Where do the chefs really eat? And where do the golf travel pros play when they go on a golfing holiday?

If you are a want-a-be world golf traveler who has a passport but has yet to pull the trigger on a lavish golf holiday this may be the answer you have been waiting for. There has never been a better time for you and your partner to travel to Europe… you may never see air travel and golf prices at these low prices again.

Where Do The Golf Travel Pros Play?

Did you ever wonder where the golf tour operators go when they get together to play some golf/ party/ and spoil themselves with wonderful rooms, amenities and foods? This year like many other years the NAGTOA (Northwest Ireland Golf Challenge) and quests are heading to Northwest Ireland. So if you are interested in playing some spectacular links courses in a friendly two-person format with daily team prizes and inhaling the beauty of the Irish countryside this golf travel Ireland trip may be the golf trip for you.

This year a limited lucky few will be able to join the North American Golf Tour Operators’ Alliance from September 12 -19th in their Golf Challenge 2009 and a golf travel Ireland trip. This is the type of group that knows great courses and knows great hotels and most importantly they know how to have a great time. The Challenge will be played on historic golf travel Ireland courses in the northwest of Ireland like Carne Golf Links, County Sligo Golf Club, Enniscrone Golf Club and Connemara Links.

The group will be staying at Abbeyglen Castle Hotel with large comfortable rooms and cozy working fireplaces. The Castle, with its new spa facilities and afternoon tea is owned by Paul & Brian Hughes, wonderful characters who always provide laughter and entertainment during the stay.

After golf the Moylett family who have run the Downhill House Hotel for three generations will also invite you to party and relax. Take time to wander through their wonderful gardens overlooking Bronsa Falls which provide a tranquil environment after a long day of your golf travel Ireland trip. There are also a couple swimming pools and a Jacuzzi for that occasional sore back and a sauna to sweat-out any late night effects of the many planned parties.

This is a real opportunity to save money while joining some interesting and fun people on a well planned Ireland golf trip. Put yourself in the pros hands because nothing is better than playing and partying with a group of travel pros who are experts at bringing together new friends for a little friendly, fun golf competition.

For additional information on this years NAGTOA Northwest Ireland Golf Challenge, to help plan your golf travel Ireland trip check-out www.NAGTOA.com or wclgolf@iol.ie .

Since Wales is five hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time, we got to play then watch the matches. It’s a good thing that the USA team played better than their writers did. Enough said.

Ever since 2001 when it was announced that Wales was going to host its first ever Ryder Cup, the country has been touting its golf. They have a great deal to tout as we played some of the best courses we’ve ever played in the world.

Most people think of going to Ireland or Scotland for their links golf. Wales should definitely be included with those other two countries when considering a golf trip to the British Isles.

“We like to think that Wales golf is like it was in the rest of the British Isles 20 years ago,” said Jane Harris, Media Relations Executive for Visit Wales and our hostess for the trip. “Our courses are spectacular, but our prices are very reasonable. It’s golf as it should be,” she added.

“With the Ryder Cup coming to Wales we have seen a huge boost for Wales’ unique brand of golf. Our courses are no longer ‘best-kept secrets,’ they are on the worldwide map,” said Rob Holt, chief executive of Ryder Cup Wales

2010.

Cardiff, the capital of Wales, is less than two hours from Heathrow Airport in London. It is a port city that has changed drastically from the coal-exporting place that it was for over one hundred years. “Coal mining was our country’s largest industry, but that ended about thirty years ago,” said Harris as she showed us around the port area that looked quite similar to the changes happening in Providence with many new restaurants and shops for tourists.

About 300,000 people live in Cardiff and over 60 percent of the country’s population lives in the southeastern corner of Wales.

Our first stop was the Parc Hotel in Cardiff, a very nice Victorian hotel and one of its historic buildings. Cardiff makes an excellent hub for golfing in the southern part of Wales with many top hotels.

Folks talk about the rain in Wales and the rest of the British Isles, but the only shower we saw in seven days was as we were heading to our first round of golf at Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club about 20 minutes from downtown. As we pulled up to the cozy clubhouse and pro shop the rain stopped and we never saw it again.

Pyle and Kenfig was a tale of two dramatically different nines. What was different about the course was that a quite large (for Wales standards) road went right down the middle of the course. “During World War II the armies (American and British) requisitioned much of the course to build that road,” club professional Bob Jones told us. The members purchased land closer to the sea, and the back nine has high and deep dunes that require precise shot-making to score well. Originally designed in 1922 by H.S. Colt, the fee is for 27 holes so that you get to play the back nine twice. You’ll score better the second time for sure and you will love the links’ holes.

Our second accommodation was Egerton Grey Country House located close to the airport. This nine-room luxury hotel, originally a distinguished country house and also a rectory at one time, dates back to the 17th century and is beautifully restored with wonderful antiques and lush gardens. Great food and a cozy setting make this a great location for couples.

Our second stop on our golf trip was Southerndown Golf Club. Founded in 1905, this course was a regular stop for Harry Vardon, James Braid, Willie Park and more recently Donald Steel. It was planned as a 7,170-yard course when St. Andrews measured 6,323, but was scaled back to the present 6,449 yards. As you wind your way up a steep hill to get to the picturesque clubhouse you will be amazed to see thousands of sheep. Yes, sheep are all over the golf course, but it really only adds to its charm. “We have six million sheep in Wales and only three million people,” said our driver as we pulled into the parking lot. Most of the land in the area was given to the people back in ancient times with the caveat that farmers would always be able to tend to their crops and livestock. There are still two farmers who use the golf course land to graze their sheep and it is indeed unique. They get out of your way, but you do need to watch for their droppings.

Similar to our Canadian geese, I guess.

The first hole goes straight up a large hill, then you stay on the crest of that hill for most of your round until 18 when you come back down to the clubhouse. The fifth and seventh are both par 3’s and spectacular. You look over a cliff and out to the sea from many vantage points.

Our third course makes the top five list of courses played anywhere in the world by this writer. Royal Porthcawl sits along Swansea Bay, and the first three holes run right along the water. You actually can view the sea from every hole on the golf course. The beautiful design with firm fairways and diabolical pot bunkers that seem like they are magnetized to draw golf balls is a golfer’s dream. We played on a windless day, but our playing host, Dylan Williams of Wales Golf Vacations, said that varying winds make the course play quite different each time.

The seventh hole measures only 122 yards but it might be one of the best in the world. We had scores ranging from 2-7. The pot bunkers and sloping greens will be a great test, but one you might never forget. Tiger Woods played here as an amateur in the Walker Cup in the

1995.

Our accommodations for the last three nights were at Celtic Manor Resort and we got to play all three courses on the property. The hotel is the largest in Wales and offers great views of the golf courses. The Ryder Cup players will be staying there in 2010, and the two wings of the five-star hotel make a good way to split the teams.

Celtic Manor Resort was the brainchild of Sir Terrence Matthews, a Welsh telecommunications entrepreneur who was born on the property when it was a maternity hospital. The land sits high on a hill and the Manor has 330 rooms, 32 suites and is a five star Resort Hotel. There is also a convention center, exhibition hall, two health clubs and two spas, five restaurants, tennis, fishing, shooting and mountain biking on the property.

Ian Woosnam, captain of the winning European Ryder Cup team in 2006 and a native of Wales, said, “My connection with Sir Terry Matthews’ masterpiece goes back to the 1990s.

I was attached to the club as touring professional for seven years and it has been great to watch the resort grow. The new Ryder Cup course is a world-class venue that will set the seal on Wales’ arrival as a major magnet for golf tourists.” Roman Road, the first course built on the property in1995 and designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., is a fun test of golf. The name of the course is derived from the ancient road that the Romans built that crosses its fairways. The Celtic Manor Wales Open was played there from 2005-2007.

The Montgomerie course, designed by Colin Montgomerie whose Ryder Cup exploits are legend, was the last of the three courses to be built in 2007. Deep pot bunkers and some forced carries make this course a good challenge. The par 5 third hole goes steeply downhill into the valley, and the morning that we played it the fog was still in the valley.

Looking down into the white soupy fog was certainly a different experience.

The Twenty Ten Course was the first course ever built for hosting a Ryder Cup event. A par 71 that measures 7,493 yards (don’t play those tees unless you are a very low handicap player) offers plenty of risk/reward challenges.

Twenty Ten has water on 15 holes. It might be a good idea to pack a few extra balls in your bag. The greens are very large and quite undulating. Large sloping (similar to TPC courses) offers spectators grand views of the competition. Try to stay off those slopes if you are playing, because the native fescue and grasses have a way of swallowing golf balls.

The Twenty Ten Course has its own clubhouse and dining area, and it is truly firstclass.

First-class would be the description of the whole Celtic Manor experience and should certainly be on a golfer’s list of places to stay and play in Wales.

We were very fortunate to visit Wales and try some of their wonderful golfing venues.

With over 200 courses in the country, there is truly something for everyone. We always try to ask for names of some of the courses that others highly recommend that we didn’t see and we were given a long list. Making the mustplay list included: Rolls of Mommouth, Aberdovey, Royal St. David’s, Nefyn, Pennard, Llanymynech, Ashburnham, Conway and Tenby.

We saw quite a few Americans touring on golf packages. Dylan Williams said that packages are customized for every type of player and group. He added that hiring a tour driver for your stay was a great idea. It will be fun watching the 2010 Ryder Cup from Wales. It would be much more fun to get back over to Wales and try out some of their other great courses and savor the wonderful hospitality and friendliness of the Welch people. Maura Nolan, who has been operating tours to the British Isles for twenty years from her office in Stamford, Ct. said, “We are sending many more people to Wales in recent years and they love it. They enjoy the remoteness, love the links courses and the great value.”

* Visit Wales www.visitwales.com
* Golf Wales www.golfasitshouldbe.com
* Parc Hotel www.thistle.com/hotels/cardiff
* Celtic Manor www.celtic-manor.com
* Wales Golf Vacations www.walesgolfvacations.com
* Maura Nolan www.irish-links.com 1-800-824-6538

It included a half-dozen golf writers from the U.S. and two from England.

The draw for bringing us over the pond on this golf travel Ireland trip was the Walker Cup, but it was also a chance to showcase the great golf travel available in Northern Ireland.

It was only the second time that Ireland had hosted a Walker Cup event, and they went all out in providing wonderful hospitality, great food, a few Guinness and even better golf.

We flew into Dublin (direct from Boston on Aer Lingus which took 6 hours) and were met by a tour bus driver (one of two we had for the week) and driven two hours to Belfast.

We all remembered the problems in Northern Island, especially Belfast, but our host for the first part of the journey, Karen Hope, Activity Tourism Officer for the Northern Ireland Tourism Board, said,

“Things have been fine for years now, we have such a lovely country and are excited to show it off.”

She went on to say that one-sixth of all the true links courses in the world are in Northern Ireland, guess that makes golf travel Ireland a priority.

Portstewart Golf Course

By the next day we were over our jetlag and anxious to try out the links courses.

We went north to the Atlantic Ocean and played Portstewart Golf Course. What a gem!

The first hole is played downhill and is a dogleg right.

The right side is all gorse and heavy bushes and left is tall fescue. The walk to the second hole is uphill and the Atlantic is behind you as you tee off with a large dune on your left and an uphill green 400 yards away.

Very intimidating beginning, but the routing and beautiful downhill par 3’s will make you want to play it again.

The clubhouse has a beautiful deck with views of the mountains and ocean and you will want to while away the time with a few pints.

There are two other less challenging courses on the property that looked like they would be fun to play.

Royal County Down

(Picture is of the first hole at Royal County Down. That’s the famous Slieve Donard Hotel in the background.)

Next on our golf travel Ireland trip was traveling to Royal County Down for the Walker Cup the next two days.

Being spectators was exciting, but getting a chance to play it would have been thrilling.

The course is rated in the top 10 in the world by most publications, and this reporter did not see anything to alter that opinion.

The group was anxious to get back to golf after serving as reporters for a couple of days.

Royal Portrush Golf Course

Justin Farrell of North & West Coast Links, a marketing arm of the Tourism Department, had taken over as our host after the Walker Cup, and he did not disappoint as we headed back north to Royal Portrush Golf Course.

Most people rate Royal Portrush and Royal County Down as the top two courses on their golf travel Ireland visits.

After playing Royal Portrush, it is hard to imagine anything being better.

The first hole is 400 yards uphill with a bunker that is 15 feet deep lying 20 yards short of the green and a bunker 20 feet deep to the left of the green.

The really scary part was that it was only the 11-handicap hole.

Could there be 10 harder?

There was not, but many of the holes would take your breath away, especially number 14, called Calamity Corner.

It is a 210-yard par 3 over a ravine. You need to carry the ball 180 yards over the ravine, and with the wind howling off the ocean to your right it was truly intimidating.

When we were standing on the tee at 14 we looked down to our right and saw another 18 hole course as part of the property.

It looked easier and went right to the ocean. This golf travel Ireland trip was beautiful!

Picture: Royal Portrush’s fifth hole.

This was our favorite course on the trip.

You need to keep the ball on the fairway at Royal Portrush and actually all the links courses because the spongy high grass eats golf balls.

The course was founded in 1888 and I am sure there are a lot of gutta-percha balls as well as thousands of newer balls lost in those grasses.

Ryder Cup star Darren Clarke learned his golf at Royal Portrush and has a home on a hill above the town.

We stayed at a Ramada Inn in Portrush, and most of the guests were golfers from the United States. It is amazing how golf travel Ireland there is from the U.S.

Ballyliffin Golf Course

The next day we traveled to Ballyliffin Golf Course, taking a car ferry across the Lough Foyle.

Ballyliffin has two courses, the Old Course and Glashedy Links.

This is the only property in Ireland that has both courses listed in the top 25 in Ireland,(so it is a must visit on your golf travel Ireland trip) and we were playing the newer course, Glashedy Links.

It is only 10 years old, but it looked like it had been there for a century.

The main difference between the two courses was that the fairways on Glashedy were a little flatter, but the rough was very rough and the bunkering was very deep and challenging.

You will remember the severe downhill par 3 eighth hole with a pond to the right.

The other course at Ballyliffin is called the Old Course.

We wanted to play that until we found out that ‘old’ meant that it had been built in 1972.

We walked some of the holes on the Old Course and it was similar to what we played.

Last Course, Portsalon Golf Course

Our last course on this golf travel package Ireland, was Portsalon Golf Course in Fanad, County Donegal. What a hidden gem.

The course was founded in 1891 and just won a members competition among the original fourteen courses in Ireland.

Club Captain, and our playing host, Garrett, a retired police officer, was the quintessential Irishman.

He was happy, fun, moved quickly on the course and was very helpful.

“We love our course,” he said smiling.

He has reason to love it. Four holes run right along the ocean and you can see the water from most every hole.

The path to the ocean from the beach town used to run across the first and eighteenth hole, but the members dug a wide trench for a pathway and put fencing across the opening that you play over.

Unique, but quite creative.

“We used to have to wait sometimes 30 minutes to tee off with all the folks walking to the beach,” recalled Garrett.

Our tour guide for the last four days of our golf travel Ireland was Greg Creagh of Creagh Executive Travel.

A tour driver for many years, this big, burly former semi-pro basketball player was wonderfully helpful.

His son, Lloyd, had purchased a couple of tour vehicles after getting out of the service and was getting started in the executive travel business.

“It’s nice to work for my son,” said Greg as he traversed through roads that this reporter wouldn’t drive through with a VW.

Useful numbers and websites for Golf Travel Ireland:

• Northern Island Tourism: 028-9044-1582, www.discovernorthernireland.com
• Tourism Ireland (New York office): 1-800-223-6470, www.discoverireland.com
• North at West Coast Links: 353-091-868642, www.northandwestcoastlinks.com
• Creagh Executive Travel: 353-021-4932755, www.creaghexecutivetravel.com
• Blue Badge Tour Guide:  http://ntlworld.com