We were lucky enough to finally make our trip to Scotland and Ireland this year after scheduling it more than 3 years ago. While in Ireland, we had the opportunity to play the famous course – Balllybunion on September 14th.
At the first tee we were introduced to our caddie and a nice couple from England that we would be playing alongside for the day. The weather was a little cool and the skies overcast, but hey, that is links golf in Ireland. It didn’t start really raining until maybe the 14th green. It was on and off from that point on and then on hole 18 it began to come down hard. We were glad to be finishing up.
I would say that the course was very challenging. There were blind tee shots, hills and bunkers, even holes where you would tee off over the last green you just played. Some of the views reminded us of Bandon Dunes in Oregon and they were breath taking. The first few holes are pretty open and allow you to get into a rhythm. If it is raining, I would suggest doing your best not to hit it into the rough, which I know is everyone goal. The rough is very difficult but even more so if wet. Holes 1 through about 5 were pretty wide open but required good shots to shoot par. As we got to hole 6 and on to about hole 15, I figured that if I could score a bogey I was playing pretty good, but with the wind and on and off rain, it played even more difficult. As we got past hole 15 and on to 16, 17, and 18 – I was ready to settle for not losing a ball and being able to putt out. As I said earlier, it is a challenging course, but one every golfer should play or add to their bucket list. Overall, the foursome played well and enjoyed the course.
I would recommend it to anyone and actually play it again myself. Although we decided that for the cost of the trip, we might want to stay state side next time and do a return trip to Bandon Dunes in Coos Bay Oregon 😊.
