The Southwest Ireland Links Pilgrimage

Ballybunion, Lahinch, Tralee, Waterville, and Old Head — a links cathedral strung along the wild Atlantic coast of County Kerry and Clare. Towering dunes, blind shots, and the kind of weather that makes the stories better.

Why It's a Pilgrimage

Tom Watson called Ballybunion the finest test of links golf he had ever seen, and the southwest of Ireland stacks five courses of that caliber within an easy drive. This is golf as adventure — sheep on the fairways, dunes the size of houses, pints in stone-walled clubhouses, and Old Head's cliffs falling three hundred feet to the sea. It is the rawest, most romantic pilgrimage in the game, and the one golfers talk about for the rest of their lives.

The Marquee Courses