If you love links golf and are looking for a destination that rivals the best that Ireland and Scotland have to offer, why not consider Australia, specifically Tasmania? I just returned from Barnbougle Dunes and all I can say is WOW! Tom Doak and Michael Clayton have outdone themselves. Here’s a view of the first green looking across to the eighth hole (8th green in the upper right):
When people ask me what I think of Barnbougle Dunes I tell them “take the best of Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, and your favorite links course in Ireland and/or Scotland and Barnbougle Dunes is even better than that.
And not just the golf is great. The food is world class and the lodging is sweet (just a notch below Bandon Dunes in terms of sophistication, but the location — views of the course and ocean — can’t be beat). It’s a long journey for those of you on the east coast of the States (who can hop over to Europe quite easily), but for those of us on the west coast it’s about equivalent to travelling to Ireland or Scotland. Perhaps easier since you most likely you’ll just have one flight between SF/LAX and Australia.
I can’t wait to return.
I recently ran across a fantastic satellite image of Ireland, which I subsequently annotated with the location of a number of Ireland golf courses. A slightly unusual golf map of Ireland, but a fascinating one! To view, click the following link:
www.golfadventureguides.com/IrelandGolfSat/
As you’ll see from the annotated image, I haven’t tried to show all of the courses, just some of the top ones.
Playing Cruden Bay GC in a driving rainstorm — and I mean a torrential downpour accompanied by gale-force winds — has got to be one of my most memorable Scotland golf experiences. I’ll never forget pulling into the empty gravel parking lot, making my way into the deserted pro shop, and asking the pro if there’s any way he could work in a single. To my surprise he paused, looked at the timesheet very, very carefully and with all seriousness replied, “Yes, I think we can work you in this morning.” Dry Scottish humour indeed. That’s about the only thing that stayed dry that day.
This is a photo of the par 3 4th, which plays 183 yards from the gents tees. Now, it looks quite lovely and harmless here in the photo taken by Aidan Bradley, but into the teeth of a gale it’s a monster. With a driver, I think I managed to get it about halfway to the green. I was quite happy to make contact, truth be told.
Cruden Bay is located 40-minutes (23 miles) north of Aberdeen. Its uniquely challenging terrain and magnificent views make it one of the best links courses in Scotland. It’s ranked as one of the top 100 courses in the world (Golf Magazine) and one of the top 40 courses in Great Britain (Golf World). For more on the course, check out this article in Links Magazine about Cruden Bay. I highly recommend getting a subscription to Links Magazine; they have a great ongoing series of the Great Courses of Britain & Ireland featuring a different course each issue.
This is the story of the original Ireland Golf Adventure (IGA), written by my good friend Tim O
I usually like to have everything planned: tee times made ahead of time, hotels booked for each night, etc. It reduces the stress level of just “winging it”
The Ireland Golf Adventure Guide has been updated for 2006/07. All new purchases (immediate download and printed) will receive updated version effective immediately. Customers who have purchased a previous version of the guide can download a free update to this latest version. This is just one of the many advantages of purchasing one of my guides.
Updated information includes, but is not limited to:
- Green fees
- Golf course contact info (email, web sites, etc.)
- Accommodation contact info (email, web sites, etc.)
- Flight schedules
If you buy a travel guide book that was printed sometime last year, or you already own one, I can guarantee that a good portion of the information in it is out of date and/or incorrect. By publishing my guides electronically, I can easily deliver you the latest — and most correct — information. And, even after you’ve made a purchase, because you get free updates for life you’ll always have access to accurate information when you plan your next trip.
Why would anyone publish and purchase any other way?
It’s time to get inspired to plan your next golf trip to Ireland. I’ve put together a short Ireland Golf Adventure Movie with photographs of some of the best courses in Ireland. Click on the image below to go to the movie page.
After every golf trip, I put together a DVD with a movie — more like a photo slideshow on steroids — set to music. It makes a fantastic gift and a great way to relive the trip and/or share it with friends and family. This movie is a mini version of that, without a lot of personal shots, and just a lot of great golf course photos.
Golf course photographs by Aidan Bradley and music by Scott Johnson. Thanks guys!
Muirfield, the Home of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, has a new web site. I’ve just updated the Scotland Golf Adventure Guide to include the URL of the web site as well as their improved procedure for requesting tee times.
From the Visitor Tee Times section of the web site, the club states:
We have introduced this facility to enable visitors to check if we have available tee times when they want thereby saving the time and cost on unnecessary phone calls. Please note that times in the peak season from May to September are taken up very quickly and you are advised to plan well in advance. Generally we can take bookings a year ahead but this will depend on when green fees are fixed for the following year. The calendar will show those dates up to which we can take a booking.
For those who are not successful in getting a peak season time, we would point out that Muirfield has ideal playing conditions all year round and we do not convert to temporary tees and greens in winter.
While it’s not really an online booking system, you are able to easily see which days they might have tee times available, then send a web-based email message (with all the pertinent details) to make contact with the club and start the booking process. Check out the Notes for the Guidance of Visitors page for booking details.
OK, it’s not like I’m giving away any really good stuff for free but I am now providing free demo versions of both the Ireland Golf Adventure Guide and the Scotland Golf Adventure Guide. The demo versions are PDFs of the main guide and include all of the pages in the actual guide. The catch is that I’ve removed most of the valuable content
This is the story of the original Ireland Golf Adventure (IGA), written by my good friend Tim O