Ireland golf trip

Waterville_Links_Gallery8

Last week I was talking to a colleague over a coffee and told him that I’m currently planning a golf break to St Andrews, Scotland for May next year. I explained what courses we want to play, want St Andrews has to offer and how cool it’s gonna be to walk in the footsteps of golf’s greats, in the Home of Golf.

That guy immediately asked if he could come with us and after I had to neglect, he said something like: “So let’s do something different then, but similar, like links golf, I never played golf in Ireland by the way.”

And so I went home with an idea in my head, started to investigate, read, plan and make up a trip in theory. A word and a blow, I came up with what I believe are the best golf courses in Ireland and luckily they are pretty close to each other, so that travel from one to the other is very easy.

In total I identified two courses on the east coast and six courses on the west coast which I’d like to play in one go. Obviously there are many more great courses but one has to start somewhere. As most flights go into Dublin anyway you are already in the region, play the two courses and then head down south-west with a rental car. There you find some of the world’s most interesting courses nestled along the coast of Kerry and Clare.

I’m now trying to fit this one-week trip somehow into the rest of the schedule, most likely in 2017 but the following will make up a great journey to golfer’s heaven on earth (if you are into links golf I have to say):

East coast:

West coast:

Looks pretty plain vanilla black on white but if you are a golf enthusiast and have a look at the pictures on the websites of these courses, you’ll ask yourself why on earth have you not done this trip earlier. It’s time, the clock is ticking…

You can be assured that cameras and GoPros will be ready to capture all the action in Ireland. I’ll keep you posted. I might be able to fit it in much sooner… let’s see.

Trump’s Scottish masterpiece

scotland04_small

You can call Donald Trump whatever you want, in most cases you will be absolutely right, but you have to admit that he is currently one of the only big shot billionaires out there who really stands up for golf. Of course all this is pure business in his favor and he recently has let the world know what he believes all his golf courses (including facilities) are worth: a minimum of USD 500 million, but experts actually doubt that all his properties are worth that much.

Abstracting from the business (and the business man type he is) his courses are really fantastic. Up to now I unfortunately haven’t had the chance to play one but if you just look at this video and assess that he and his team created all this, that’s pretty unbelievable. A course which only fits into the rugged Scottish coast line, dunes which are so natural and a perfection which almost looks surreal.

You obviously can have another opinion here, but I think that Trump International Golf Links Aberdeen in the north east of Scotland is a true golf masterpiece – and I can’t wait to play there one day!

So, do I want Donald Trump as American president, hell no! Do I want to play his golf courses around the world, yes, yes and absolutely yes! Especially the one in Scotland which is located with Cruden Bay, Royal Aberdeen and Murcar Links just around the corner. Sounds like a good trip to me!

More information: