Two I'm Going To, One I'm Skipping: My Autumn Golf Calendar
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Three big weeks of Irish golf are stacked up between late August and mid-September this year, and I'm only going to two of them. Here's the calendar, and the thinking behind it.
KPMG Women's Irish Open — The K Club, 27–30 August
This is the one I'm most looking forward to. The tournament's moved to the K Club's Palmer South course for 2026, a track that's hosted three European Opens and knows how to test a field. Women's professional golf in Ireland has been building real momentum the last few years, and getting a top-tier event onto a course of that calibre is a statement about where it's heading.
I'll be there for at least two of the four days. If you've never watched women's tour golf live, the pace and shot-making up close is different to what you see on TV — worth the trip on its own.
It's also the access that keeps me coming back. A few years back at Dromoland Castle, when the Women's Irish Open was still played there, Leona Maguire stopped to sign hats for my two girls on her way past the ropes — a couple of minutes, no fuss, made their week. That kind of thing happens constantly at this event in a way it just doesn't on the men's tour, and it's doing more for growing the women's game than any marketing budget could. Bring the kids if you're going.
The Walker Cup — Lahinch, 5–6 September
Lahinch hosting the Walker Cup is a genuinely big deal for Irish golf, and I've had this one circled since it was announced. It's the 51st match between GB&I and the USA, amateur golf's oldest and most fiercely contested team event, and it's landing on one of the great links courses on the west coast.
Two days, foursomes and singles, a course that punishes anything loose off the tee — this is the kind of golf I'd travel for even if it weren't twenty minutes from home. It's also the one I'll be building most of the season's content around, so expect more from me on this closer to the date.
Amgen Irish Open — Trump International Doonbeg, 9–13 September
This is the one I'm sitting out, and I'll say the reason plainly: it's the venue. Doonbeg is owned by Donald Trump, and a tournament week there means the security and logistics footprint that comes with anything connected to him — road closures, access restrictions, the general hassle of getting in and around the course. That's before you factor in the wider disruption if Trump himself makes an appearance, which has been the subject of plenty of speculation given his history with the property.
None of that is a comment on the golf course itself, which is a proper links and a fair test. It's purely a practical call: two events already have my time this September, and I'm not willing to spend a day fighting checkpoints for a third. I'll be following the scores from home instead.
The shape of the season
Late August through mid-September is as good a stretch as Irish golf has had in years — a marquee women's event, an amateur team match at one of the best courses in the country, and a men's tour stop at a new venue, all inside three weeks. Worth planning around if you're anywhere near Kildare or Clare this autumn.
I'll have more from the K Club and from Lahinch as both get closer — and if you're heading to either, grip up before you go.