Return from County Donegal Ireland

"If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all."-- David Livingstone.

The golf in County Donegal, which is part of the province of Ulster and is located in the far NW corner of Ireland is fun and exciting. The accomodations at Rosapenna Resort and Harvey's Point are worldclass. Livingstone would have loved most of the roads in Donegal as they are remote, very difficult to access, and stressful to negotiate. The Wild Atlantic Way is a tour route of the rugged coast that is true to its name. There were several incidents of roads I needed to traverse to get to my destination being only a single track. The worst stretch was on the way back to Dublin, when we had 18 km of single track that we shared with sheep and cattle. There are very few roads that two cars can pass each other without the possibility of being side swiped. So my suggestion if you want to experience this great golf region of the world would be to hire a driver, and close your eyes until you arrive at your destination.

Eleven years ago, after being inspired by Tom Coyne's book "A Course called Ireland" I embarked on a 23 course tour around the top of Ireland from Dublin to Carne. I got a little taste of Donegal by playing 5 of its courses, so the roads were not a surprise. As I stated previously, three of those rounds I played in the worst weather of my life. If I hadn't prepaid I would have NEVER gone out in that severe of weather. This trip of 11 rounds in County Donegal the weather was fantastic, 12 days and NO rain!! I actually prefer to play in wind, cool temps, overcast weather and planned accordingly for that attire. I could have played in shorts on several days but didn't pack a single pair.

I have now played every TRUE LINKS course in Donegal, 14 courses in all which is a third of all my Irish golf experience. My second trip, 10 years ago, I played the 12 top courses around the South of Ireland where the roads are very good. Once I return to Florida I will start editing the over 1000 photos and write the accompanying articles.