President Bill Clinton’s favorite (there’s a statue in town of him swinging an iron) and the Old Course was included in Golf Magazine’s top 20 courses of the world in 2011. Ballybunion Golf Club in County Kerry, established in 1893, is former U.S. Topping the list of links courses is Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush Golf Club, established in 1888, home course of Darren Clarke, winner of the 2011 British Open, and Graeme McDowell, winner of the 2010 U.S. Golfers have to thread the ball through sand dunes that can reach 200 feet high and hit tiny greens topping sea grass-tufted dunes, while dealing with wind currents and changeable weather. Links courses-one of the first types of golf courses-are notoriously tricky. One third of the world’s seaside links courses (more than 50) ring the coastline of Ireland, where golfers are spoiled for choice. Included are opportunities to experience Ireland's heritage, perhaps at Limerick’s King John’s Castle taste local delicacies like Galway oysters head out on an adventure, such as surfing Bundoran in County Donegal and take in music at events like the Willie Clancy Festival in Milltown Malbay, County Clare. The route is signposted and features more than 150 "Discovery Points," such as the 1,972-foot-high sea cliffs of Slieve League in Donegal that are nearly three times as high as the Cliffs of Moher, and Mizen Head Signal Station on Ireland’s most southwesterly point. It covers over 1,500 miles, from Inishowen Peninsula, County Donegal, in the north to Kinsale, County Cork, in the south, with many additional loops and diversions. The Wild Atlantic Way is reportedly the longest defined coastal drive in the world. This new touring route takes in the entire western seacoast of Ireland, offering stunning vistas, a rugged coastline, charming villages, tearooms, pubs, ancient ruined castles, and photo ops. Falconry is just one of the estate pursuits, which also include pony and trap rides, clay pigeon shooting, fishing, horse riding lessons, and a par-72, Ron Kirby-designed golf course. Suites are large and comfortable some are located in the castle’s turrets. Here chivalry is not forgotten (there’s even a suit of armor in the entry hall) dinners are multi-course feasts with paired wines and resident harpist and the attentive service is kingly. There has been a castle here for a thousand years that was rebuilt several times the last major renovations turned it into a luxury hotel that opened in 1963. On this private experience with falconer and hawk, you walk through the wooded castle demesne, launching a trained hawk skyward and calling it back to your gloved fist as the chieftains did back in the day. Falconry was a sport of choice among medieval nobility, so it makes sense for Dromoland Castle to offer a School of Falconry-it’s the ancestral home of the O’Briens, descendants of Brian Boru, High King of Ireland in the 11th century.