Old Head of Kinsale: a review of Ireland's most dramatic golf course

The green fee at Old Head of Kinsale is €375 for a visitor round in peak season. That is approximately three times the cost of a round at Ballybunion, which is also an extraordinary golf course. I want to address this directly: the price is high, it is intentional, and it is, in my view, justified.

Old Head sits on a diamond-shaped promontory connected to the mainland by a narrow neck of land south of Kinsale in County Cork. The headland rises to 100 metres above the Atlantic. On 13 of the 18 holes, the sea is visible on three sides of you.

The 4th hole is the famous one: a par-4 of 389 yards along the cliff edge with a 70-metre drop to the Atlantic on the right. The tee shot requires nerve before it requires technique. Every client I've taken there has paused on the tee and not spoken for a moment. That is not an exaggeration. The scale of the place produces a specific kind of silence.

The course is not technically the hardest I've played in Ireland. Ballybunion Old and Royal County Down both challenge the scorecard more severely. What Old Head does is produce a sustained emotional experience — hole after hole of cliffside, sea-view golf — that no other course replicates.

The experience is divided: first-time visitors are overwhelmed by the scenery and play accordingly. Return visitors settle into the course and begin to play it properly — understanding which holes the wind makes genuinely dangerous and which ones are generous enough to allow aggression.

When to go: June and July for maximum light (evenings until 10pm). September and October for reduced crowds and the green fee dropping to €285. Avoid November to March unless you're specifically seeking the elemental experience of playing in a 40mph Atlantic crosswind, which some of my clients apparently are.

How to book: Old Head has a visitor booking system at oldheadgolflinks.com. Availability fills several months ahead for peak summer. The West Cork experience extends beyond the course itself — Kinsale town is one of the best food towns in Ireland. Build a night either side and make the journey worthwhile.