A survival guide for your golf vacation to Ireland

The weather is always a hot topic of conversation when clients are planning their golf vacation to Ireland and Scotland. You will no doubt have heard many ‘war stories’ about 60mph winds and driving rain in the morning, bright sunshine and warm temperatures in the afternoon; and basically, they’re all true! Yes, whilst the UK and Ireland rarely suffer from temperature extremes, we do get the occasional drop of rain! The old saying in Ireland is that “if you don’t like the weather, simply wait 15 minutes, because its likely to change”, and that pretty much sums it up. However, in order to prepare all of our clients, we have created a survival guide to help them golf in the elements over here. So below, you will find our general recommendations for what you will need to think about, and ultimately what you will need to plan to take with you.

In preparation for your days on the links we recommend the following: –

Start the day with several thin layers of clothing. Include in this a long-sleeved ‘base layer’ such as an ‘Under Armour’ or similar. Consider buying a set of “compression sleeves” in a UV material, similar to what some basketball players use. These can be very useful for those of you like me who prefer to golf in a polo. You can simply pull them off if the weather warms up, and re-apply if the sun appears or it rains. Wear a short-sleeved golf polo shirt over either and have a sweater handy either on you or in your bag. Above all, make sure you have some good quality rain gear in the golf bag.

Waterproof trousers are particularly useful to have even on warm days. The locals will oft times wear these in place of their usual pants or shorts to deflect the showers, but stay cool. Alternatively, wear some shorts and pull the waterproofs up over these for the same purpose. If you don’t currently own a really good set of waterproofs/rain gear, I highly recommend that you purchase it when you get here as we have some of the most robust brands on the market. . . for obvious reasons! (On that, my personal preference is for “Galvin Green”, the most expensive brand in most pro shops…..but for a reason!). Sunderland of Scotland and KJUS will also perform well.

Many golf clubs in the UK & Ireland have a specific clubhouse and course dress code, something that will not be unusual to many of you. However, some of the most prestigious clubs still require slightly more formal attire in the form of collared shirt, necktie, blazer and twill pants. We will identify this for you if you are playing at a club where this is required. For the remainder of clubs, your regular golf attire will be perfectly acceptable, and our advice here is a little more ‘John Cook’ and a little less ‘John Daly’!! Whilst we appreciate that every individual is different, the basics for a week to ten-day golf vacation to Ireland or Scotland should roughly comprise the following: –

The (pre-departure) shopping list:-

2 X pairs of golf shoes, in case one gets very wet

1/2 X pair of dress shoes

1 X pair of comfortable walking/casual shoes

4/5 X pairs of golfing slacks, ideally with some water resistant technology in them

3/4 X pairs of casual slacks for evenings

9 X golf (polo) shirts, avoid cotton and opt for wicking versions

4 X golf (lambswool/marino wool sweaters)

4 X ‘Under Armour’ type baselayers for the golf course or 1 x set of ‘sleeves’

1 X very good quality Waterproof jacket and trousers

1/2 X waterproof hats (one wide brimmed)

2 X Short Sleeved / Sleeveless sweater fleece/wind vest for golf

3/4 X Tailored shorts, no more than 3 inches above knee length, shower resistant if possible

3 X pairs of knee length socks (required for some clubs)

Multiple pairs of ankle golf socks for comfort

Bear in mind that this is the minimum survival guide to golf in the elements. You may need to add to this list. Also, remember when packing for your golf vacation to Ireland that you will most likely come home with plenty of memorabilia, so make sure to leave room for that too!