Lahinch
Lahinch
Take Old Tom Morris, add plenty of Alister MacKenzie and stir
with some Martin Hawtree… spread liberally over a boisterous
Co. Clare dunescape and leave for generations to come. Lahinch
is one of the most revered links on the west coast. MacKenzie
is the chief architect, with Hawtree working hard to restore
MacKenzie traits which had been lost – around greens most
notably. Today, even with Old Tom Morris’s Klondyke and Dell
holes left untouched, there is a perfect rhythm that drives you
into and through what feels like a ridge of dunes clinging to the
coastline. And yet the variety is spellbinding with blind shots,
long and short par fours and utterly deceptive approaches.
Please be brilliant around greens. Watch and learn from the best
when the Irish Open arrives in 2019.
Waterville
Golfers from around the world flock to Waterville, and the drive
along the Ring of Kerry, above the sea, builds the expectation
no end. This is something special, something idyllic, and the
setting only makes the course all the more alluring. It is far too
easy to fall in love with it. Few courses can boast such picture-
perfect holes and such a sensuous rhythm. You can thank Eddie
Hackett and, later, Tom Fazio for this links work-of-art. The dunes
start low but build quickly into more dramatic and wonderfully
pristine shapes. Raised tee boxes ensure you can see much of the
hole and, with wide fairways, it will make you want to swing hard.
It’s a long course so go right ahead. The front nine are excellent;
the back nine are spectacular.
Ballybunion (Old)
Sitting majestically on the Co. Kerry coastline, Ballybunion offers
36 holes of intrigue and brilliance. The Old course is revered but it
wasn’t until Tom Watson’s rapturous endorsement rang around the
world that the links became a bucket-list destination. Ballybunion
has been basking in that glory ever since. Every shot on these
hallowed fairways and sublime (spanking new) greens is links golf in
its purest form. This is as natural a course as you could hope to find.
Greens sit on high plateaus and in dells, fairways cascade between
heaving shoulders and dunes squeeze greens like over-zealous
bodyguards. Ballybunion builds from a (relatively) calm start and
then just explodes on the back nine.
Old Head
Bold and dramatic, Old Head is undoubtedly one of the world’s
greatest golfing experiences. The peninsula south of Kinsale
blossoms like a pearl earring, dropping into the Atlantic Ocean.
It promises tees and greens perched on 300 foot cliffs. Half of
the holes here sit tantalisingly above a raging sea as you head
out to a lighthouse on the front nine and then back again. For
the back nine, press ‘repeat’. The back tee on the 18th is one of
the scariest places you will ever hit a shot from, tucked above
cliffs and below the lighthouse. It may be surprising to find that
golf here is of the generous variety. On such an exclusive, plush
course the objective is not to punish you but to let you play. If
you don’t knock it into the ocean then you’re unlikely to lose it.
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