Old Head Golf Links, off Ireland's County Cork's south coast near Kinsale
To reach most of the top links golf courses in Ireland requires hours of driving on one and two lane, isolated roads to reach the promised land, and Old Head Golf Links was no exception. Once there, Old Head Golf Links is anything but normal links golf, and may be one of the more unique experiences in golf. Having played most of the links courses in The UK and Ireland, we found Old Head to be the most spectacular setting by far, even putting Pebble Beach in a distant second place. The routing though, is essentially an American style (Ron Kirby-former Nicklaus associate, and Eddie Hackett) wide open, links-style of layout, planted on top of Old Head, a cliff-top island 300 feet above the Atlantic off the southern coast of County Cork, Ireland, and hour south of the city of Cork.
A flare-up of acrophobia on a golf course? Only at Old Head
The course has wide open fairways, conventional sand traps, and generally large, sloped, and undulating greens complexes. For the most part it’s a pedestrian routing with a few blind tee shots, but the holes routed along the cliffs are the highlight, and unmatched anywhere. Conditioning was excellent, and the greens were without a doubt the best we played on all week. We had the good fortune to play twice, the first day without wind under partly cloudy skies, the second in bright sunshine with 15 mph wind, both said to be anomalies at Old Head. In fact when we checked in at the first tee, we asked the Paddy, the starter, what the record was on Old Head, without hesitation he said “one day without rain!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3i1c32Bo90
There’s high end accommodations available on the level below the clubhouse, very upscale, and pricey, we elected to stay in town at the Carlton Kinsale, a “Hilton” type Ireland chain, an updated and modern property in a very scenic setting on the outskirts of Kinsale. For dinner, we’d read from numerous reviews the recommendations of Fishy Fishy, and were not disappointed, although there appeared to be numerous upscale restaurants in the small sailing village of Kinsale.
Old Head was a fitting cap to our trip to the southwest, it is not to be missed, but only for the spectacular setting.
I would have to agree that Old Head is one of the more spectacular golf courses I’ve ever had the opportunity to play. While the setting and scenery is spectacular, it’s not really a “links” course in the true definition, but was definitely worth the drive down from Killarney. I would second the recommendation for Fishy Fishy, an excellent seafood restaurant in the heart of Kinsale. Thanks for bringing my a great memory of playing Old Head and visiting the town of Kinsale! Cheers!
Thanks for the heads-up on Old Head, am actually planning a trip to the Southwest there in 2013. Any thoughts on whether to start in Old Head and then head north to end up at Doonbeg/Lahinch, or vice versa? Thanks in advance for your assistance
Depends Russell, Either way you’re flying into and out of Shannon, which is the most convenient. Starting at Old Head is a longer drive by an hour than if you started at Doonbeg/Lahinch, and quite frankly we enjoyed finishing up the trip with a couple of memorable rounds at one of the more unique settings for golf in the world. Hope this helps. Cheers!