Top Ten Irish Golf Photos of 2015

Views over the 17th tee at Shannon Golf Club.

My Flickr page of Irish golf courses recently passed 12,000 images. They're not all of Ireland, I hasten to add - there are photos from Portugal, Poland, Turkey and Great Britain, too - but the bulk are of the many beautiful parkland and links courses on this island.

I've added another couple of thousand images this year. Here's a 'ten of the best' selection, from the

Links Golf This Winter - Irish Golfer Magazine

It may not feel like winter quite yet but Irish golf courses know it's not far away. Temporary greens are coming in to play, forward tees and/or matted tees are being prepared, areas are already roped off... every club golfer knows what it's like. And let's not discuss plugged and unfindable balls in the middle of the fairway, mud up to your ankles and half an hour spent cleaning off your trolley when you're done. OK, so I'm taking it to extremes but it has happened!

Links golf courses do not suffer these same winter blues. Fairways and greens all stay in great shape

Golf Stock Photo Fails (Hooked on Golf Blog)

If you fancy a laugh, check out a bunch of recent blogs over on the Hooked on Golf Blog. They come under the title of  "Golf Stock Photo Fail" and some of them are beauties.

If you're wondering what a 'photo fail' refers to, it's simple. Take your camera to a golf course, hire a model (or ask the locals) and then take snazzy photographs of them on the course swinging a club, posing, celebrating... then take your majestically brilliant

Golf Calendar Winners

Many thanks to all for the massive response to this little 'prize draw'. Biggest entry to any of the freebies on my blog.

The winners are Ronan Coleman and Mick Mehigan.

Here are a few of the photos:

The 1st hole at Durness in the north west Scottish Highlands

The tricky par three 8th at Tain in the Scottish Highlands 

Sunrise over the 3rd green at Galgorm Castle, in Northern Ireland.

Approach to the 13th at Enniscrone Golf Club.

Golf Calendars for 2016

I made up two golf calendars for next year: one for Ireland, and one for Scotland. The Scottish one focuses exclusively on the North Coast 500 golf courses, scattered around the Northern Scottish Highlands. The Irish one has a much wider spread of the island.

I didn't get them to sell - they're for 'promotional' purposes - but I'm giving away one of

Trump, Tramp, Tromp

Oh boy, here I am writing about Donald Trump again. Really, does this guy need to be talked about more than he already is? If your answer is ‘No’ you probably won’t want to read on.

How does a man this bigoted, ignorant and despicable get to be in the running to be the next ‘Leader of the Free World’? Seriously, the man is a super-rich, super egotistical buffoon who makes things up on the spot… pretty much every time he opens his mouth. If he was Pinocchio, he’d be able to use his nose to rake the bunkers in Doonbeg.

When he bought, fought, bullied, grand-standed and manipulated the truth to develop his

Big Whales and Little Fish - Ireland's Golf Rankings

The 6th green at Rathcore Golf Club.

Following the publication of Golf Digest Ireland's Top 100 Irish golf courses last week, there has been a considerable and negative reaction.

That is hardly surprising as the process this year was seriously undermined.

Panelists did not visit all the courses and, as someone who has been

Ireland's Top 100 Golf Courses 2016 - Golf Digest Ireland

Galway Golf Club's 14th

[For the 2017 Top 100 Irish Golf Course Ranking, click HERE.]

[December 2015]
The new Top 100 rankings from Golf Digest Ireland (GDI) are out today. There's a new 'judging panel' which has undoubtedly resulted in some of the changes, but there are still some surprises.

Consider that last year's ranking was a screw up. The independent panel's ranking was altered by the magazine's

Ten Irish Golf Courses to Play in 2016

No, this is not a 'top ten' Irish courses...  this is about interesting, fun and relevant courses for 2016. You should, at the very least, be sure to experience at least one of these next year.