For a trip in 2025 initial enquiries began in earnest in May 2024 as it became clear that 2024 timesheets at the major courses were already full. This is a direct result of post-pandemic demand when 2022 timesheets were filled with 2020 postponements.
It may return to a more normal plan from September-December of the prior year at some point but with The Open in 2025 and Ryder Cup in 2027 this is unlikely.
Use our website forms, phone numbers or email addresses to get in touch. From there we can answer questions, help plan itineraries and eventually begin to start making tee-times, booking accommodation and organising transport.
You can have as much or as little information as you like. Even if you just have an urge to come and golf in Ireland but don't know when to come or where to play let us know. If you already know dates, group and courses to play set then just tell us and we'll provide a suggested itinerary & quote.
The main elements of any concrete golf itinerary are dates, numbers (of both golfers and non-golfers) and a list of courses to play. Other decisions need to be made around standard of accommodation, mode of transport etc. but we can start with these.
Early April to mid-October is the generally accepted as the golf season in Ireland especially for visitors. Year-round play is possible on all links courses (though many adopt a lift from the fairway policy), but the bigger courses now restrict visitors to Mid-April to early October.
As explained next it is impossible to predict the weather in Ireland with any great certainty. The summer months of June, July and August are theoretically the best months to play and also provide long hours of daylight. However, May & September are the peak golfing months (when college students are still at school).
April and October are less busy months but also have less daylight and are more susceptible to inclement weather. Very few golf clubs still offer reduced rates in these 'shoulder' months although accommodation & car hire costs are generally less than the peak season months.
April, especially the start of the month, is probably less preferable than October as the length and severity of winter conditions dictates course conditions. An April golf tour does however provides one of the more memorable lessons learned over the past 20 years!
Ireland's famous weather is impossible to predict and nearly as impossible to describe! The reason for "The Emerald Isle" is the rainfall that keeps the many pastures green. There is simply no answer to the question 'What is the best time of year to play golf?' when asked in the context of weather. It could be any of the months from April to October and in any particular year any or all of these months could be fine and dry.
The Atlantic Ocean is the dominant influence on Ireland's climate and moderates the weather. Hence Ireland neither experiences extreme cold in winter or extreme heat in summer. Southwesterly winds from the Atlantic prevail.
The general impression that it rains quite a lot in Ireland is actually false! Two out of every three hourly measurements at the many measuring stations in Ireland will record no measurable rainfall. When rain does fall the amounts are generally very low ranging from 1-2 mm. per hour. Heavier rainfall does occur and hourly amounts of 10mm are not uncommon. As can be seen from the rainfall chart (courtesy of Met Eireann, the Irish meteorological service) the highest rainfall is in the southwest, west and northwest regions.
“Generally cloudy but dry, with some spells of sunshine. Winds variable with some stronger gusts, particularly along the coast. There will be some scattered showers but a chance of more prolonged and heavier rain in places” (my emphasis because they never say exactly what places!)
'I remember last summer...it was on a Tuesday'
'In Ireland if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes'
‘In Killarney, if you can see the mountains there’s rain coming’
Our famous golf map and our golf guide section should be the first port of call. If you have the time and ambition the top 30 or so links course can be played over 5 trips with a specific region each trip.
It is a journey of exactly 1,000 miles (1,620 km) to circumnavigate the coast from Waterville in the southwest to The European Club south of Dublin. And that’s omitting the links at Rosslare which adds another 60 miles.
The most popular links courses are geographically spread – Ballybunion to Lahinch to Royal Portrush to Royal County Down to Portmarnock is 500 miles and that does not include the journey to Ballybunion. For a one time bucket list trip it is manageable – but enjoyable?
So we suggest picking a region or two and focussing on those. In general we plan itineraries where a long journey is made on arrival day and then the trip works back towards departure point.
Arrival/Departure Options
We will respond very quickly with a suggested itinerary and quote. Our initial response email looks like this, you can click the links to see a sample suggestion:
Dear whomever,
Tour Home Page | Detailed Itinerary Suggestion | Quote Page
Your initial itinerary suggestion is provided at the links above. Remember that this initial suggestion can be modified as often as required until YOU are completely happy with it.
Best regards,
Tailor-Made Golf Tours
We are on our way to creating your perfect golf tour itinerary!
We update the itinerary pages to reflect any changes. (The version number changes to e.g. 6767-2). The tour home page is updated (there will only ever be one home page) but the previous detailed itinerary page and the previous quote page remain for comparison purposes.
Dear whomever,
Tour Home Page | Detailed Itinerary Suggestion | Quote Page
As we continue the planning process the itinerary suggestions continue until eventually an itinerary that is achievable and that you are happy with is reached. This could be after Version 2 or it could be anything up to Version 13 (our record). There are lots of factors that affect the planning including:
It normally take a day or two to arrive at a final itinerary. It can take longer depending on how many of your group have input to the planning process and of course depending on how many snags we encounter on the way).
We start making the tee-time, accommodation and transport reservations. Ideally we wait until every booking is confirmed before sending you an online booking form, pro-forma invoice and deposit request.
Once we start making these reservations a ‘Supplier Status Table’ becomes available to allow you to monitor progress of the bookings.
As mentioned earlier planning patterns have changed drastically post pandemic. Many golf courses have adjusted accordingly and opened timesheets for 2025 in April 2024 (traditionally courses opened timesheets in September/October of the prior year).
However many have not really changed their habits (and some are habitually behind the curve). This means an itinerary can be almost fully confirmed but waiting for a confirmation from one or two courses – an ugly scenario but one we have to live with.
Let’s take an example. In May 2024 we are planning a trip for September 2025.
Some courses including Royal County Down have now stopped filing requests and revert to a very old tradition of phoning direct for bookings on a given opening date (e.g. April 2024 for 2025 bookings).
The tour cannot be fully confirmed until Course 4 confirms tee-time availability. In rare cases Course 4 returns 3-4 months later and has no tee-time to offer!
Course 2 and Course 3 are generally not a problem – if one or both cannot offer a tee-time on the requested day we are generally able to rearrange the itinerary. On an odd occasion the course may be, e.g. playing host to a tournament we were unaware of, in this case it may be necessary to change dates or remove the course.
More and more courses now require deposits to secure tee-times. They no longer ‘hold’ tee-times until deposit is received and they do not remove available tee-times from their list until the deposit has been received. Therefore deposits may need to be paid to some courses long before other courses open their timesheets...
Unfortunately Course 1 is typically one of these courses so unless you are prepared to lose an available tee-time at Course 1 while waiting for course 4 to confirm the only option is to start paying tee-time deposits.
More information on tee-time deposits is available under the Terms and Conditions section.
We strive to not send a booking form/deposit request until the tour is fully confirmed.
However we will send the booking form and deposit request as soon as a deposit is required to secure a tee-time.
Final payment is due 9 weeks before arrival so between sending deposit and sending final payment can be anything up to 15 months.
We are always here in the meantime to answer any questions that arise or deal with any unforeseen circumstances such as individuals being unable to travel or others wanting to join the trip.
If the tour has not been fully confirmed we will of course keep you informed of tee-time (or accommodation) confirmations as we receive them.