Ballybunion ranks among the most coveted of golfing experiences. The Old Course, located on the Shannon Estuary of North Kerry, is arguably the most famous golf course in Ireland. It is frequently mentioned among the top ten golf courses in the world. Scarcely any hall of fame golfer hasn't played the course and heaped praises upon it, including: Byron Nelson and Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus This treeless expanse of undulating seaside grass deserves its praises. As Tom Watson describes it, "after playing Ballybunion for the first time, a man would think that the game of golf originated here.

The Cashen Course, designed by Robert Trent Jones, is equally laudable. Though Jones admits his bias, he maintains "It was the finest piece of links- land that I had ever seen, and perhaps the finest in the world. With the ocean on one side and the river on the other, it’s tumbling, undulating, free-flowing rhythm of line is beauty beyond description."