The Complete Guide to Old Head Golf Links

The short answer

Yes. Visitors book Old Head direct with the club between 14 April and 31 October 2027 and pay the whole green fee up front, €550 in high season. The handicap limit is 24 for men and 36 for women. Stay in Kinsale, 15 minutes away, and add the Kerry links, two to three hours west.

Opened

1997

Season

14 Apr – 31 Oct 2027

Handicap

24 men · 36 women

Fly into

Cork Airport (ORK)40 min to Old Head

This guide is for the trip captain planning a golf trip around Old Head Golf Links, on a headland south of Kinsale in County Cork. It covers the course's short history, five holes worth knowing before you play, how booking works for 2027, what to see in Kinsale between rounds, where to stay, and a six-day route that adds Waterville, Dooks, Tralee and Ballybunion.

Old Head Golf Links history

The headland is older than the golf by a long way. The club's own history says a fortified settlement called Dún Cearmna stood here, and that the de Courcey family built a castle at the narrowest point of the headland in the 12th century. The ruins of that tower house and its walls now form the entrance to the course.

Three lighthouses have stood on the Old Head. The remains of the first two, from 1667 and 1814, are near the 6th and 7th tees. The current one, built in 1853, stands on the southern tip behind the 18th tees. It belongs to the Commissioners of Irish Lights, and the club says guests can't visit it.

On 7 May 1915 the liner Lusitania was torpedoed off the Old Head by the German submarine U-20 and sank in 18 minutes. The club gives the loss of life as 1,198.

The golf came late. John and Patrick O'Connor bought the 220 acres in 1989, building started in 1993, and the course opened in 1997. The club credits a team rather than one architect: Ron Kirby, Eddie Hackett, Dr Joe Carr, Paddy Merrigan and Liam Higgins, with Haulie O'Shea as the builder. The result is a par 72 of 7,150 yds from the Black tees and 5,494 yds from the Red, with nine holes along cliffs the club puts at some 300 feet above the sea.

The holes to know at Old Head

The club's scorecard lists five sets of tees, Black, Blue, White, Yellow and Red. The lengths below are from the Black tees, and the White tees play 6,588 yds in all. On ten holes, including all five here, the scorecard marks no-play zones along the Atlantic. A ball that goes in is abandoned, so don't go looking for it.

4th, Razor's Edge

Stroke index 2 on the card. The club's advice is to use the slopes on the right of the fairway, which feed the ball back toward the middle, and then take at least one extra club into the elevated green.

12th, Courcean Stage

The hardest hole on the card for men, and the one the club calls "one of the most intimidating holes in golf." The club's line is down the right side off the tee, and it warns that the fairway narrows as you approach the green.

16th, Coosgorm

A short, tight par 3. Most players aim at the left side, and the club notes that it doesn't always pay off. It also says the wind plays a big part in the tee shot.

17th, Lighthouse

The longest hole on the course at 623 yds, named for the lighthouse. The club says you need the fairway with both the drive and the second shot, and that par is always a good score.

18th, The Sanctuary

Out of bounds runs down the right. The club's advice is to find the fairway, then take plenty of club, because the approach has to carry onto the front of the green.

Kinsale: Charles Fort and the harbor town

Kinsale is the town to base yourself in for Old Head. It's 15 minutes from the course by road, 20 minutes from Cork Airport, and built around its harbor, so the evenings and any free half-day are easy to fill.

Charles Fort

A star-shaped fort from the late 17th century at Summer Cove, about 3 km from Kinsale, designed by William Robinson. Heritage Ireland lists it as open every day, 10:00–18:00 from 16 March to 31 October, with last admission at 17:00, and tickets can be booked online.

The harbor and the town

Actons and the Trident, two of the hotels below, are on the harbor, and the Trident describes its rooms as a short stroll from the center. Perryville House is in the middle of town, so all three Kinsale hotels put dinner within walking distance.

The Lusitania at Old Head

You don't need to leave the course for the headland's history. The club's Lusitania Bar holds original artifacts from the liner, and the ruins of the de Courcey tower house are at the gate you drive through.

Where to stay near Old Head

Stay in Kinsale if the group wants restaurants and a harbor within walking distance in the evening. Stay at Old Head itself if the golf is the point and you'd rather wake up next to the 18th green. golftripbuilder.com doesn't have pages for these hotels yet, so the details below come from each hotel's own website.

• The Suites at Old Head Golf Links

  On the course · 19 Seaview suites and 2 Presidential Suites beside the 18th green, with a spa. No children under 12

• Perryville House

  Kinsale town center · 30 rooms

• The Trident Hotel

  Kinsale · rooms overlooking the harbor, a short walk from the center

• Actons Hotel

  Kinsale · 4-star, on Pier Road by the harbor

The suites follow the course's season and close from November to mid-April. Their 2027 terms match the golf ones: full payment at booking and the same 30-day cancellation rule.

Make Old Head Part of Your Trip

Choose when you want to travel, the courses you want to play and the style of trip that suits your group.

Plan My Old Head Trip ↗

Where else to play near Old Head

Old Head stands on its own in County Cork. The big Kerry links are two to three hours west, so plan nights in Waterville and Ballybunion rather than day trips from Kinsale. The Kerry and Limerick courses below link to their own pages with visitor days and booking rules. Kinsale Golf Club and Fota Island don't have pages on the site yet.

• Kinsale Golf Club

  An 18-hole parkland course at Farrangalway, a few minutes from Kinsale town. Visitors book tee times on the club's online visitor sheet.

• Fota Island Resort

  In County Cork: the 18-hole Deerpark course, 7,075 yds, and the nine-hole Barryscourt. The resort says it has hosted the Irish Open three times.

• 

  Waterville

  2 h 50 min

  Open every day in its main season, 1 April to 31 October. You pay the whole fee when you book, by card over the phone, and it isn't refunded.

  View Waterville →
• 

  Dooks

  2 h 15 min

  The Kerry links with the most room for visitors: set windows every day from April to mid-October, and a handicap limit of 54. Weekend rounds are booked by phone or email.

  View Dooks →
• 

  Tralee

  2 h 30 min

  Visitors play Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 08:00–15:00. Half the fee is a non-refundable deposit, and the balance is due 90 days before you play.

  View Tralee →
• 

  Ballybunion

  2 h 35 min

  The Old Course takes visitors on weekday mornings from mid-April to early October, and every group takes at least one caddie or forecaddie. Cancel within six months and the whole fee is lost.

  View Ballybunion →
• 

  Adare Manor

  2 h 05 min

  The parkland host of the 2027 Ryder Cup. Hotel guests get tee times first, and for 2027 the resort sells golf only as two-day Exclusive Golf Experience packages.

  View Adare Manor →

Your Old Head Golf Trip Starts Here

Play Old Head, Waterville, Ballybunion and the best of the Kerry links. Here's a sample six-day itinerary. Make it your own in minutes.

It fits five rounds into six days, in an order set by each club's visitor rules. Old Head comes first, on a Monday, so a late flight doesn't cost you its fee. Tralee takes visitors on Thursday but not Wednesday, which makes Wednesday the Dooks day, and Ballybunion's Old Course is a weekday-morning round, so it goes last, before the drive to Shannon. Book Old Head, Waterville and Ballybunion first, because all three take the full fee at booking.

The drive times come from the same road-routing data as the course pages on golftripbuilder.com. They assume no traffic, and Kerry's roads are slower in July and August.