Ireland's Best Golf Courses for a Private Golf Tour: Old Head, Lahinch, Ballybunion

TL;DR

Old Head (County Cork), Lahinch (County Clare), and Ballybunion (County Kerry) are three of the most iconic links courses in the world — and all three sit directly along the southwest stretch of the Wild Atlantic Way. Old Head is the most dramatic — a course built on a 220-acre headland jutting two miles into the Atlantic, with nine holes running directly along cliff tops nearly 300 feet above the water. Lahinch, known as "the St Andrews of Ireland," carries design work from Old Tom Morris and Alister MacKenzie, with two untouched 19th-century holes — the Klondyke and the Dell — still central to its identity. Ballybunion's Old Course is where Tom Watson fell in love with links golf in 1981; its par-4 11th hole, now named "Watson's," is widely considered one of the great holes in the game. All three can be built into one southwest Ireland golf itinerary, with plenty of non-golf stops along the way for a partner or family traveling with the group.

Why These Three Courses Anchor a Golf Trip to Ireland

Ireland has no shortage of excellent golf courses, but Old Head, Lahinch, and Ballybunion come up in nearly every serious conversation about a golf trip here — and for good reason. Each one offers something genuinely different, they're all within a manageable driving distance of each other along the southwest coast, and all three sit right along the Wild Atlantic Way, which means a golf-focused trip and a scenery-focused trip aren't competing priorities. They're the same drive.

Old Head Golf Links (County Cork)

If you've seen one photo of Irish golf, there's a good chance it was Old Head. The course sits on a 220-acre promontory near Kinsale that extends nearly two miles into the Atlantic Ocean — nine holes play directly along the cliff tops, with drops of up to 300 feet to the water below. It opened for play in 1997, designed by a team that included Ron Kirby, Paddy Merrigan, and Irish golfing figures Eddie Hackett and Joe Carr, and it plays to a par 72 across roughly 7,100 yards from the back tees.

What makes it unforgettable isn't just the cliffs — it's how the course uses them. The 12th tee is cut directly into the cliffside, playing to a narrow, exposed fairway, and the short par-3 13th hugs the cliff edge immediately after it. More than half the holes offer a water view, and the routing deliberately alternates which side the cliffs fall away on, so the challenge keeps shifting no matter your shot shape.

Practical notes: Old Head is one of the most exclusive and expensive rounds in Ireland, with green fees running into the hundreds of euros in high season, and tee times booked well in advance. If Old Head is the centerpiece of your golf trip, this is the course to lock in earliest — sometimes 9–12 months ahead for prime summer dates.

Lahinch Golf Club (County Clare)

Lahinch is often called "the St Andrews of Ireland," and the nickname is earned both by its beauty and by its architectural pedigree. The course dates to 1892, with Old Tom Morris brought in to shape the layout in 1894, and Alister MacKenzie — who went on to design Augusta National and Cypress Point — remodeling it further in 1927. Martin Hawtree refined it again around the turn of this century.

Two holes have survived essentially untouched since Old Tom Morris first laid them out: the par-5 4th, known as the Klondyke, where a massive dune blocks the green from view on the second shot, and the par-3 5th, the Dell, a genuinely blind tee shot to a green tucked between dunes, aimed using nothing but a white stone marker on the hillside. Both are considered relics of 19th-century course design that later architects deliberately chose not to touch. The course plays to a par 72 at just under 7,000 yards, and it sits a short drive from the Cliffs of Moher, making it an easy pairing with a Wild Atlantic Way sightseeing day. One more thing worth knowing before you go: Lahinch is famous for the goats that roam freely across the course, a tradition going back decades and now part of the club's own logo.

Ballybunion Golf Club (County Kerry)

Ballybunion's Old Course has one of the great origin stories in golf. It existed in relative obscurity until 1981, when Tom Watson — already a two-time Open Champion at the time — was persuaded to play it by former USGA president Sandy Tatum. Watson loved it so much he immediately went back out for a second full round, straight off a transatlantic flight, just days before an Open Championship. He's been closely associated with the course ever since, and its signature hole, the par-4 11th, now carries his name.

"Watson's" runs roughly 470 yards along the shoreline, tumbling downhill between dunes with the Atlantic as a backdrop — regularly cited as one of the best individual holes in the game. The course plays to a par 71, and the influential American golf writer Herbert Warren Wind once called it, simply, the finest seaside course he'd ever seen. Ballybunion sits in North Kerry, making it a natural link between a Clare-based golf day at Lahinch and a Cork-based day at Old Head.

Building These Three Into One Golf Tour Geographically, this works better than most people expect. Old Head sits near Kinsale in Cork, Ballybunion sits in North Kerry, and Lahinch sits on the Clare coast — a route that runs roughly south to north along the southwest coastline, which is also the heart of the Wild Atlantic Way. A well-paced private tour can cover all three courses across a week to ten days, with non-golf days built in for the Ring of Kerry, the Cliffs of Moher, or Kinsale's harbour town itself, so a non-golfing partner or family member isn't just waiting in the clubhouse.

Because tee times at all three courses need to be arranged well ahead of the trip — and because Old Head in particular has limited daily capacity — this is the type of trip where booking early matters more than almost any other tour I run. The driving logistics, the tee time coordination, and the non-golf itinerary around it all work best when they're planned together from the start, rather than as an afterthought once tee times are already locked.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most famous golf hole in Ireland?

Ballybunion's par-4 11th, known as "Watson's" after Tom Watson, is one of the most frequently cited great holes in golf, running along the shoreline between dunes to a green above the Atlantic. Lahinch's blind par-3 5th, the Dell, and Old Head's cliff-edge 12th and 13th are also regularly named among Ireland's most memorable holes.

How far in advance should I book tee times at Old Head, Lahinch, and Ballybunion?

As early as possible for peak season — 9 to 12 months ahead is a safe target for summer dates, particularly at Old Head, which has more limited daily capacity than most links courses.

Can I combine these three courses into one trip?

Yes. All three sit along the southwest coast, roughly in a line from Cork (Old Head) through Kerry (Ballybunion) to Clare (Lahinch), which overlaps closely with the Wild Atlantic Way touring route.

Is Old Head worth the cost?

It depends on priorities. It's one of the most expensive rounds in Ireland, but the cliff-top setting is genuinely unlike any other course in the country. Many golfers treat it as the singular splurge of a longer trip rather than one round among several.

Do I need to be an experienced golfer to enjoy these courses?

Not necessarily, though all three are genuine championship links courses with real challenge, particularly in wind. Lahinch and Ballybunion both offer a second course (the Castle Course at Lahinch, the Cashen Course at Ballybunion) that can suit a wider range of ability levels within the same trip.