GBN Associate Editor Nick Bayly makes a long-awaited return trip to Trump International Golf Links at Doonbeg in County Clare, where the original Greg Norman-designed links has been tweaked to impressive effect ahead of its hosting of this year’s Irish Open.
Looking back through the notes that I took when I first visited Doonbeg way back in 2007, I was reminded about how taken aback I’d been at how a links that had, at the time, been open less than five years, looked like it had been there for centuries. Such was its maturity, and the way it so naturally fitted into the landscape, that someone ignorant of its past would have been hard pushed to measure its age against, say Lahinch, another fine links located just 30 miles up the south-west coast.
On digging slightly deeper into the story of its history, I discovered that it was indeed the founders of Lahinch who first recommended the site on which Doonbeg now sits as being suitable for golf all the way back in 1892. Reports at the time suggest that it would been their first choice but for its remote location and lack of access to major rail lines.
Over 120 years later and there’s still no train, and it is because of its relative remoteness – it’s a twisty-turny 75-minute drive from Shannon airport – that visiting Doonbeg still feels very much like something of a pilgrimage. Legions of golfers from America – and closer to home – seem more than happy to cross the green but empty pastures of County Clare, through numerous featureless grey towns, with the bumpiest roads, so that they may test themselves on one of the most entertaining links courses to be found on earth.
Transformation under Trump
The resort – for that it what it has now become – has been under the stewardship of the Trump Organization since 2014, with the golf-loving US president having visited the site many times in the intervening years to personally oversee some significant changes to both the golf course and the ancillary hospitality facilities to bring it into line with his vision of five-star service.
Regardless of your politics, and indeed your personal view of Donald J Trump, Doonbeg is a very special place, and it will certainly make for an interesting test for the elite golfers of the DP World Tour when the Amgen Irish Open rolls into town – well, a small village – from September 10-13.
Of course, plenty of plaudits deserve to go the way of Greg Norman, the original architect, who is reported to have made 23 separate visits to Doonbeg during the design process before the course’s eventual opening in 2002. Set alongside a dramatic one-and-a-half-mile crescent-shaped beach facing the Atlantic, Norman had a stunning canvas to work from, but he was also somewhat constricted by the nature of the dunes, which clearly cramped his style in several places.
It earned rave for reviews from many quarters at the outset, although there were also a good number of critics who highlighted the somewhat disjointed nature of the layout, especially with some of the criss-crossing fairways, some gimmicky design features (the bunker in the middle of the 12th green), a few long walks between holes, and, last not least, the extreme difficulty of a course that was mainly being played by amateur American golfers in high winds.
Hawtree’s helping hand
To answer some of those criticisms, and to introduce some of his own personal demands, Trump bypassed Norman when it came to freshening up the course in 2016 and instead turned to Martin Hawtree, the man who is responsible for the facelift made to Lahinch a few years ago and which proved such a strong test at last week’s Walker Cup.
And, following the success of those changes, it was to Hawtree that Trump turned again last year, when it was known that the Irish Open was to be held at the course. His brief was to strengthen the challenge offered by the opening and closing holes, along with the addition of several new tees and the rebuilding of several greens to further elevate the playing experience.
Norman’s first hole, which was a modest straight-away par five that played from an elevated tee to a generous fairway and a green set at the base of a massive dune, has been freshened up with a new tee box that has been moved dramatically left, hard along the coastline, to create a sweeping dogleg left framed by breathtaking Atlantic views. With bunkers placed at the right edge of the fairway, which was borrowed from the old 18th hole, as it bends left towards a green, it immediately gives the course a more dramatic and strategic opening feel.
The greens at the 3rd, 5th, 13th and 15th have all been re-laid, primarily to accommodate more pin placements, while several new tees have also been added, most noticeably at the par-four sixth, and two others were extended. Walkways between holes have been enlarged and some of the dense rough on a variety of holes has been mowed down to more manageable heights, all with the emphasis on making the course more fun to play.
The other main change to the course is the 18th, which is now a demanding 432-yard uphill par-4 which is generally played into a headwind. With the hole featuring a multitude of fairway bunkers left and right and playing to a raised green that will bat away anything hit remotely offline, it now provides a suitably testing conclusion to a championship course that will test every element of your golfing skills and mental strength.
Added together, the alterations have served to upgrade a course that is already in the top 10 in most of the recognised rankings of Irish courses and underline its credentials as a tournament venue, all of which will be tested by Europe’s top golfers this week.
Five-star hospitality
While the course is undoubtedly the star of the Doonbeg show, putting in a strong claim on the billboard poster is the supporting hospitality, which retains its Irish charm despite its decidedly American target market.
Stay-and-play golfers can take their pick from 15 self-contained suites within the main lodge, which offers between one and four-bedrooms; 41 suites within the adjacent garden courtyard, and a dozen or more four-bedroom cottages located next to the 17th fairway. Members have the opportunity to invest in one of the cottages on a timeshare basis, allowing them six weeks every year to enjoy the comforts of a luxury home, but they are rented out to visitors when not in use.
The main lodge itself houses a variety of services and amenities that complete the five-star experience, including Trump’s Bar & Restaurant bar, which serves upmarket traditional clubhouse fare, the Ocean View Restaurant, which is more of a fine dining experience, and a subterranean spa. There is also an 18-hole putting course, and a 20-bay driving range.
After 48 hours on site, I came away with a renewed appreciation for just what a magical place Doonbeg is. The hospitality is warm, genuine and relaxed, and the golf course is never less than entertaining and often thrilling – and you can’t ask for more than that from what, for many, will be once-in-a-lifetime, bucket-list experience.
For more information on stay-and-play breaks, visit www.trumpgolfireland.com.
The 2026 Amgen Irish Open is being held at Trump International Golf Links, Doonbeg, from September 10-13. For more details, visit www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/amgen-irish-open-2026/