Full Irish Circular Golf Vacation
Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, Ballybunion, Lahinch, Rosapenna, Portmarnock & Enniscrone
The Titans of Ireland
Until recently, if we wanted to play the full Irish cream of courses, we had to splice together two regions operating out of Dublin as a hub for both. Then Rosapenna in the north west, kicked the door down and smashed their place into the world ranking, typically taking a spot somewhere between Lahinch and Portmarnock
American writers began to speculate on the existence of a full Irish circular golf vacation, playing on a continuous loop. Well yes(ish)
They succeeded in drawing a line that creates a circular route, but didn’t really acknowledge that there’s at least a five and half hour drive between Rosapenna and Lahinch. Nor do they appear to have really legislated for many of the featured courses operating visitor restriction days, making consecutive day play difficult to line up, but it is theoretically just about possible, so Faraway Fairways thought we’d run with it, albeit with a few tweaks, since we can see it growing in popularity even if there are a few traps to navigate around
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The Itinerary
Monday – Lahinch
Tuesday – Enniscrone
Wednesday – Rosapenna
Thursday – Royal Portrush
Friday – Royal County Down
Saturday – (Dublin)
Sunday – Portmarnock
Monday – Ballybunion
This itinerary is riddled with potential pitfalls, and it might become necessary to stretch it out
The most efficient way of trying to run this is likely in a clockwise direction landing at Shannon airport (west Ireland). This gives us a chance of pushing through from Galway to Rosapenna (4.5 hrs) playing Enniscrone enroute. That way we can meet the two night minimum stay at Rosapenna
The other major hurdle is Ballybunion on Monday after playing Portmarnock on Sunday afternoon. We’re going to need an early afternoon time at Portmarnock, or late morning time at Ballybunion
Monday - Lahinch
The DNA of Old Tom Morris (1894), Dr Alistair Mackenzie (1927) and more recently Martin Hawtree (1999) runs through the design of Lahinch.
The course has a bit from each of them. Lahinch is rugged and hugely entertaining facing out onto the exposed Atlantic coast. The traditional out and back nine are located adjacent to the beach after MacKenzie had moved holes nearer to the shoreline. Perhaps the pick is the fifth, an eccentric relic from the Morris era that has survived. A blind par 3, played to a narrow hidden green surrounded by towering sandhills. Good luck!
It was perhaps only when Hawtree had finished restoring many of MacKenzie’s tricky green complexes that the course really moved onto the top tier though, where it has remained ever since, widely recognised as Ireland’s second best course behind Ballybunion and holding a good world ranking between 25 and 50.
In 2019 it hosted the Irish Open, won by Jon Rahm
Tuesday - Enniscrone
You might be entitled to ask what Enniscrone is doing in amongst the titans of Ireland, as it doesn’t hold a world ranking in this lofty company? Well the answer is really about geography and trying to find the best fit in the north west of the country that still observes a golf rather than an endurance driving examination!
The Dunes Championship Links course is a highly-regarded links course, offering spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean and challenging layout to offer a true links golf experience. It’s a feature of these west Irish courses that they all seemingly benefit from massive dunes that create capricious wind shifts, and wicked bounces through quixotic undulations that can become friend or foe from shot to shot.
Off the beaten track, probably, the best course in Ireland off the beaten track – it would get a few visitors but not many – would be Enniscrone.” – Shane Lowry
Wednesday - Rosapenna
Rosapenna, and the recently renovated St Patricks course suddenly leapt up the rankings from seemingly nowhere to rank behind Ballybunion and Lahinch, vying with Portmarnock (and overtaking it on some lists) for third place. Why? Well the answer is Tom Doak and completely new design
The St Patrick’s Links is routed in an adjoining dune system just south of the existing two courses at Rosapenna. Doak has fashioned 18 unrecognisable and unforgettable holes over the same tract of land. The result? A sprawling links that is destined to become a modern great and one which is drawing comparison with Barnbougle Dunes.
It sits on the most magnificent piece of links land – huge scale and scenery, with enough variety in dimension to present a real diversity of golf holes. The routing takes golfers on a journey through huge dunes, to high above Sheephaven Bay, along the coast, then back over some more gentle dunes… and that’s just the front nine! With plenty of width and an eclectic mix of naturalised bunkers, the course is unlike anything in the UK & Ireland.
Thursday - Royal Portrush
Royal Portrush is constructed on an area of natural dune land framed by limestone cliffs. The Open was held here in 1951, and won by Max Faulkner. In 2019 it returned, Shane Lowry playing the elements best of all to prove a popular local(ish) winner, whilst Scottie Scheffler obliged in 2025 (note how quickly the R&A came back!)
The Dunluce Links is home to one of the most stunning par fours in golf, the 411 yard 5th hole. A dogleg hole played from an elevated tee towards the ocean, it rewards the daring shot across a wide expanse of rough. An overly long approach shot will end up on the sand of the White Rocks beach which lies just beyond the rear of the green however. Carnage!
Calamity Corner, the 210 yard par 3 16th hole is the other feature hole. Between the tee and the green is a yawning chasm, which must be cleared to stand any chance of making your three. This is a score wrecker coming at a decisive moment in the round.
Friday - Royal County Down
Periodically Royal County Down can displace the likes of Pine Creek or Cyprus Point as the world’s highest rated golf course (its that good).
It is framed in one of the most stunningly natural links settings in golf. The Murlough Nature Reserve provides the stage, the magnificent Mourne mountains the backdrop. The narrowest ribbons of fairways thread their way through as impressive a set of sand dunes as could be imagined. The fairways are surrounded by purple heather and golden gorse, so beautiful to look at, but so punishing for any who may stray from the prescribed path. The ‘bearded’ bunkers are world famous, featuring overhanging lips of marram, red fescue and heather. The greens are fast and many are domed, rejecting any shot lacking conviction.
The ninth hole is one of the most photographed holes in world golf, a 486 yard par 4, it is played from one side of a huge mound down to a fairway some 60 ft below and 260 yards from the tee. From the bottom of the slope the second shot is played over two bunkers to a raised green.
Saturday - Dublin (non golf)
The distribution of Ireland’s golfing titans means that we have to go to all points of the compass. Not only that, but just about all of them operate some form of visitor restriction we need to fit into. Consequently we need a down day to thread the pearls together and perhaps a Saturday in Dublin is our first choice
Dublin needn’t be a city in which we tick off a list of landmarks. Indeed, it’s a little bit lacking. After years of dwelling on this we decided that Dublin isn’t a city, it’s a person! (or people’s to be more precise). Once we realise this, Dublin makes sense. It’s lively, charismatic, atmospheric and fun. It’s a city of poets, play-writes, and personality
Sunday - Portmarnock
With a rich history closely aligned to the progression of golf in Ireland, Portmarnock has hosted numerous Irish Open Championships, the Walker Cup, Irish Amateur Championships and the British Amateur Championship, and the rumour that it’s being lined up as the next course to be introduced to the Open rotation doesn’t look like dying down (we think this one has legs)
From Sam Snead to Seve Ballesteros, some of golf’s best-known names have tested their skills against this majestic narrow tongue of shallow dunes-land, just north of Dublin.
Considered by many as one of the fairest links courses in the world it delivers an incredible challenge and true test of golf.
Perhaps five-time Open Championship winner Tom Watson summed up the links best during his visits saying, “There are no tricks or nasty surprises, only an honest, albeit searching test of shot making skills.”
Monday - Ballybunion
Located on the north west coast of County Kerry, on the Atlantic coast of south west of Ireland, Ballybunion is usually regarded as the best links in the Republic, and typically ranks in the world’s top 20.
Beautifully contoured fairways that tumble through a blanket of grassy dunes lead you on a journey of rarely equalled bliss. The secret to Ballybunion seems to lie in accepting that nature has already done the design work, and all that was required were finishing touches.
It was probably Tom Watson’s eulogy from 1982 that made people really sit up though and begin to realise just what the Irish had at Ballybunion. “Nobody can call himself a golfer until he has played at Ballybunion; you would think the game originated there!”
Non Golf Options
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What's Involved?
This is a demanding point-to-point circular tour of Ireland’s golf titans, courses that regularly hit world top-75 rankings (plus Enniscrone). The latter is really being used as point of play between Galway and Rosapenna that would otherwise be a five and half hour driving day. Although its Rosapenna’s elevation into the world’s top-100 that has now made a circular route possible, (something that a few golf magazines have started touting) Faraway Fairways still think it needs refining. There is significant mileage between some of these courses and a lot more hidden local restrictions that golf writers might have fully accounted for. We’ve laid it out to the tightest we think it can be done (in theory) but wouldn’t seek to discourage anyone who wished to add a few days in the pursuit of diluting the intensity
One of the most critical things we’ve done is run clockwise using Shannon airport, rather than Dublin as our hub. This might not suit everyone, so its entirely possible we might need to build a variant of this again using Dublin
The Full Irish Circular Golf Vacation is laid out as an seven night duration that observes a demanding point-to-point itinerary, staying at:
- Galway – 1 night
- Rosapenna – 2 nights (mandatory condition)
- Portrush – 1 night
- Newcastle (County Down) – 1 night
- Dublin – 1 or 2 nights
- Limerick – 1 or 2 nights
We might legitimately decide to draw some of the intensity from this itinerary by introducing additional step days and extending out to 9 or 10 nights yet?
This trip is much harder to set up than a golf travel writer sitting thousands of miles away and drawing a line on a map probably realises, not least because the Irish have introduced a lot of local restrictive clauses to their booking policies
The Full Irish Circular Golf Vacation is very much the archetypal point-to-point tour
This is a high mileage and high intensity tour, although we’ll also have extended periods driving on lower density roads in the rural north west
We estimate a total of 850 miles and approximately 21 hrs road time, which is an average of about 3 hrs each day
We wouldn’t advise or encourage anyone to attempt this using a hired driver. Not only will this become expensive, it could leave us horribly exposed in the event of a failure
The better flow can probably delivered by using Shannon Airport rather than Dublin, but since Shannon only has direct flights from New York, Chicago and Boston, this might not be convenient for everyone in which case we’ll need to explore different structure using Dublin
The drive between Galway and Rosapenna is about 5 hrs. It’s one of the reasons why Faraway Fairways aren’t completely convinced by the golf travel industry’s assertion that this is a circular tour. We’ve included Enniscrone to make sure there is at least some golf involved! but you may choose to omit this
The drive between Dublin and Ballybunion is 4 hrs. The drive to Limerick is abotu 2 hrs 45 mins. We can only play Portmarnock on Sunday afternoon. We need something like a 14.00 to 15.00 tee-time to make this work
Our problems aren’t confined to Portmarnock however. Ballybunion only permit visitors to play on morning tee-times. If we have to travel any distance on the Monday to make it to Ballybunion, then we need a later morning time from about 11.30. This is a narrow window to land in
Full Irish Circular Golf Vacation can support Luxury, Premier and Affordable options.
Rather than drifting too far off our line of travel in the pursuit of luxury we might be better advised to take what lies in our path, as we’re essentially threading together a series of single or two night stays. In most cases this is likely to be perfectly acceptable ‘Premier’ grade hotels
Indeed, if we’re looking for luxury, we perhaps shouldn’t lose sight of focusing a bit more on our hire vehicle and the ride comfort we’ll enjoy, as we’ll be spending almost as much time in this as we will the hotels
As ever, the scale of non-golf activity depends on whether we’re adding extra value for golfers, or building a stand alone proposal for non-golfers to run alongside a golf programme.
The Full Irish Circular Golf Vacation is something of a ‘road trip’ that resembles a treadmill in places. We would advise that you give serious consideration to omitting non-golf activity and only look to include that where we are staying, that which is in very close proximity, or that which is pretty much on a line of travel
Candidate would include
- Dublin with (Portmarnock)
- The Giants Causeway (15 mins from Portrush)
- Battle of the Boyne (line of travel to RCD)
If we have independent driving non-golfers in the party however, then they can begin to expand their horizons and weave us of places like the Cliffs of Moher, Dublin, Dingle, Belfast, and Carrick u Rede into their tapestry
The following courses operate the following handicap thresholds for gentlemen and ladies respectively
- Royal Portrush (18 & 24)
- Royal County Down (24 & 36)
- Ballybunion (24 & 36)
- Lahinch (24 & 36)
- Portmarnock (24 & 36)
Ballybunion doesn’t permit visitor play at weekends or afternoons
Lahinch doesn’t permit visitor play at weekends
Portmarnock only permits visitor play on Mon, Tues, Thurs and Sun afternoons
Portrush doesn’t permit visitor play on Weds, nor Sat or Sun mornings. Their week day play is a mixture of full and half days. Tues and Thurs are full days. Mon is afternoon only, and Friday is mornings only. In order to play the Dunluce links off a morning tee-time, Portrush now require that we play a second round on their Valley course over two days. We could find we get forced into this with the consequence that we’d need an extra night. This would knock RCD onto a Saturday (no visitor play permitted)
RCD doesn’t permit visitor play on Weds or Sat, or Sun morning. They also operate a mixture of half days and full days for weekdays. Mon, Tues, and Fri are full days
The Rosapenna resort hotel is the logical place to use, but they require a two night minimum stay. This means we’re likely to get forced into playing a course enroute to our first night that we needn’t otherwise have really wanted. In a worst case scenario it can disrupt the synchronisation of our visitor days
Whereas golf tour operators enjoy favourable arrangements with a lot of courses, one which represents a risk to any assembly in which they feature is RCD.
RCD open their diary for play the following season in February and will sell out in 36 hrs. If we’re late to the party, we’ll be most unlikely to play there. This means that we need to operate on a long-lead time.
This isn’t the only issue we face there however
RCD sell their tee-times on one hectic day by phone. This involves hitting ‘last number redial’ over and over again in the hope of landing on their limited by number call stacking system. Very often we have to spend hours and hours meeting the engaged tone.
Faraway Fairways have nearly always succeeded in getting tee-times at RCD (eventually) but we’ve had too many near misses to know that we’ll fail again in the future.
There is a known risk in this process, and whereas clients are always welcome to roll the dice themselves and see if they can get lucky alongside our efforts (can always be worth trying), but we’ve never had anyone succeed where ahead of Fairways Fairways yet
Adding Non Golf Value
Testimonial
From BB Canada
“I told Alun the courses I was interested in playing and he prepared a stay and play package with 14 days of outstanding golf, but also tremendous site seeing opportunities for my wife.”
From JC Illinois
“His attention to detail is amazing--I think our travel plan booklet ran to forty-eight pages, with gorgeous descriptions of cities and sights, plus maps showing where to go to catch trains, or walk from trains to hotels, sights and golf courses, etc.”
From DF Alabama
“I will cherish the memories for a long time- especially the wonderful times spent on and off the golf course with two of my brothers and brother-in-law. None of the memories and golf would have been possible or enjoyed without your tremendous planning and logistical support.”
AS from Colorado
“Alun and Faraway Fairways created possibly the most memorable golf trip we have ever experienced. EPIC is the only word that comes to mind.”
AC, From Florida/ New York, 2025
“We were hopeful to secure a 4 ball at St. Andrews while avoiding the massive expense other operators had quoted. He was very clear about the plan for achieving a tee time at the Old Course through the ballot, including detailed instruction on how it could be done, and what our odds were. He suggested mid- to late April as the best chance of success and advised that this is also the least rainy part of the year. We took his advice and trusted the process. Well, he was right on all counts!”
From SB, Minnesota
“We wholeheartedly recommend Alun and Faraway Fairways if you’re looking for a golf trip that is effortless, enjoyable, and truly unforgettable—even for a non-golfer in the mix! My husband and I will be daydreaming about this trip for years to come. 5.5 stars!”
From JB, California
“The best part was that the service was surprisingly affordable. They were thousands of dollars below other quotes that I received, in fact the prices were very similar to what I would have paid if I would have booked everything on my own.”
From JCA, Maryland
“I would and will highly recommend your company to anyone looking to plan an unforgettable golf trip. Thank You for putting together a fantastic trip for J.C. and me”
From WF Connecticut
“I think all eight of us would agree that Alun at Faraway Fairways did an absolutely wonderful job of putting this “golf vacation of a lifetime” together for us. His focus on the details was extraordinary from the choice of courses and the timing of the tee times, the amazingly beautiful accommodations along with some excellent meal selections, and the transportation options he provided to get us from place to place.”
From DR South Carolina
“You are about to tee it up in your Major. Seek wisdom, integrity and professionalism. Alun Davies and Faraway Fairways will not disappoint you. They cannot assure a calm sunny day with temperatures in the 70’s on the Old Course.”
From MM, California
“One fantastic trip you organized, and more importantly took ownership of in terms of daily communication and stewardship during our 2+ weeks in Scotland and Ireland. The logistics were spotless…100% of the transports were on time and excellent, the lodging choices spectacular and the golf was off the charts in terms of quality and arrangements made”
DH from California
“You cannot go wrong with the support Faraway Fairways offered. I did this trip solo and all last minute but I have already begun to plan the next trip which will include my best golfing buddies.”
Enquiry
We don't need to make this an ordeal by 101 filtering questions! In reality there are probably little more than half a dozen things we need to know to build out a proposal. The guidance below might help you frame answers
Duration - usually best expressed as a range up to a maximum
Time of year - can be anything from a specific date range to a named season
Travel class - Faraway Fairways uses 'Luxury', 'Premier' or 'Affordable' for generic purposes. You might choose to reference the international 'star' rating system. We're only looking for something to help steer us into the right sector
Self drive or hired driver - In broad terms, self driving is normally less expensive, and much more flexible, but some folk just don't want to do it
Must play courses/ must do places - a few name checks is all that's needed