19th Hole
Exploring Ireland: Where to golf, drink and stay on the Emerald Isle. Pt. 1. Woodbrook Golf Club, Wicklow

Having been born and raised in Ireland, I can safely say that this little island offers a fantastic amount of breathtaking natural beauty, some of the best bars in the world, as well as magnificent golf courses.
In these series of articles, I will be taking you around the Emerald Isle providing you with great golf courses to visit that go a little under the radar in some of the loveliest spots in Ireland. I’ll also be highlighting the best and most authentic Irish bars in these spots, as well as places to stay, eat and how to get there. Whether you’re taking a golfing holiday to Ireland in 2019 or are interested in doing so sometime in the future, I’ll make sure to let you in on the best places to spend your time.
Woodbrook Golf Club, Wicklow

@Woodbrook_Golf
Beginning with my area on the east coast, Wicklow, which is situated just below Dublin and therefore very easy to reach. Wicklow offers plenty of stunning views and is home to some beautiful golf courses. After Glen of The Downs shut its doors last year, the cream of those courses now has to be Woodbrook Golf Club, which is an underrated gem.
Right off the bat, Woodbrook shows its uniqueness with its clubhouse. The old pavilion-style clubhouse resembles that of a cricket club, which is due to Sir Stanley Cochrane, the club’s founder, and his fondness for that sport. Inside the clubhouse, you will find all your usual facilities in pristine condition, with the walls displaying plenty of famous faces who have played the course in the past.

@Woodbrook_Golf
Woodbrook has excellent credentials as a course, hosting the very first revived version of the Irish Open in 1975. The golf course is situated on the coast and offers stunning views of the Irish Sea on one side and the Dublin and Wicklow mountains on the other. So no matter how you’re playing, your day out will be a treat.

@Woodbrook_Golf
Always in immaculate condition, Woodbrook offers up a stern challenge, and despite being a flat course, when the wind blows this a true links test. Unusually, the course features five par 3s and five par 5s, and you will want to avoid the nasty fairway bunkers if you can.
18 holes at Woodbrook GC will set visitors back a little over $50.
Food & Drink – the Harbour Bar, Bray

@theharbour_bar
A five-minute taxi will take you right onto the seafront where you will find The Harbour Bar tucked away. A very traditional Irish bar full of character that describes itself as “scruffy, wild and elegant”. The Harbour Bar was once voted the best bar in the world by Lonely Planet, and even gets mentioned in the iconic novel “Finnegans Wake,” written by Ireland’s very own James Joyce.
The music and good times rarely stop in this place, and although most nights you will hear traditional music played in the bar, there are also plenty of occasions where modern artists and comedy acts take to the stage in the lounge.
As far as drinks go, you’re never going to go wrong with a pint of the black stuff anywhere you visit in Ireland. However, if you want to sample a local craft beer, try a pint of Wicklow Wolf, the deep and rich tasting lager that is brewed just up the road. Soak up the booze by ordering the Fish And Chips for about $15 from the Fish Bar located in the same complex that offers up a variety of fishy goodness.
Where To Stay
If you decide to stay in the town, then the seafront of Bray is undoubtedly the most attractive area to spend your time. The Martello is a nice little hotel smack back in the middle of the seafront, and a double room for the night costs around $85. For slightly extra, you can stay in the Strand Hotel just a few doors down, the building which was the childhood home of Irish writer Oscar Wilde.

@IrelandSkycam
A half an hour away from Dublin on the train, Bray is also a great spot to stay to explore the capital at a fraction of the price. There are a plethora of things to see and do in Dublin itself. For general sports fans, my recommendation is to try and catch a game of hurling, Ireland’s national sport, in the 80,000 seater stadium Croke Park.
How To Get There
From the centre of Dublin, this area of Wicklow is easily accessible. It will take about 30 minutes to get here in a car, or you can take the train from the capital right into the heart of Bray. On your ride, you’ll get to admire Dublin bay, and you’ll also get a sneak peek of Woodbrook GC just before your stop.
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.