Golf

Donegal Golf Club. Highly rated by both local and visiting golfers, this course, on the Murvagh peninsula on the shores of Donegal Bay, is approached through a forest. The windswept links are shadowed by the Blue Stack Mountains, with the Atlantic as a dramatic backdrop. The greens are large, but the rough is deep and penal, and there's a constant battle against erosion by the sea. The par-3 5th, fittingly called the "Valley of Tears," begins a run of four of the course's biggest challenges, which could have you discreetly hiding your scorecard by the time you reach the 18th. Between 2016 and 2019 the course was enhanced with extra bunkers added at the 16th while the 17th was extended by more than 150 meters, along with several other small changes. Keep an eye out for rare flora on the course including pyramidal orchids as wells as scarlet pimpernel and dog violet. Murvagh, Laghy, Co. Donegal. 074/973–4054; www.donegalgolfclub.ie. May–Sept. €130; Apr. and Oct. €100; Nov.–Mar. €50.