Doonbeg prepares for Irish Open 2026 as Trump’s golf resort brings thousands to West Clare
On the main street of Doonbeg, a painter is adding the finishing touches to a colourful mural, one piece of his jigsaw depicting a golfer swinging a club with large crowds in the background.
On the coast of West Clare, the small village is getting “a facelift” as preparations are under way for the Amgen Irish Open 2026.
From September 10 to 13, Trump International Golf Links & Hotel will play host to the event, which is expected to welcome more than 75,000 visitors.
Across the village, houses and local businesses are being painted, while road works are under way.
Childhood friends Brian Behan and Mikie Tubridy opened their outdoor coffee shop, The Yard, in May. After a spell in Australia and a few years in Dublin, they both moved home to west Clare — where they placed a bet on a community focused space.
“There's a few different places in Dublin that are similar to this where you can just sit down and have a coffee and meet up with people," says Mr Tubridy.
"We thought it'd be nice to do, and we thought there was an opening here in Doonbeg.
“The Irish Open being on this September, it gave us an added incentive to open — it was kind of the push we needed just to do it. We’ve been open now about three months, and it's gone really well."
In town, excitement is building up ahead of the tournament, and businesses are expecting more footfall in the weeks to come.
With crowds coming into the village, Mr Tubridy adds locals want to “showcase Doonbeg in the best light we can”.
New Yorker Kieran McGann is sipping his coffee at The Yard, accompanied by his border collie Bella. His wife may be from Kerry, but Bella rocks a bandana with the Banner County colours.
As much as Mr McGann loves playing golf, he does not necessarily enjoy golf events — which he compares to “watching paint dry”. If he plays, it’s for the “peace and quiet”.
“It’s nice, you get to go walk around in a park for about five hours and lose a lot of money on balls,” he laughs.
Like many, he hopes to bump into Shane Lowry, who “seems to be very popular” around here.
“One thing, one of the ushers was giving out to a fan like 10 years ago. He basically told the usher, 'You're the one making the problem. You, shut up' to the usher. So I love Shane Lowry because he just seems like a normal person,” says Mr McGann.
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At the 2025 Ryder Cup in Bethpage, New York, some American fans caused scenes after hollering abuse at European players. Behaviour which “tarnished the American people”, according to Mr McGann, who says the Irish Open should be different.
“I think it was an embarrassment, to be honest. I'm from the US, of course, my mom's from here and I'm always an American supporter during the Ryder Cup. But I think it was an absolute embarrassment and disgusting”.
As Donald Trump is expected to attend the closing days of the tournament, it is expected a number of protests will take place.
“I think it would be stupid for people to protest Donald Trump at a golf event. It’s not his main business; real estate is his main business. He just likes golf. So, I think it'd be very stupid for people to protest at a course owned by his company because it brings money to the area. A lot of money,” he insists.
One of the businesses preparing for the tournament in style is Morrissey’s bar and restaurant, where workers are installing an outside deck which will serve as a beer garden.
While one of the workers on site is not a keen golfer, he certainly knows one — Declan Griffin. Five minutes after receiving a call from the , he stops by the main street on his way to work — and showcases the golf clubs in the back of his van.
A seasoned golfer, Mr Griffin plays at the Trump golf course once or twice a week.
“It’s a great community thing up there. There's a load of local lads that play there every Sunday, and we meet there after and have a pint after a game,” he says.
The golf course has taken the village to the “next level”, as Doonbeg used to “massively dependent” on tourism.
According to Mr Griffin, those thinking about protesting locally will only be a small minority.
“You won't find anyone in this locality saying anything bad about Donald Trump. There’s 350 people working up there,” he points out. “There's a massive amount of money being spent in the area. The roads we have here were very poor, and now they're first-class coming into Doonbeg, so it has been a huge, huge thing for Doonbeg and the West of Ireland”.
A few steps away from Doonbeg’s brand new mural, Noel Kelly is waiting for the bus but makes time for a quick chat.
“It’s a major sporting occasion, a lot of people would never have envisaged this taking place here at all, you know? But the fact, of course, that it's in Trump's club as well adds to the occasion. The excitement is at fever pitch, it'll bring great business to the place as well, with the thousands attending.”
Mr Kelly says after the football and hurling championships, the business boost will be welcomed to end summer on a good note.
Speaking of Trump, he says: “He's providing jobs here for the people. If there was no golf club, no jobs, what would the people do? We'd have a bereft community. Where would they be going? Emigrate to the Antilles, Dubai, etc.”
In West Clare, people have rallied to offer accommodation to hundreds of gardaí who will be deployed to Clare for a high-alert policing operation due to the US president’s visit. A social media post by the Doonbeg Community Development organisation led to overwhelming support for the gardaí.
Local councillor Rita McInerney is the director of Doonbeg Community Development, and the owner of McInerney’s store on the main road. To seize the momentum, the Doonbeg Fáilte Fest will coincide with the Irish Open.
“It's an opportunity for people in West Clare to come and meet people, come to the festival and have a bit of fun. They don't necessarily have to be going to the golf to come and avail of the festival and the activities and the atmosphere that's going on during the Irish Open,” she says.
As protests are set to take place across Ireland to coincide with Donald Trump’s visit, Ms McInerney says the Doonbeg community have to separate the business from the politics.
According to Ms McInerney, the community is used to getting its fair share of “vitriol”, particularly as some vilify Doonbeg online.
“Obviously people in West Clare are as concerned about political, international political issues as everybody else,” she says.
“A lot of us wouldn't agree with Trump's policies on, on different things, but that's a separate thing to the economics of it. That's the political side of it, many of us are very concerned and devastated at what has been happening in Gaza and the war in Ukraine and the international impact when you have big players like the US involved.”
While the relationship between Ireland and the US is “not an easy one”, she adds as a small country, Ireland does business with a “lot of countries that we do not necessarily agree with”.
Complimentary tickets have been provided to locals in Doonbeg, and a community day is set to take place for the Pro-Am — for which 900 tickets were distributed.
”There’s been about 300 tickets made available locally for people to go to the Pro-Am day, so a lot of people are going on that day. Then, people have bought their tickets for the other days, and we got an allocation of tickets for local people as well. We had a draw for that,” Ms McInerney explains.
One thing appears clear for Doonbeg, an amicable relationship with Trump International can only be beneficial for the locals.
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