Three days is enough to see that Clare is not one course repeated. This plan stays on the coast from Lahinch south to Kilkee, mixing championship links, a proper affordable round and a short coastal nine-holer.
Day 1 — Lahinch and the Castle
Lahinch Golf Club
Lahinch · Links
Two links courses beside Lahinch village, led by the internationally renowned Old Course and complemented by the more accessible Castle Course.
Start with Lahinch. If the Old Course tee is booked or priced beyond your appetite, the Castle Course is the same club's second links — still Atlantic golf, without the championship bill. Stay in Lahinch or nearby Ennistymon; dinner on the promenade or in the village pubs.
Day 2 — south on the N67
Drive south to Spanish Point (about 11–15 minutes from Lahinch), then continue to Doonbeg (roughly 30 minutes from Lahinch via Miltown Malbay). That is a full day of links golf with logical geography — you are not doubling back to Ennis for the sake of it.
Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Doonbeg Ireland
Doonbeg, Doughmore · Links
A modern championship links running through the dunes beside Doughmore Bay on the west Clare coast.
Day 3 — value and the estuary
Finish with contrast. Kilrush Golf Club is member-run parkland at a visitor fee that reminds you what the links cost. Pair it with Kilkee's nine-hole course on the cliffs if you still have legs — or swap golf for Scattery Island or Vandeleur Walled Garden from Kilrush.
Kilrush sits between Doonbeg and the Killimer–Tarbert ferry — it earns its place on a west Clare itinerary when the route is coastal, not when you are only playing Lahinch and heading home.
