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Ireland's top links all share wonderful settings but none - and I mean none - is more spectacular than that of Old Head of Kinsale.
The course clings to a 220-acre promontory that juts three miles into the Atlantic on the southern coast of County Cork. Old Head has won grand comparisons with Pebble Beach but, with all due respect to the Jewel of Monterrey, Old Head is even more breathtaking.
The course opened in 1997 and, while it lacks the name recognition of a Ballybunion, the golf press has hailed it like the Second Coming: Links magazine described it as "the world's most spectacular course"; Senior Golfer declared "there is no finer setting for a golf course anywhere"; and Golf magazine counted Old Head among the Top 100 courses in the world - a remarkable honor for a course so young.
Eight holes run along the imposing cliffs but none is more daunting than the 17th - perhaps the only par-5 in Ireland that even Tiger can't reach in two whacks. It's 626 yards, sometimes into the wind.
In fact, the wind is such a factor here that every hole has six tees to allow for the blustery conditions. Sure, most Irish links courses are windy, but just a few months after opening, Old Head was battered by 125 mph gales that destroyed three holes. Even on a good day there is a stiff breeze over the Old Head.
Most famine-era emigrants set sail for America from nearby Cobh, then known as Queenstown, where Titanic last touched land (other than the ocean floor). Maritime disaster stalks this coastline: it was just off the Old Head that a German U-boat sank the Lusitania in 1915.
Travel by air and not sea and you can be on the first tee at Old Head an hour after getting off the plane: Old Head is located about 30 minutes from Cork Airport.
Greens fees at Old Head of Kinsale are $160. Call +353 21 778444 for reservations and information or visit their website at www.oldheadgolflinks.com.
• Old Head of Kinsale
• The K Club
• Royal Portrush Golf Club