I’ve spent enough time travelling around the south west with groups to know that the map can be a little deceptive. Ballybunion, Waterville, Tralee, Old Head and Lahinch don’t look too far apart, but on Irish roads, the miles add up quickly.
That’s part of the trade-off if you want to play all five in the same week. You get some of the best golf in Ireland, but you also need to build the trip properly so it doesn’t feel like you’re spending half your holiday looking out the window of a coach.
For me, that’s where June really comes into its own. The long evenings give you more breathing room, whether that’s getting back from golf, having dinner somewhere worth stopping for, or simply enjoying the place rather than rushing through it.
The Light
The season here runs from the middle of April to early October, and there are good weeks all through it, but June is the month you maximise the light.
The solstice in 2027 falls on 21 June, so the week running up to it gets you as close to the longest day of the year as you can play.
On 14 June the sun sets in Killarney at 21:59. By the 17th, up in Lahinch, it’s 22:05. That’s close to seventeen hours between first light and last.de
What That Means for Your Week
It means the clock isn’t your decision maker.
Two of the rounds go out not long after eight in the morning, which in the middle of June means leaving Killarney in daylight. The run back from the Ring of Kerry is a drive worth slowing down for, and seeing in full daylight.
Friday is the long day, since Old Head is a fair drive from Kerry, and you’re back with the West Cork evening to enjoy.
Then the last round, at Lahinch on the Saturday, tees off in the afternoon and finishes with close to four hours of light still to come. It’s been a golf town since the 1890s and a surf town for the last few years, and you’re staying in the village that night, so the evening is yours.
Run the same itinerary in October and you’d be leaving in the dark for the early starts, and that last round could finish at dusk.
What we won’t tell you
June isn’t the quiet month here — it’s one of the busiest of the year for visiting golfers, but that just makes for a more social affair.
We also won’t tell you what the weather will do in June 2027, because nobody knows. What we will tell you is that May and June are the two sunniest months of the year in Ireland on Met Éireann’s own figures, and that if it’s light you want, this is the week to have it.
If you want a forecast on the day, Lahinch has its own system. When the clubhouse barometer broke in the 1960s, the club secretary wrote ‘See Goats’ on it, and it’s still hanging inside the front door. If the goats are hanging around the clubhouse, bad weather’s on the way. If they’re out in the dunes, it’ll be a good day.
Our week, 14 to 20 June 2027
Six nights and five rounds. Ballybunion on the Tuesday, Waterville Wednesday, Tralee Thursday, Old Head Friday, and Lahinch on the Saturday. Five nights in Killarney and the last one in Lahinch, so no need to panic-pack a bag each morning. And best of all? A driver for the whole week, so you can sit back and appreciate the views the south west of Ireland is famous for.
And of course, you’ll have one of us on the end of a phone the whole time you’re here.
If you’d like to talk it through, or if you’re thinking about Ireland in 2027 and this isn’t quite the week, tell us what you have in mind and we’ll tell you straight what’s still possible.
Rory,
Lyons Links