Are you booking an Irish golf tour for 2015/2016?
If you have been given the terrible job of organizing the golf tour for boys or girls in Ireland or anywhere else for 2015/2016! You should read my following points, because I would like to share with you some of my thoughts that will help you plan a great golf trip for everyone to enjoy. I’m going to outline a couple of crucial points that will ensure that the task at hand does not turn into a total disaster. In this article I will focus on helping you build a great Irish Golf Tour.
Create a checklist … If you don’t do anything else, just create a checklist. Detail; golf courses, transportation, accommodation, great places to eat at each stop, great shopping, what to see, what to see, research Irish sporting events, and whatever else you think the group would like to do.
Should you get consensus from the groups on which golf courses they would really like to play? But be realistic and trust me; The idea of playing Waterville and Royal Portrush on the same trip sounds great, but there are a lot of trips between those golf courses and you will waste too much time traveling when you could be playing golf.
Before determining where you would like to play golf; I generally segment Ireland into four golf destinations, however the areas may overlap depending on the courses you would like to play on.
Southwest Golf Courses: Ballybunion GC, Doonbeg GC, Dooks GC, Lahinch GC, Old Head Golf Links, Tralee GC, and Waterville Golf Links.
Southwest parkland golf courses: Cork Golf Club, Adare Golf Club (at Manor House) and Killeen at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club.
Dublin Golf Courses (Baltray, European Club, The Island, Portmarnock GC, Portmarnock Links and Royal Dublin)
North & West Golf Links: both courses at Ballyliffin, Carne, Donegal, Enniscrone, Narin & Portnoo, Northwest, Portsalon, both courses at Rossapenna, Rosses Point. (Note that there are many trips to get from one place to another around the west and north-west of Ireland.)
Northern Ireland Golf Courses: Ardglass, both courses at Royal County Down, both courses at Royal Portrush, Castlerock and Port Stewart.
If you like a taste of a couple of the Irish golf tour segments, I suggest you try mixing the Southwest and Dublin or Northwest and North courses. But keep in mind; keep traveling from one place to another to a minimum. There is nothing worse than trying to fit in too much on a 4-, 5- or 7-day Irish golf tour.
The trick here is to make sure you spend as little time as possible traveling in a bus or rental car (don’t drive, by the way, Irish roads can be challenging) and spend the entire time playing golf. Or spend time exploring the area you are in. I’m sure you’ll meet more people by socializing in the local pubs and maybe you can decide to pack the clubs for the day and go fishing. I can assure you that you will find all the interesting places to enjoy pleasant dinners with good entertainment; maybe even enjoy a few pints with the caddies and listen to some great traditional Irish music.
Before reserving something, make sure you are satisfied with the financial commitment of everyone in the group. For example, if you use your credit details to insure 12 golfers at Ballybunion, you will be charged in advance for the full bill and you don’t want to stick with an additional fee that Brother Tom says “oh no I forgot, it’s birthday of my children that week and I can’t go! “
Arrange for comfortable chauffeured transportation and if possible I suggest that you avoid driving cars or vans. I usually advise my clients to avoid the mess with cheap rents, because there may be a lack of good customer services and it’s only chaos if you are unlucky enough that the car or truck breaks down somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I have seen many disasters and I can always hear an echo of those famous last words “ooooh I should have listened”.
If this is your first Irish Golf Tour; book guest houses and bed and breakfasts. This is the best way to get to know Ireland. You will meet and talk to people like never before in your life, spending time with people is fun! Give it a try and I promise you will thank me later. Or at least spend a night in a B&B.
If you feel like the workload is too much for you, please give me a call and I’ll create a great golf trip for everyone to enjoy. There are a lot of fun things to do in Ireland besides golf and I can take care of that plan for the ladies and gentlemen who don’t play golf. You can leave that job to the average golf tour operator, but I will suggest a wider range of things to do and places to see.
If you have any questions about golf trips to Ireland, feel free to contact me. I wish you the best of luck and enjoy Ireland!
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John Dooley PGA,
Golf concierge