this tough of a walk. It may sound like we’re giant wusses (and we very well might be), but until you’ve had those 30 MPH winds hitting you in the face while you’re going up and over these ridiculous dunes, you likely can’t relate.

In summary, Carne as a golf course is 100% worth it, and meets the hype. It just didn’t make the most sense with our itinerary, and our eyes were a bit bigger than our stomachs. With the luxury of more time, we would have gladly spent a few more days in the area and played a few rounds at County Sligo and Enniscronne, which are also top notch courses in the area that we basically had to drive by. This corner of Ireland is absolutely worth a visit, and there is plenty of golf and culture to experience up there that make the trip worthwhile.

And with that, the dream Ireland golf trip was a wrap. We shared one last Guinness before making the four hour trek back to Dublin. It was pretty much the perfect week of golf. Thank you, Ireland.

I summarized this trip in podcast form for those interested

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part V: Carne

The dream trip continues, this time onto Lahinch Golf Club, again along the Atlantic Ocean, and again one of the top golf courses in all of Ireland. Rated by 

Golf Digest Ireland as the 4th best course

, this course had also come highly recommended to me by some friends that had made their way out there. We made the drive up from Tralee the night before, settled into our B&B in Doolin, and set out early Thursday morning for our 8:50 tee time. The course had a lot to live up to, following 

, but the beauty of playing golf in western Ireland is how different each course and experience can be. At no point did any of these courses blend together or feel repetitive, and Lahinch was certainly no exception.

A short 20 minute drive from Doolin (including 6 km on a two-way road barely wide enough to fit one car) brings you to the car park. The tee sheet is full, but the grounds are very quiet on this Wednesday morning. The vibe is deficient in flamboyance, which is consistent with the other Irish clubs I’ve encountered. There’s no extravagant clubhouse, no fancy driving range with balls stacked in triangles (at least, I didn’t see one), and no one greeting you in the parking lot trying to wipe your ass and take your clubs for you. They immediately and quietly deliver the message that this place is about the golf, and it’s about the golf course. It’s a real life illustration of quiet confidence, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The putting green in the foreground, clubhouse in the background

After registering in the pro shop, we were sent to check in with Tony at the first tee. After exchanging some small talk for a few minutes, we ended up in his starter’s hut at the computer as he mapped out our route for the 3.5 hour drive we had in store for us after the round ended. The hospitality is real, and it’s such a key ingredient to your experience in the country. You can’t put a value on feeling welcome, comfortable, and at peace with your surroundings, and the effect it has on your enjoyment of your day in these momentous places. We stayed in that hut for several minutes (perhaps mostly just to stay warm) as we exchanged stories, although we were much more interested in hearing Tony’s stories than we were in telling our own.

We were blessed with another perfect sunrise, and I was able to roll in a birdie at the opening hole to break open what was about to be a really special day. The only regret of the day was that my phone decided that it wanted to malfunction while I’m playing one of the most beautiful and spectacular golf courses I’ll ever play, and 

almost all of the photos on my phone went gray and can not be retained

. Gone. Kaput. So forgive me for the lack of photos in this post, especially considering I was obviously taking pictures of the most scenic holes (I did grab some other photos from the interwebs, and found some relevant tweets as well).

Similar to what stuck out us at Ballybunion, the closely mowed pathways between holes, and from the tees to the fairway, were a tremendous touch. Any offline shot on these golf courses has you trekking through the dunes looking for your ball. Going up and down these slopes for 18 to 36 holes a day, with the wind often not helping the situation, can be exhausting. It wasn’t until we got to Carne, which didn’t have these paths manicured in the same fashion, that we realized how much energy this saved us, and how necessary it is for your feet.





— Iron Lady Golf (@ironladygolfer) 

The ocean-side beauty of Lahinch starts on the third hole, as you tee off next to a surf school along the shore, up a hill to a blind landing area. The hole bends back towards the water, and the waves crash in the background as you pick out your target line to approach the green. The fairway sits up on a platform, and is of course framed by picturesque dunes that you must avoid at all costs. Not only is it visually ideal, it’s also a hole that just 

 different. Once you clear the dunes between the tee box and the fairway, the sound of the waves hits you, and you feel completely shut off from the rest of the world. It’s a bliss that is only offered in a few places around the world.

The 3rd green (source: http://www.theirishgolfblog.com/2016/06/a-lot-of-love-for-lahinch.html)

The 6th hole has a similar shape to the 3rd hole, but with a much more dramatic downhill approach to the green. The fairway has a run out at about 270, so you’re forced to lay back a bit off the tee. A solid 3-wood down the right side left me with a 6-iron in, and the approach into the 6th at Lahinch is one of those shots that just sticks in your mind visually. The ball seems to stay in the air forever against the backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean as you sweat out what kind of effect the wind will have on it, and it’s truly one of the coolest approaches I remember hitting in my lifetime. Ireland is just the best. I’ll fondly reminisce about the pure 6-iron, and hopefully forget the 3 putt that ensued.

Since my photos of this hole disappeared, I tracked down this tweet to try to give you an idea of the scenery:

 today, featured in our Irish Top 150 edition as a 





— Destination Golf (@Dest_golfguide) 

The 7th is another solid par four along the water, and then the 8th and 9th take you inland back towards the clubhouse. After a strong par four 10th, the fun picks back up with the stellar par three 11th. Teeing off back towards the water to a picturesque green set against the dunes, we reached for our cameras before selecting a club. A back left pin position, and a green shape that encouraged a draw was very fitting to my eye, and I stung an 8-iron back into that corner, only to miss the short birdie putt.

The 11th is a great par three, with a view not justified with this view

The medieval tower remains across the street at the Castle course serve as the perfect target for your tee shot on the par five 12th. Back into our strongest breeze of the day, it wasn’t reachable for us, but it was still a beautiful hole to the eye, both from a golf and a scenery perspective. The left side is banked by a beach that runs the entire length of the hole. If you bail out right off the tee, you’ve gotta hit your lay up shot back 

 the out of bounds stakes, and hope that you’ve judged the distance properly. A good tee shot here is rewarded, and a poor one has you really struggling to get home in three.

The par 5 12th, with a castle tower as your aiming point

The 13th is a great little driveable par four, and with the wind at our backs, easily reachable with a three wood. Here I carded my fourth and final birdie of the day, and held on for dear life trying to scrape out a respectable round. The finishing holes would most certainly have something to say about that though.

Before I moved abroad, I frequently played golf throughout the year (with the obvious exception of Chicago winter), and had my handicap at around 1.0 when I left the states in the fall of 2014. Now, I’m lucky to play four times a year in Amsterdam, and though I’ve made one previous trip to Scotland and Ireland each prior to this trip, my game is in a bit of disarray. My handicap has shot up to 4.5, and while that likely will not garner much sympathy from anyone reading this, going from somewhat regularly threatening to break par to struggling to break 80 is a tough adjustment, even with the lowered expectation that comes with not playing much golf.

At Lahinch, I played my ass off to get it to -1 through those first 13 holes. I was striking it pure, lagging some putts from well off the green, and saving a bunch of pars from mid-range. But a quick glance at the scorecard at what was in front of me (as well as the fresh memory of my choke at Waterville just 48 hours earlier) had me on high alert. Holes 14, 15, and 16 go 451, 439, and 192, and while these yardages may not seem that deep, on a links course the yardage on the card frequently does not correlate to the length at which it plays. Just a hint of wind in either direction, and it can play 40 yards longer, or 40 yards shorter. Even in a cross wind, the ball seems to not want to travel the full distance you would expect it to. We had a cross wind on 14 and 15, and even after solid drives, required 3-iron and 5-iron approaches into the green.

Then the 16th played back into the wind from 192, and my 3-iron (normal carry distance about 220) came up well short. I managed to skirt through these holes unscathed, and after a sloppy bogey on the 17th, I had the reachable par five 18th to get it back and try to break par. That wasn’t meant to be. An embarrassing eagle chip that missed the green left me scrambling from eight feet to make par. When it fell, I let out a huge sigh of relief. My dad, usually rather devoid of emotion regarding anyone’s score, patted me on the back and called it one of the best rounds he had every seen me play.

What an incredible way to cap off a magnificent day of golf, with easily my best round in the last two years, on one of the greatest golf courses I have ever set foot on. While this is probably the least interesting part of the story to you reading this, to me, it was what helped make our day out at Lahinch stand out among the other fantastic courses we played. While I sincerely love the challenge of links golf, I have never been able to score well in this style of play. While there was still a great emphasis on driving the ball straight, hitting it in the tall stuff did not mean that you automatically lost your ball. I personally love when a links course punishes you for hitting it in the stuff, but not to the point where you can’t find it.

The only notable scorecard I had from the trip

As if everything I mentioned above isn’t enough motivation to get out and play Lahinch, it’s also only about 15 minutes away from the Cliffs of Moher, one of the top tourist destinations in the world. We popped over to find people of all nationalities climbing to the edge of the cliffs to get their selfies, tour buses unloading hoards of people, and many others out there just soaking up the day. We couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that this was just a bonus on our already incredible trip, and that many of these people were probably 

 their trip around the Cliffs of Moher. Did I mention that Ireland is the best?

In case you missed it, Part I of the Western Ireland series on 

. Part V on Carne Golf Links is still to come. For more from No Laying Up, follow 

Back at it at sunrise again today at Lahinch. Easily a top 50 course in the world, and I can easily see why. Incredibly playable, beautiful pace of play, and great views, which are not done justice with this picture. 10/10

A photo posted by No Laying Up (@nolayingup) on Oct 13, 2016 at 12:03pm PDT

, and the first scorecard worth sharing. Striking views, and a spectacular layout. 10 out of 10. 

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part IV: Lahinch

The dream trip continues, this time onto 

Links, again along the Atlantic Ocean, and again one of the top golf courses in all of Ireland. Rated by 

Golf Digest Ireland as the 7th best course

 on the island, it’s a short drive down some crazy back country roads from it’s big brother Ballybunion, setting you up perfectly for a double dip. We started our day 

 and we were off at Tralee at 2:40 PM for a day of golf that would be hard to top anywhere on the planet.

“Created by God, Designed by Arnold Palmer”

That’s the motto that graces the cover of the scorecard, and it rings true. About 30 years ago, Tralee Golf Club moved its location from a nine hole course in Tralee, to its new location alongside the ocean in West Barrow. As advertised, the course was designed by the King himself, and a statue of him sits prominently near the practice green.

My dad and I, playing as guests on one of the last tee times of the day, must have stuck out like sore thumbs on the practice green among the members. After enjoying some lunch inside with an stunning view of nearly the entire layout, we stretched back out and tried to adjust from the slow greens at Ballybunion in the morning to the speedy (especially for a links course) greens at Tralee. As we hit some putts, we were both greeted by several members, who gladly approached us with a firm handshake, and welcomed us to their club. The pride they took in their club was evident, and their openness to share this with the general public was something that we both took note of.

The entire atmosphere around this club (and other clubs I’ve experienced in Ireland) is so different from what I’m used to in the United States, where the country club experience tends to be characterized by the semblance of exclusivity. Most clubs are private, and guests are only allowed to play if they are invited by, and play with a member. While there certainly are true private clubs in Ireland, almost all of their top courses are at least somewhat open to the public. There are tee times reserved for members, competitions, etc., but if you want to play a course, you can call them up yourself, and book a tee time. And once you’re there, not only are you treated like an actual member yourself, both the staff and surrounding members seem to go out of their way to make sure you have the best experience possible. Far from home in a foreign country, it’s hard to fully explain how much value that adds to the experience, as it is something you have to encounter on your own.

The conversations with the starter before your round are also an integral part of the experience. You can typically comprehend about 80% of what is said, and you’re left to figure out the rest based on context. But it’s all helpful, cheerful, and their enthusiasm for your day out on the course feels genuine and authentic. With sunset coming in around 6:40, and a few fourballs heading out in front of us, the starter at Tralee explored the idea of sending us off the back nine first.

“The back nine is the side you need to see. I’d hate for you to not get all 18 in.”

In the U.S., this timing would have been a serious issue. But the pace of play on this side of the pond (even with almost no one in front of us using a cart) is completely different than what we are used to, and we made it around comfortably in 3 hours, 54 minutes, while hardly waiting on a shot.

The par three 3rd, with an old castle tower as an aiming point

I’ve waxed on about the Tralee Golf Club experience for about 700 words so far, and haven’t even talked about the golf course yet. As we made the turn from number nine to ten, we could see exactly what the starter was referring to. This is not to say that the front nine should be breezed over, but the stark difference between the two nines is very noteworthy and significant, and almost feels like two different golf courses.

The front nine is very open, with little to no dunes protecting the holes and your ball flight from the wind. On many occasions, I was reminded of 

. Despite the course being relatively new, the front nine has a very old school feel to it, with pre-existing rock formations (typically designed as fences, and property barriers in previous eras) intertwined with the weaving of the holes throughout the grounds. If you didn’t know that the course was built in the last thirty-ish years, you wouldn’t know it, and that is meant as a compliment.

The par three third is an absolute stunner. A short one, but treacherously placed on a far point, completely exposed to the wind. A medieval lookout tower remains behind the green, and serves as an excellent target for your short iron (depending on the wind direction). Seriously, 

you use castle towers as your target lines

You can even take a peek inside the castle tower, and walk up a small flight of stairs within it.

The medieval castle tower behind the 3rd green

On this day, we had mostly overcast skies, but the sun popped its head out from time to time. I feel like I’ve spent the majority of these posts talking about how the pictures don’t do it justice, but for Tralee it’s even more so. There wasn’t enough sunshine to give the photos the proper respect they deserve (especially on an iPhone), but I’ve included some anyway.

 to cap a perfect day of golf. Another top 10 Ireland course that exceeds the hype. Gem. 

The sunshine came in small portions on this afternoon. Another castle ruin in the background.

As you make the turn to the back nine, you feel like you’re entering a different golf course. The dunes come to life immediately on the 10th hole, a long, fantastic downhill par four. The green sits perched photogenically in between the aforementioned dunes, and it’s one of the many holes from the back nine that is etched in my memory.

The dunes make their dramatic entrance on #10

For all the benefit the downhill slope gives you on the 10th, you have to earn it right back on the 11th. Standing tall at 557 yards from the white tees, into a stiff breeze, and up a significant slope, it takes all you’ve got to get home in three shots. I consider myself a fairly long hitter, and it took me Driver/3-iron/3-iron, and I still didn’t get there.

The 12th comes back the other way, and the green sits perched on top of one of the most impressively large dunes you’ll ever see in your life. Until you reach the next hole.

The 13th is one of the coolest holes we encountered on the entire trip. Usually I’m not a fan of uphill blind shots, especially on par threes, but this is one is an exception. A forced carry in every sense of the phrase, any shot that lands short might roll down the slope of the dune another fifty yards. The slope is so steep, that realistically, you can’t even climb down it to fetch your ball.

Uphill, over a huge canyon like hole in the dunes, awesome par three 13th

Though it was only playing 140 yards, the breeze was back in our face. You can’t see the surface of the green, and you’re staring at the wall of a dune that it looks like you can’t even walk down without falling to the bottom. I took no chances, reached for the 6-iron, and absolutely pured one right over the flag. It bounced off the slope of the hill behind the green, and came back to about ten feet, where I rolled it in for the most memorable birdie of the trip.

This video from the Tralee website is worth checking out, as the photo above (taken from behind the green) doesn’t come close to capturing the size of the dune, and the intimidation factor of this shot.

The 15th is a driveable par four, but a true risk reward hole, as there is nowhere to miss if you don’t hit the green. Again surrounded by dunes, if you’re not on target, you’re in the long stuff and searching for your ball, along with your soul. Of course, there is 

, so I reached for the driver and just missed right, and was lucky to find my ball in the weeds about pin high (but was unable to convert the up and down).

Seriously, these drone footage videos are awesome, and if you’re playing Tralee, I suggest you 

The 16th is another fantastic par three in the dunes, and the 17th was where we saw the sun for the first time for the back nine. While it’s impossible for us to complain even for a second about the weather we got on this trip, we stood in awe of what we were looking back at, and wondered what it would have been like to have played all day in this striking sun. It didn’t feel like real life. It didn’t even feel like we were looking at a photo from their website. It felt like we had walked into a painting, and our scores felt completely inconsequential at this point.

The sun poked out underneath the cloud layer for sunset from the 17th green

Looking back towards the clubhouse from 17 green at sunset

Standing on that 18th tee, a beautiful par five heading back to the clubhouse, was a culminating moment for me. The dream trip was going better than we could have even imagined it, and at minimum, this was a top three day of golf for me ever (Ballybunion/Tralee ranks right up there with Pacific Dunes/Bandon Dunes, Old Course/Kingsbarns). Part of me wished that we had spent a day dedicated to Tralee alone so we could have perhaps comprehended what we were experiencing a little bit better. It was like having a delicious rib eye, and chasing it with a T-bone before you’re even hungry again. Due to our timelines and other tee times, this was unfortunately not an option, but Tralee really is that special.

 can be found here. Part V on Carne Golf Links is still to come. For more from No Laying Up, follow 

Sunset finish at @traleegolflinks caps a perfect day of golf. Blessed weather and just phenomenal courses. Blown away.

A photo posted by No Laying Up (@nolayingup) on Oct 12, 2016 at 10:49am PDT

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part III: Tralee

Five days of glory, starting and finishing in Dublin, Ireland, with five rounds of bliss at some of the best golf courses along the western coast of Ireland. The intinerary included 

, and Carne (review coming soon). This posts summarizes the second stop on our list, which was 

, about an hours drive north from our hotel in Killarney. Ballybunion is likely the most famous of all of the courses in Ireland among Americans, and it was easy to see why from the minute the sun came up over this small town.

So much of your Ireland golf experience is dependent on the weather. This island is notorious for its damp climate, and the seaside towns are characterized by their tough Atlantic winds, and storms that chase the sunshine away, then disappear as quickly as they came. You have to prepare yourself mentally for these conditions before you make the trip over, and expect to be hit with some poor weather at some point.

We were prepared with gloves, hats, Under Armour, rain pants, and jackets. And didn’t need any of it. Honestly, part of me never wants to come back to Ireland because there is zero chance I could ever be blessed with this great of weather again, much less in October. It’s impossible to determine just how much impact that had on our experience, and the effect the different conditions we got at the different courses had on our perception of the golf courses. Did I like Ballybunion more because the sun was beating on us? I can’t fully comprehend that, and it doesn’t matter. The morning we had at Ballybunion will go down as one of the all-time experiences I’ve ever had on a golf course, bar none.

We were the first ones off, at sunrise, at one of the greatest golf courses in the world. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as Ballybunion is rated highly on every list that’s ever been assembled, yet at the same time, some golf hipsters seem to put it down 

 of its popularity. To each their own, and it’s quite possible that you like many other courses in Ireland more than this one. But one thing that I can guarantee is that it is impossible not to love it this golf course.

You can look at pictures on their website, and roll your eyes at the authenticity. How much photoshop went into this? Was this the one day of the year the sun shines in Ireland? Somehow, on this chilly (but heating up) morning, the sites we saw in person were 

 than the website. The way the shadows fell from the low sun made it look like a video game, and my dad and I were actually laughing as we walked down the fairway. It was golf nirvana.

The first comparison that came to mind to both my dad and I, was that it reminded us both a lot of Pacific Dunes. The views of the sea are frequent, and the shape of the dunes give the player an ideal image of what a links golf course should look and play like. It was like walking into a postcard and getting to play it, and we had not a soul in front of us, and rather calm winds. I couldn’t stop taking pictures, and I’m not going to apologize for the volume of photos in this post.

Views like this are the norm (12th green)

We are learning now that this is common for the top links courses out here, but at first we were really impressed by the grass walkways from the tees to the fairways, and in between the holes. The grass was better manicured than a lot of fairways I grew up playing on, and it gives you the sense that no detail was passed over in the design or in the maintenance of this beauty. They even had grass over top the bridges! This may seem rather minor, but when you’re walking 18 to 36 holes a day on tough links tracks, in and over dunes, heather, undulations, etc., it can be very fatiguing on your feet. This was a nice touch.

That’s fairway pure grass over top a bridge, just for walking

Seriously, I’m just throwing a ton of pictures into this post

You’re eased in with a rather short par four, down the hill, but rudely brought back to Earth at the second. The starter told us that a six was a decent score on this par four, and that whatever club you think you should hit to the uphill green, take at least one if not two more. You can’t see the putting surface, and if you miss short, it may roll 60 yards back down the hill. I smashed a 9-iron from 127 up to the top level, then rolled in a birdie. It took a lot for me not to run back to the first tee to tell P.J. about stealing a birdie on the hole he warned us about the most.

Looking back down the second fairway from the green. This is way more uphill than it looks.

After a long, brutal par three 3rd, the 4th and 5th get a bit quirky. You actually tee off on the 4th from directly behind the 3rd green, and the same for the next tee. This was no issue for us, as we had no one that close behind us, but it would be interesting to see how this plays as the day goes on with a full tee sheet. They are both very gettable par fives, and you need to get your birdies in now, because its about to get a lot tougher.

The view from the 4th tee, from which you carry it directly over the 3rd green

The view from the 5th tee, lined up directly over the 4th green

The 6th is a dogleg left that brings you down to your first ocean hole. The par four 7th is truly one of the most epic theaters of a golf hole I’ve ever seen. My first instinct when I laid eyes on it, was that it reminded me of the 

, another one that has been etched in my memory (I really should do a Bandon post shouldn’t I). The Atlantic Ocean runs the entire length of the hole, and on this day, the breeze was blowing straight out towards it. It felt like I was aimed almost directly inland to keep my ball in the fairway, and I still had to sweat it out.

The 11th hole was equally as fantastic from a visual perspective, although I did not care for the playability of the hole nearly as much (apparently I was so terrified of it that I forgot to take pictures). It’s also framed to the right by the ocean, and plays downhill to a several tiered, narrow fairway, lined with thick heathered dunes all the way to the green. The fairway runs out, so you’re a bit forced to lay back off the tee, and I had to try to go 3-iron/3-iron back into the breeze, hit my approach slightly offline to the right, and never found the ball. Double bogey.

The 14th and 15th are back-to-back par threes (similar to 10 and 11 at Pacific Dunes), with 15 being one of the signature holes (it’s impossible to differentiate the signature hole between 7, 11, 15, and 17…. and someone else that has played it might also name a hole I’m not even thinking of).

The majestic 15th hole, par 3 210 yards with a 7 iron on 15.... short img_7184 

The tee shot on 17 is another breathtaker. This time, you’re elevated, and teeing off right towards the ocean, as the hole wraps around to the left along the water. Get your cameras out if you have any battery or memory left, and then let one fly off this platform that points you right at the water.

It’s impossible to pick a favorite hole from these holes that I’ve pictured here, but it really doesn’t matter.

Looking back over the 17th from the 18th tee

You say goodbye to the ocean, and head up the hill for the tough 18, kicking and screaming that the day is over.

17th green to the left, 18th hole up towards the clubhouse

If you can’t tell by now, I was blown away by the Ballybunion experience. The amazing sunshine, especially considering this was played in October, certainly contributed to that. But the views are some of the best I’ve ever seen on a golf course, and the layout was spectacular. A golf trip to western Ireland absolutely needs to include this course, and it is one of the three courses played on this trip that I can’t decide whether or not it was my favorite (Waterville and Lahinch being the other two, but more on this later, and why that doesn’t matter). My dad, a mid-handicapper, convincingly listed it as his.

Cheers to an epic day of golf, that was just about to get better….

, can be found here. Part V on Carne Golf Links is still to come. For more from No Laying Up, follow 

Sunrise round at Ballybunion. I thought the pictures on the website were unrealistic, but in person it's somehow even prettier. It helped that we had perfect sunshine. Fantastic golf course.

A photo posted by No Laying Up (@nolayingup) on Oct 12, 2016 at 5:32am PDT

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part II: Ballybunion

Five days of glory, starting and finishing in Dublin, Ireland, with five rounds of bliss at some of the best golf courses along the western coast of Ireland. The first stop on our list was Waterville Golf Links in the southwest corner of the island. It would have been worth the entire trip to play this course alone.

Golf was brought to this corner of Ireland in the late 1800’s, when workers and technicians arrived to begin work on the transatlantic cable between Europe and North America. Waterville Golf Links was built, and officially founded in 1889 to keep the workers busy out in this remote part of the world. In 2002, Tom Fazio vastly redesigned the layout for the modern game, and it now (deservedly) finds itself ranked by Golf Digest Ireland as the 

After touring Portmarnock on Monday, my dad and I drove the 3.5+ hours to our hotel in Killarney, and packed it in for the night. Up early for our 10:30 Waterville tee time, we took the scenic route (an hour and a half) along the Ring of Kerry, until we reached the ravishing links packed in between an estuary and the Atlantic Ocean. We could barely keep the car doors open as we climbed out of the rental, and immediately began packing on layers to shield us from the blistering Irish wind. I had received plenty of warnings about the western Ireland weather, but I was concerned that I did not properly heed them.

You’re going to see more than enough references to this wind in this post, and it’s for good reason. I look back at the yardage book, and flip through the pictures I took, and the first instinct I have when I see a particular hole is to remember the feeling of exactly what the wind was doing. You may think that I’m exaggerating the point, but it is such a critical part of the links golf experience that I believe it’s worth emphasizing repeatedly, if not ad nauseam.

, and raved about the experience on every occasion. I’m obsessed with the thinking aspect of this style of play, the different shot shapes required to navigate around the trouble areas, the urge to get the ball on the ground as fast as possible, the unreachable into the wind par fours, the wedges into the downwind par fives…. I can go on and on. It’s such a fun change of place from the style of play I’m used to playing, and because of the conditions we received, and the spectacular design of this course, Waterville felt like the one of, if not the most authentic links experience I’ve ever had.

I’m not going to walk you shot by shot, but here’s some examples of the different ridiculous club choices I had to hit make throughout the day due to the wind conditions: a 170 yard (poorly struck) wedge on the 2nd, a 161 yard knockdown wedge on the 4th, a 126 yard pured 7-iron on the 5th, a 318 yard 3-iron at the 8th, a 155 yard 5-iron at the 9th, 3-iron/7-iron into the par-5 11th, and a 166 yard 4-iron on the 12th. While the guidebook is helpful to you, you lose the familiarity with how far you’re used to hitting you’re own clubs. Bunkers that are 205 yards to clear can legitimately be in play with driver in your hand, and tiny pot bunkers 300 yards away can be reached with a well struck 3-iron that rides the wind and runs out. It’s hauntingly beautiful.

From a design perspective, many holes at Waterville are framed by spectacular dunes that are not overly punishing, nor overly narrow, and provide excellent site lines. The tee boxes are often long and narrow, which makes it feel like youre hitting a ball out of a tunnel, and gives your mind a perfect image of where you need to flight the ball. On the 14 par fours and fives, I hit six 3-irons, three 3-woods, and five drivers, and probably had the most fun letting the 3-irons fly out of all of those. The downwind holes don’t encourage you to hit driver, because when you get inside of 100 yards on a lot of the holes, you end up needing to hit a less than 100% shot to an elevated green, off a very tight lie. A 60 degree wedge does not stop next to the hole, and likely doesn’t run out enough if you play it short. You’re better off playing from further back where you can make a full strike.

The view of the 10th from the clubhouse, an an example of a long narrow tee box

The greens receptiveness depended entirely on, yes, the wind. Five irons stopped dead in their tracks into the wind, and 60 degree wedges couldn’t hold downwind. The sand based greens may not have the most appealing visual appearance, but they are typical for a true links terrain, and these rolled as true as any links greens I’ve putted on. The elevated greens encourage you to reach for the putter for any shot inside of 40 yards. At a certain point, it starts being really fun to putt the ball really hard back into a wind, up the fairway slope, and pray that it’s not too hot when it reaches the surface. Once you’re on the green, you’re better off checking which direction the breeze is blowing than you are bending down to read the putt, as we saw balls get blown uphill all day until we actually started playing for it.

As referenced, the dunes framing the hole, as well as more wind

After nine beautiful beginning holes, on your walk over to the 10th tee, one glance in the southward direction and you start to realize that you haven’t even seen the best of it yet. This is where you catch your first view of the Atlantic Ocean, and the many wind surfers taking advantage of the conditions. The back nine throws three par fives at you, two really tough par threes, and a solid set of fours as well. The only reachable par five on the whole course was the 11th, and as mentioned above, all it took was a long iron off the tee, and a mid-iron into the green. The rest played directly into the breeze, and you needed three really solid strikes to even get it close.

The final three holes are epic from a visual perspective, and frightening if you’re trying to protect a solid score. The wind was blowing balls out towards the sea, and with it went my chance at breaking 80 (two balls in the hazard on the final two holes for a triple-bogey finish to shoot 80). The amazing part about the views you get on these holes, is that the first 15 holes are so much fun that you don’t even realize you haven’t even seen the sea in a while. It’s like you just finished a four course meal, and didn’t even know that a fifth course was on the way. The views are just an added bonus.

The 17th is even more impressive in person than in pictures

The 17th is the signature hole (probably? this could actually go a lot of ways). The tee and the green both sit up above the dunes, almost like they’re putting themselves on display for the camera (despite this, the picture above does not do it justice). This also means they’re as exposed as possible to the winds blowing out towards the sea, and while the water to the right should not be in play, I can testify to the fact that it most certainly is.

The finishing hole is an absolute gem of a par five, and the only hole to play directly alongside the ocean. If you had the wind down, or off the right, it would be an absolute blast to finish on. But coming in your face and off the left, it almost seems not physically possible to start the ball far enough left to keep it in play.

Whipping winds at Waterville give you the best possible links experience. Incredibly challenging and visually stunning finish. 

I sent that tweet out shortly after finishing, and was blown away by the number of responses I got from people who have had similar experiences at Waterville. An Ireland golf trip itinerary that does not have Waterville on it is not complete.

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part I: Waterville Golf Links

After promising myself I would do this kind of stuff all the time, and making exactly one golf trip since moving abroad almost two years ago, I jumped a flight from Amsterdam to Dublin for a weekend ball striking extravaganza at some of the best courses the east coast of Ireland has to offer for my first ever experience with Irish golf. My buddy 

 picked me up at the airport, and we drove directly to 

my review of The Island Club here in Part I

). After some pizza, whiskey, and a few hours sleep, we were off for more incredible golf at The K Club (

). A quick pint and some lunch were had at the clubhouse, and then it was off to 

our review of all four courses in podcast form here

Keeping up with the theme of alternating links golf with parkland style, for our final round we made our way to Killeen Castle on a rainy Sunday morning. Before you reach the clubhouse, you pass the namesake of the course, Killeen Castle itself. The parking lot is surrounded by walls, which makes you feel like you’re inside a fortification. This may seem a bit contrived, but it feels more authentic than it does fabricated. We checked in with Andrew in the pro shop, and asked him what kind of walk we had in front of us.

After 54 holes carrying, and with the steady sprinkle showing no signs of letting up, we went for the cart (or “buggy” as they call it), which was 100% the right call.

The walk from the parking lot to the clubhouse

Joined by Barry’s friend Will, we took some pictures with the Nicklaus statue on the first tee, and our tee balls were in the soggy air. The typical traits of a Nicklaus course were apparent from the beginning: generous fairways, left-to-right shaped holes, deep bunkers, complicated green complexes, and immensely pure turf. Consistent with what we saw at the K-Club, there was not a blade of grass out of place.

Killeen Castle hosted the 2011 Solheim Cup, and you can tell that it is a course that is designed to host championship golf. In addition to the holes themselves being long, they are spaced out significantly at times. There’s plenty of space to the sides of each hole and around each green for galleries to gather and maintain a vantage point. As mentioned in the K Club post, there’s something inherently intriguing about playing on a golf course that is set up a bit like a theater.

The castle casts a shadow over the 18th green, and is easily viewable as well from the first tee box. It is viewable several other times during the round, and serves as a great backdrop for photos (although the pictures don’t really do justice to the size of it).

I’m not sure if it was the rain, the fact that we were playing at sea level, or a combination of the two, but I swear at one point I had to double check to make sure the yardages on the card weren’t measured in meters. The ball wasn’t going ANYWHERE, and it took almost a full 18 holes before I realized that I needed to swallow my pride and take an extra club to get the ball all the way to the pin. The tees that we played weren’t set up too deep (about 6,800 yards), but it felt like 7,200.

With that in mind, you can imagine how shock and admiration as to where some of the tee boxes were stretched to. The black tees at Killeen Castle play to a distance of 

. I am not exaggerating when I say that I think it would feel more like 8,000 yards than 7,600, if played in the conditions we were playing in. There were at least four or five par four’s that I would have been hitting three wood into, and seemingly half a dozen holes that I would struggle to reach the fairway. It was truly something to behold.

Once a month at Killeen Castle, they host an event called Black Sunday, where participants play it all the way back at the tips. According to Andrew, Danny Willett has the unofficial course record from the tips at even par. No one has ever broken par from the black tees! This was not surprising to me at all, considering I would have trouble reaching those tee boxes with a 9-iron from the white tees that we played from.

But even from the white tees, this golf course is more than a sufficient test of skill. Consistent with the above statement about there not being a blade of grass out of place, the greens were in immaculate condition. Perfectly true putting surfaces, but they posed a stiff challenge. Quite the opposite of our experience at the K-Club, it seemed like the type of place where you may need several rounds to learn the predominant slopes within the greens, as there were instances on long putts where I 100% misread the direction, and ended up ten feet offline.

The greens are mostly elevated, with strong, deep bunkering protecting them. The rain helped soften everything, and I was able to show my Irish friends the art of the American flop shot, which was the only part of my game that I actually had dialed in on this day (if anyone has tips on how to grip the club in the rain, I’m desperate). The par fives, in vintage Nicklaus style, provided some relief from the strenuous par fours, as they were gentle and gettable.

Of course, as we played the final three holes, the rain stopped just in time for us to finish. We stopped in the pro shop to give a quick thank you to Andrew, and he asked us how we would rank the four courses we played. We ducked this question like Muhammad Ali dodging a punch in his prime. It’s an absolutely impossible question to answer, as each course was truly unique and different, and offers such variance in your experience.

I loved the Killeen Castle experience, and would strongly recommend it to anyone in the area. It may not be the traditional Irish links golf style that you may have the image of in your hand, but it is a fun, fair, and challenging test to mix into your trip itinerary. Just make sure you’re not showing up on Black Sunday, because I promise if you’re reading this blog, you don’t have the game for it.

Dublin, Ireland Golf Trip, Part IV: Killeen Castle

). A quick pint and some lunch were had at the clubhouse, and then it was off to 

To quickly give you an idea as to how highly thought of this course is, take a look at who was spotted on the grounds just a week before the Open Championship:





— Laurent Verdiere (@LaurentParisPro) 

After we finished our final round of the trip, I was asked by the professional in the golf shop at Killeen Castle how I would rank the four courses we played. I obviously refused the question, as the courses really are impossible to compare to each other due to their contrasting styles, the different conditions we played them in, and the success (or lack thereof) of my game on that day. But if I absolutely had to choose one of these courses as my favorite, I would be hard pressed not to choose Portmarnock.

This was our second links experience on the trip, yet completely different from the style of play at the Island Golf Club. Gone are the high dunes that frame each hole, and ushered in are resplendent views of the sea, and other nearby challenging holes awaiting you. The dunes at the Island did not shield your ball from the wind, but they did shield your body a bit from time to time. No such luxury is afforded at Portmarnock, and on this sunny Saturday afternoon, if your scorecard flew out of your pocket, it was likely to be gone.

It’s hard to describe a lot of the holes and the shots played without a bit of visualization, so see below for an aerial image taken from their website, with some rough drawings on top of what I’m trying to show. No one likes the guy that tells you about every shot of his round, as even the best actors can’t feign enough interest in the play-by-play. I’m not going to pretend that you care about my actual shot-by-shot, but I do want to tell the story of a few holes to hopefully give you an idea as to what it is like to try to piece the puzzle together on these links courses, and to illustrate how much thinking has to go into every shot, as I do think that is absolutely essential to describing this golf experience.

On this day, the wind eased you in by remaining at our backs for the first three holes, which appeared to be rather straightforward par-4’s on the card. I tried to cut the corner at the 380 yard first and drive the green, but barely tugged it too far left, and held up in the long stuff about 60 yards short of the green. Barry grabbed a 3-iron, stung one down the fairway, and watched it roll….. and roll….. and roll. It ended up about even with where I hit my (busted) drive, and his Game Golf app later told him he hit that 3-iron 308 yards. This emphasized the influence the wind had on the ball (even on the ground), the firmness of the fairways, the importance of finding the short grass, and the risk you run of not being able to stop the ball once it’s on the short stuff.

I talked a bit about this on the podcast with Barry, but one hole that sticks out in my mind is probably one that wouldn’t be one of the first ones to come to someone’s mind who has played the course, and that’s the third (see the top right of the image below). What is cut out of the picture is that there is a hazard that frames the right side of the hole. It’s a short hole, and with the wind coming off our backs and from the left, the hazard is pretty much all you can think about. In the past, when I’m not taking driver off the tee, I reach for a 3-iron and either punch one out low, or take a normal full swing. I learned the lesson last year at Carnoustie that with a wind at your back on a links course, I reached for a 3-iron to play short of a burn (I know what you’re thinking, but save it…. driver was not an option). My caddie stopped me, and handed me a 6-iron. I was flabbergasted. I hit the 6-iron, and it rolled out 235 yards, just short of the burn that came in at 240 (there was no more questioning of Ian’s club choices the rest of the way).

On this third tee, I thought back to that exact hole, resisted the urge to pull the 3-iron stinger, and instead opted for a baby 5-iron. It rode the wind just enough, rolled out once it landed, but not too much to reach the hazard, leaving only a wedge into the green. What seemed like a rather innocuous tee shot was extremely rewarding, as I honestly felt like I had learned something from previous experience.

However, for every good decision I made, I typically offset it with a poor one. The 9th hole played straight back into the wind, and the 400-ish yard par-4 was pretty much unreachable, as my well struck 3-iron from 180 fell embarrassingly short of the green. After taking that punishment, I figured it was time to take advantage of the wind being at my back on the 350 yard 10th. I of course reached for the driver, hung one out the right, and ended up just short of pin high in the high stuff. I looked at the remaining shot I had left, easily under 60 yards, and already knew that I was probably going to make a 5 at best. It turns out that you absolutely can not approach this green from the right, as it looks like a Donald Ross green multiplied by three. If I carried a wedge all the way onto the table top surface, it was going to go long. If I tried to run one into the bank, it was likely going to come back down the huge slope (it did). And so did my next putt. Then my next putt went off the green long. One simple mistake, and the price was paid. Double bogey.

Another key factor that I loved about Portmarnock was the rough. It was long and wispy, but you could find your ball every single time. It was punishing, but not automatic-wedge-out punishing. You couldn’t get a 5-iron on a ball from it, but you could hit the green with an 8-iron if you needed to. This meant we spent minimal time looking for balls, yet the course still demanded accuracy off the tee. It’s just a fantastic golf experience that would have to be in my top-10 courses that I’ve ever played.

As was the theme for the weekend, we headed inside the clubhouse for a cold Guinness. Similar to our experience at the K Club, I could have spent at least an hour in that clubhouse just looking at the pictures and the plaques. The names that have walked these grounds include, but are not limited to Phil Mickelson, Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, Seve Ballesteros, Tiger Woods, Tom Watson, Rory McIlroy, and many, many more. The dining room and bar are upstairs, and include a 180 view of the golf course that beat us up over the last three and a half hours. I will leave you with this quote from Padraig Harrington, regarding his experience at the fantastic Portmarnock Golf Club:

“Portmarnock is the fairest links I have ever played, which is unusual because links golf by its very nature can be unfair. It is almost perfectly balanced in that it is both challenging and demanding for every level of golfer…..as stern an exam as a professional could wish for from the back tees, and an equally strict test for the more modest player off the medal tees. ”

Do yourself a favor and click through the 

Articles

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part V: Carne

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part IV: Lahinch

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part III: Tralee

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part II: Ballybunion

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part I: Waterville Golf Links

Dublin, Ireland Golf Trip, Part IV: Killeen Castle

Dublin, Ireland Golf Trip, Part III: Portmarnock Golf Club

Dublin, Ireland Golf Trip, Part II: The K-Club

Dublin, Ireland Golf Trip, Part I: The Island Golf Club

Scotland Golf Trip, Part V: Crail Balcomie Links

Scotland Golf Trip, Part IV: St. Andrews New Course & Jubilee

Scotland Golf Trip, Part III: Carnoustie

Scotland Golf Trip, Part II: Kingsbarns

Scotland Golf Trip, Part 1: The Old Course