Golf

Ballybunion Golf Club. President Bill Clinton will be eternally associated in Irish golfers' minds with this revered course. In fact, there's even a brass statue of him teeing off in the nearby village, to commemorate his visit here in 1999. On the shore of the Atlantic where the Shannon Estuary meets the open sea, Ballybunion has the huge dunes of County Clare's Lahinch courses without the blind shots. It's no pushover, but every hole is pleasurable. Watch out for "Mrs. Simpson," a double fairway bunker on the 1st hole, named after the wife of Tom Simpson, the architect who remodeled the course in 1937. (Tom Watson did the same in 1995.) The Cashen Course, which opened in 1985, was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and currently is available at a bargain rate if you've paid for a round on the Old Course. Sandhill Rd., Ballybunion, Co. Kerry. 068/27146; www.ballybuniongolfclub.ie. Old Course: mid-Apr.--early Oct. €250; Cashen Course: Apr. 6--Oct. 9 €80; Mon.--Fri. €300 to play both courses within 7 days.

Tralee Golf Club. Tralee is what all modern golf-course architects wish they could do in the States: find unspoiled, seaside links and route a course on it that's designed for the modern game. This is an Arnold Palmer–Ed Seay design that opened in 1984, and the location is fantastic—cliffs, craters, dunes, and the gale-blowing ocean. Don't let the flat front 9 lull you to sleep—the back 9 can be a ferocious wake-up call. West Barrow, Ardfert, Co. Kerry. 066/713–6379; www.traleegolfclub.com. €180 Apr.; €235 May--Oct. 10. Closed to nonmembers Wed. and Sun. Sept.--May..