Old Head

Perched on a peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, on the far southern tip of the Emerald Isle of Ireland near Kinsale, sits the beautiful Old Head Golf Links which is a must play on any Ireland golf package.

The 300-foot cliffs at Old Head are nerve racking enough for most visitors on their Ireland golf tour. This is compounded more if the wind is blowing because you could not be more exposed anywhere in the world of golf. The key to a good score at Old Head is keeping the ball in play and not risking too much. This is especially true on holes such as the 12^th where the sweeping cliffs tempt you to make the hole a little shorter by carrying more of the ocean to the left.  If you successfully navigate the risk, you can be rewarded, but more probable is that you will be victim of the cliffs and lose a golf ball or two!

The Old Head golf course itself can stretch from 5413 to over 7100 yards but pick a reasonable set of tees because it’s all you can handle! The golf course is slightly unusual because it has five par 5s and five par 3s, with half on the holes perched directly on the cliffs like Pebble Beach. Although the proper name is “golf links”, it’s not a true links and plays slower like a parkland course. Everyone should bring a camera to capture memories of this fantastic golf venue and pray for a clear day so that your photographs are suitable for framing!

There is a lot of history around Old Head including the site just offshore where many souls perished on the Lusitania in 1915 when it was sunk by German torpedoes. But human history goes back much further than that as Iron Age nomads settled in the area about 6000 years ago and were quite obviously attracted to the stunning two-mile long peninsula pointing due south. Throughout the years this natural land formation has served as a magnet for people and none as much as today for golfers to the southern tip of Ireland.