DESTINATION
DUBLIN, IRELAND | It has been some 20 years since my first golf trip to Ireland, and the biggest change I noticed since that maiden visit is the quality of the roads. Once a transportation backwater, the country today boasts a vast and modern highway system that has drastically reduced travel times between courses for drivers. To be sure, it is still possible to get stuck behind a tractor or a flock of sheep being herded down a country lane. But that does not happen nearly as often as it once did.
Another development of note is the wider availability of golf carts, better known as “buggies” in this part of the world, at Irish courses and clubs. Those places realize that visiting golfers of a certain age appreciate the option of giving their legs a rest every now and then and riding instead of walking. The establishments also have found that their older members do not mind taking a buggy on occasion.
Ireland’s heritage as a home for writers probably explains why one local company has started selling bottles of spring water with labels boasting images of a couple of Eire’s best-known authors, Oscar Wilde and W.B. Yeats.
Midway through our trip, we spent a night at the Ballyliffin Townhouse on the Inishowen Peninsula, and quite happily so. Located just a five-minute-drive from the Ballyliffin Golf Club, which has two 18-hole links courses, it provides quiet and comfortable accommodations as well as a superb place to eat and drink. My wife and I also availed ourselves of massages at the hotel’s Tess Rose Ocean Spa and found their restorative powers to be quite strong. The establishment is a family affair, with our masseuse (Shannon) the niece of hotel owners Cathal and Jackie Doherty (and the cousin of their son – and bartender extraordinaire – Caomhan).
I have come to prefer Dublin as my jumping-off point for Irish golf trips, largely for the pleasure of spending a day or two in that metropolis. I will invariably pay a visit to Trinity College, which Queen Elizabeth I founded in 1592 - and where Samuel Beckett, Jonathan Swift and Bram Stoker all studied. Wilde as well. I also never fail to check out the Book of Kells, an extremely rare and lavishly illustrated rendering of the four gospels of the New Testament written in Latin by monks around 800 A.D. And also, the Long Room, aka the Old Library. Opened in 1732 and used by students to this day, it is some 200 feet in length and features more than 200,000 of the school’s oldest volumes as well as busts of some of the great writers and thinkers of our time.
Another must-do in the Irish capital is the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl, which is an enchanting tour of the city’s pub culture and the poets and playwrights who were very much a part of it. Led by a pair of actors who tell stories of Ireland’s best scribes and recite passages from their works, it ends at Davy Byrnes, which James Joyce immortalized in his epic novel, Ulysses, as the place where its main character, Leopold Bloom, ordered a gorgonzola sandwich and a glass of burgundy after being repulsed by eaters at a nearby restaurant “slopping in their stews and pints.”
For those golfers who fancy a proper pint, the Guinness Storehouse certainly merits a stop. For a tour of the historic brewery, which was founded by Arthur Guinness in 1759, as well as tastings of its different ales, stouts and lagers. Also, be sure to tarry afterwards at the Gravity Bar. Located on the rooftop seventh floor, it offers sweeping views of the city. You might also want to dine at one of the Storehouse restaurants, such as the 1837 Bar & Brasserie, so named because that was the year when Benjamin Disraeli, a two-time British prime minister in the 19th century, experienced what he described as the best day of his life after pairing a Guinness with a plateful of oysters at the Carlton Hotel in London. Of course, Cynthia and I were sure to do the same during our trip to the Storehouse.
As for a place to stay in Dublin, I recommend the Fitzwilliam. Centrally located on St. Stephen’s Green, this boutique hotel is a true oasis within the bustle of Ireland’s biggest city. The décor is a melding of modern and classic styles, the service is friendly and professional and the on-site car park convenient. We also fell hard for the hotel’s fine dining option, Glovers Alley. The Clare Island salmon with asparagus, hollandaise and Oscietra caviar was ethereal, while the Comeragh Mountain lamb with black curry was the culinary equivalent of a hole-in-one.
On our return to Dublin from the north, we stopped in Belfast to see the Titanic Experience, a massive and very well-curated museum that tells the story of that ill-fated ocean liner, which was built and then launched in that city. Cynthia had a particular interest in our visit there because her grandmother and great-grandmother survived the ship’s sinking. And we found all the information about its building and also its tragic demise to be fascinating. Ditto the stories about Belfast’s role in the construction of the Titanic and the city's stature for many decades as one of the prime shipbuilding centers in the world.
A favorite place to overnight in County Donegal is Harvey’s Point, a sprawling hotel on Lough Eske next to the Bluestack Mountains. Food, drink and service are all top-notch. The setting and accommodations, too. I also like its proximity to some of my favorite Irish courses, with Donegal Golf Club, known as Murvagh, chief among them.
Once again, I turned to my friends at North & West Coast Links Golf for help in organizing my trip to Ireland – and for sage advice as to where I should stay, play and dine. For more on that organization and its services, click here or email: john@northandwestcoastlinks.com.
Tourism Ireland is also an excellent source of help and information for golf travelers.
John Steinbreder