October golf in Ireland

[ktrainor73]

Looking at an early October golf trip to Ireland. Anyone have experience with typical weather, conditions, daylight, etc expected there?

[midlifecrisis]

Went once in the last week of September / first week of October. That's as close as I can come. The weather is such a crap shoot at any time of year. You could get lucky and do well. It will be much easier to get on to courses and to meet actual Irish people. Daylight becomes an issue as the month progresses, for sure, especially if you want to play 36. Sunset in Dublin is around 7:00 p.m. at the start of October and around 6:00 p.m. by the end (also note they set the clocks back when we used to in Canada, i.e. last Sunday in October not first Sunday in November).

[Playthru]

Played a week of golf in October in Ireland. Shorts weather throughout! But that means nothing. Long term weather is probably the best predictor. Be prepared for anything.

[ktrainor73]

thanks guys - agreed, unpredictable (all 4 seasons in any given day). we're booked, non-refundable so off we go!

[midlifecrisis]

Awesome. What courses?

[ktrainor73]

Prestwick, Royal Troon, Turnberry, Royal Country Down, Royal Portrush. 5 straight days of bucket list golf.

[midlifecrisis]

Prestwick, Royal Troon, Turnberry, Royal Country Down, Royal Portrush. 5 straight days of bucket list golf.

You realize none of those are in the Republic of Ireland, right? lol. Great itinerary all the same. Any chance at all to squeeze in a Western Gailes, Portstewart or Castlerock?

[ktrainor73]

[QUOTE=midlifecrisis;n3714430]

You realize none of those are in the Republic of Ireland, right? lol.

lol yes i tend to generalize. tight agenda (hard enough to line up those courses) so no extra stops...especially with daylight that time of year.

[midlifecrisis]

Well there are certainly no rest days there, for sure. I would rank them RCD, Prestwick, Portrush, Turnberry, Troon, but obviously on a very close vote. And also I have not seen the revised Turnberry or the slightly revised Portrush.

But my ranking is more based on which are most fun, most unexpected, most historic, most "wow" for a mid-HCP, not on resistance to scoring, championship pedigree or the other metrics that "real raters" may use.

It's a ways off still but please post about how it goes!

[ktrainor73]

Interesting you have Prestwick nudging out a couple of current Open rota courses. Can’t wait to play it (I’ve been in the clubhouse but not played - that 1st tee shot looks super fun!). Played Turnberry (stunning) and Troon (appropriately situated in top 100 courses IMO).

[midlifecrisis]

It was the first course I ever played in Scotland -- right off the plane from Prestwick Airport (back in the day when that airport was busier and took international charters) -- so it perhaps has an unwarranted soft spot in my heart. But I was totally captivated by all the 19th century oddities, including that incredibly daunting opening shot, the Cardinal bunker, the Himalayas par-3, the Alps, Goosedubs, all of that. Most better players would rank it 5 of 5 on your list, no doubt, but I loved it.