"So, this is what golf heaven on earth looks like ..." - Jim Hartley, author of Seven Days in Golf Paradise
In September 2023, three of my best friends and I took a seven-day, bucket-list trip to southwest Ireland to play six of the best golf courses in the country and, by many accounts, in the world. This book is about that trip: the courses, the golf, the pubs, the restaurants, the three towns we stayed in, the colorful characters we encountered, and my reflections on the lasting effect these magical seven days had on all of us.
This book gives an inside look at playing links golf in Ireland, known for its mammoth sandy dunes, wiry fescue grass, and ever-present winds blowing in off the Atlantic Ocean. I describe the incomparable experience of playing Old Head with its 300-foot-high sheer cliffs that come into play on over half of the holes as they fall straight down to the ocean. Then I take you to the Old Course at Ballybunion, generally considered to be the home of Irish links golf and the standard by which all other links courses are measured.
My hope is that you gain a sense of how special and unique all six of these courses are and become inspired to make your own bucket-list trip, whether it's to southwest Ireland or another "golf paradise" of your choosing.
Born in Northern Ontario, Canada, Jim Hartley is a lifelong amateur golfer who has played at a high level for much of his adult life. He has won eight club and senior club championships at four different courses in his playing career and competed in the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, and multiple California and Southern California Amateur Championships.
This is Jim's second book. In 1999, Jim created the concept for and co-authored the book, Smart Golf - Wisdom and Strategies from the "Thinking Man's Golfer" with PGA TOUR and Champions Tour great Hale Irwin and Robin McMillan.
