Fresh off St. Patrick's Day, here's the next Ireland update.  I played Doonbeg Golf Club, which is owned and operated by Trump Golf.  I have several observations, both about the golf and how this golf course is viewed / treated by folks:

1 - It feels different.  This is hard to articulate, but the Trump brand has a certain, real or perceived, opulence and east-coast (of the US) old-money, private country club vibe to it.  The resort on property, the clubhouse, the restaurant, the service and the overall feel is that way, which is fine, but frankly, a little "fish out of water" in the charming, friendly and welcoming arms of the Irish, especially those on the west coast.  So, to be frank, I felt a little strangely out of place or strangely enough, in America, when I was at the resort before and after my golf round.  To many, this feel will be an attraction, to me it was a bit unexpected/ uncomfortable.

2 - The politics.  My son and I watch a certain famous golfing pod-cast group that, among other things, do a golf travel series, which is absolutely fantastic, except for this one thing: one of their first ones was to Ireland and they spent half of the Doonbeg review hinting at politics and "not being able to separate" the golf course from their dislike for the owner.  To be clear, I'm not very political and I have no allegiance to the owner at all.  However, I'd just like people stop posturing when it comes to these things.  If you want to make a statement, don't play the golf course and put your money where your mouth is.  If you're going to play the golf course, then treat the golf course separate from it's owner and enjoy it or not on it's merits.  Stop mixing and matching your supposed political convictions and actual activity Americans, it comes off as disingenuous, especially when you're just making money off it (hmmm...sound like something somebody else would do?).

3 - The golf.  I'm sorry to put this third, but the golf course is actually pretty good.  It's not top notch compared to some other Irish gems, but it has many memorable golf holes, some good views and a solid challenge to it, even from shorter tees.  On a standalone basis, if one can ignore the above two items (and a pure golfer should) then it's worth the trip, as long as you can afford the over-priced tee time (my only real complaint).

Most Ireland golf trips that I've had or heard of revolve around playing the long list of great links golf courses the island has, many of which are world renowned.  However, if one drives around the country, they will see many other, lesser known links and parkland golf courses as well.  On this trip to Ireland, I had the great fortune of playing what is dubbed the course furthest west in Europe, Dingle Golf Club, or as it is known in the local, Gaelic dialect, Ceann Sibeal.  It is a very classic links style golf course, with a little bit of elevation change, a pesky burn that wanders it's way throughout and plenty of pot bunkers to go along with the great location.

It's been 6 months since I travelled to Ireland for a family (and golf) vacation.  So, I've been itching to start posting the golf course reviews from that trip since I played all "new" golf courses to this website.  The first of those was a trip to the 2006 Ryder Cup venue, the K Club North Course.  After experiencing that test of golf, I can say, without hesitation, it is clear why it's a tour level golf course.  Not only is it in great shape, but the greens are fast, the rough is real and there are trees and trouble everywhere.  In retrospect, jumping off an 11 hour flight, driving 60 minutes (left side of road) and giving myself no warmups to face this test was not the greatest plan from a scorecard perspective.  However, my son and I had a memorable day having this golf course beat us up.  Fortunately, the Guinness was ready on tap after the round and (shout out to No Laying Up) I conquered the Guinness "first sip" test perfectly on my first try ever.  Gosh I love Ireland golfing!! 

When I moved to Orange County, California in late 2019, I knew a few things about golf in the area.  First, my favorite golf course ever in Orange County, Cypress Golf Course, had been razed during the Great Recession (sad).  Second, I know that generally, OC golf is over-priced for what you get, unless you want to play a string of relatively uninspiring municipal golf courses (or join a country club).  What I did not know, was that the Navy Destroyer Course (where Tiger grew up playing) would be the closest golf course to my house, and also the hybrid golf course I was looking for.  It's quite a bit better than the other nearby golf courses in a similar price range and also fairly challenging to score well.  The only main downside is that getting morning tee times is rough, so most of my rounds have been gathered in the summer months, teeing off after 2pm and finishing near sunset.  No complaints though, as our US service men and women deserve the perks they get here.  I have played the golf course a half dozen times over the last three years and the review is finally ready to go, as a parting gift for the end of 2022!

Now that I have this behind me, I can finally begin to work on the 7 golf courses I'm adding to my list of Irish golf course reviews, "fresh" from my vacation there this past summer.  Here's to something to look forward to in 2023!!

Yet another story of "not getting around to it" I have been sitting on this golf course review for over a year, but at least the Costa Mesa (Los Lagos) golf course review is finally here.  To be honest, I'd never been pressured for it by anybody else, but glad to get this one out.  There are only a couple more golf course reviews like this in the hopper from years past, then I can bridge the winter golfing gap with a lovely series of golf course reviews from my summer golfing trip this past year.

One of my favorite golf destinations is Cabo San Lucas, in Mexico.  My family has been vacationing there now for about a decade.  On my most recent trip, I played Quivira for the second (and third) time.  On the drive into our rented condo, I was blown away about how much new construction there was along the touristy "corridor" but when I got to the area where Quivira is located, it was even more surprising.  The condo we were staying in had not been built when last I played the golf course, and there were two new resorts going in as well, which had replaced the old 17th hole.  Therefore, the routing changed and a new, now 18th hole was built higher up the hill in a less "desirable" hotel location.  The former finishing golf hole was now the first hole.

The middle of the golf course sends the golfer around the lighthouse into a vision of what Cabo golf used to be: sweeping vistas over wind-swept dunes, bordered by cactus and desert.  However, the first time I played here, that's all there was.  Now, there is grading, and walls and other items indicating that another resort is going in that part of the golf course.  This strongly reminds me of what Diamante Dunes used to be.  I played that again this trip, and some of my old pictures are the remnants of those sweeping views, now replaced by two hotels and mansions.  That has accompanied a precipitous fall in the world rankings for that golf course and I imagine the raw majesty of Quivira will soon, sadly, suffer a similar fate, even though both golf courses are incredible in their own right.

That all being said, I don't want to be a hypocrite.  It is people like me that create the demand for Cabo golf (and yes, I know golf courses already change any environment) that send developers into a crazy, to make money and trade in the aspects of what drew people to area, for getting more people to get a less pristine product.  That's always the major conundrum, like with national parks: how many people do you let see them vs letting them be and stay wild.  The world was created for us to enjoy it, but at the same time, we have a tendency to destroy it by over-using it.  I hate getting political, so don't read too much into this, it's just a musing over watching the Cabo golf scene change over the last decade.  The golf courses are still fabulous, the views just keep changing for the worse, which harms the pure golf enthusiast in me.  However, I don't plan on stopping golfing or playing in Cabo any time soon either.

As part of the ongoing efforts to modernize my golf course reviews (see previous blog), I've gone back and updated three golf courses that I've played in the last year, which happen to be in three separate counties of California.  As part of that, I also spruced up some notes on golf courses that have since altered or closed as well.  See updates on:

Buenaventura Golf Course in Ventura County
Strawberry Farms Golf Club in Orange County
Recreation Park Golf Course (Big Rec) in Los Angeles County

As mentioned earlier this year, I plan to re-visit many of the old reviews and pages to update things, not necessarily to re-review, but time can ravage even the golf course world, as was evidenced here by two courses closing since last I played them in the Inland Empire area of California.  Those are clearly labeled now, and there's also a new course addition and a few other minor updates to that area of the website.

First of all, happy Labor Day weekend!  Although running this website does take some "work", it certainly is not laborious so I enjoy bringing an updated series of course reviews from my 2022 trip to the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.  This was my 5th trip there, and my first truly golf destination trip with my now 13 year old son.  We had a great time, got to play all the 18 hole course, see weather from thick fog, to 4 clubs of wind, to perfect conditions and we were able to have some good scores and some not so good scores.  In other words, it was really great!

All that being said, I was able to update my reviews, officially, for 3 of the 5 golf courses, with new pictures.  For Pacific Dunes and Bandon Trails, I did not take new pictures, but I did refresh some of the text and did also update some ratings too.  There are, however, new hole reviews with pictures for Bandon Dunes, Old MacDonald and Sheep Ranch. Enjoy!

The final part of this trio of Hawaiian updates ends with me tripling my Oahu coverage.  This also comes at a great time as the only previous course I had played on the home of Honolulu was Ko'Olau, which recently closed (much to my dismay).

I now have played both Ko Olina and the Palmer Course at Turtle Bay, both of which host professional events and represent two very different types of Hawaiian golf courses.  Enjoy the Hawaiian golf course reviews!!