Links you have to love

IT’S like picking your best GAA 15 – or your top football formation – it’s more a case of who to leave out rather than who to choose. So Charlie Mulqueen knew he was entering dangerous waters when it came to selecting the country’s 10 top links.

LET’s be gracious. There ARE many great seaside golf courses throughout Scotland and on the west coast of England. We may not have as many as some of the others, largely because we are a pretty small island, but what may be lacking in quantity is more than atoned for in quality.

Whether you are in the south-west of the country, where Ballybunion, Lahinch, Waterville, Tralee and Doonbeg shine like a beacon, in the east where Portmarnock, Co Louth, The European Club, The Island and Royal Dublin provide outstanding examples; in the north where Royal Portrush, Royal Co Down, Portstewart and Castlerock stand out and in the west and north-west where you have such gems as Co Sligo, Enniscrone, Connemara, Carne, Donegal, Ballyliffin and Rosapenna, you simply cannot go wrong.