Southwest Golf Week

Designed by Robert Trent Jones, Senior, and first opened for play in 1982, the Trent-Jones Cashen Course is Ballybunion's magnificent new course, located among amazingly high sand dunes at the mouth of the River Cashen. To say the course looks natural in its setting is to do it an injustice. The course flows with the land and uses the natural contours to full potential. The roller coaster through 18 spectacular holes, each with its own unique character and challenge. There are no weak holes whatsoever. From the moment that you shoot out of the funnel at the 1st right, up until your final drive over a wasteland, and thence to the magnificent finish of the elevated 18th green, you will have traversed a quite incredible golf course. This is a dateless golf course which after playing makes you ask yourself if you've ever played amid quite such surroundings.

Arnold Palmer's first European design on the shores of Barrow Bay and with great views of Banna Strand. When he first saw the area upon which his company was to build Tralee golf links, Palmer was ecstatic about the possibilities. "I have never come across a piece of land so ideally suited for the building of a golf course" Tralee features probably the finest homeward nine holes in Ireland, each one spectacular and each one offering breathtaking views of the beach and ocean. As you climb the hill to at the long and difficult 11th (Palmer's Peak) the dramatic views unfold. From here a series of outstanding links holes provide a white-knuckle golf ride through the dunes, with the scenery your only friend! Possibly somewhat unfair, but totally unforgettable. "I designed the first nine but surely God designed the back nine", Palmer explained. "I am happy that we have one of the worlds' great golf links here."

Dooks is a high quality, traditional links in a superb location overlooking Dingle Bay and the entrance to Castlemaine Harbour. If one were to play a round with old fashioned equipment and gutta perch golf balls this would be the course. Recent modernisation has taken away some of the more severe quirks, some not to be missed others - such as the bowl shaped 13th green - a nostalgic loss. The 13th best illustrated the charm of Dooks. It was a throwback hole to the time when golf began (golf beagn at Dooks in 1889 making it one of the oldest courses in Ireland). Greens lay where they fell and were better for it. Set out on one of the three stretches of sand dunes at the head of Dingle bay, in the immediate foreground are the sand dune peninsulas of Rossbeigh and Inch and just a few miles away the whitewashed houses of Cromane fishing village provide an eye catching distraction. For the golfer seeking a truly magical location to enjoy good links golf, Dooks presents a convincing case.