Midland Swing

St. Patrick's College Chapel at Maynooth is one of the most beautiful chapels in Ireland. Further west is the Kilbeggan Distillery, one of the few and most authentic distilleries still working in Ireland.

Athlone offers a choice of four town centre hotels.

Portumna golf course started as 9 holes at the present site in the middle of Portumna Forest Park in 1934. Since then the course has been continuously improved starting with land acquisition in the 1970's and extension to 18 holes in 1992. Further land has allowed further development and today Portumna continues to grow in stature and rival courses such as Athlone as the premier tournament venue in Connacht. The course is classic parkland, fairways flanked by enormous trees and greens inevitably closely guarded by large bunkers. There are two 440 yard par 4's in the first three holes to grab the attention that is needed for the erst of the round, none more so than at the signature par 5 17th - where a blind tee-shot is only the beginning of a dramatic hole where the approach is then flanked by Portumna's only water hazard. Portumna is an underrated parkland challenge that is well worth the extra miles.

The layout of Mullingar golf course is the work of the legendary James Braid (who also designed Tullamore at the same time). Although modifications have been made since its opening in 1935, Mullingar remains today as Braid intended, a championship calibre course that flows through mature trees once part of the old Belvedere estate. Being in the heart of Ireland's midland bogs, Mullingar has a springy turf underfoot and the course is well balanced with the four par 3's being of particular note and, amongst these, the second hole stands out as Mullingar's signature hole. Even from the championhip tees Mullingar's relative shortness makes ordinary amateurs feel the course is playable - even elite amateurs (including winners Clarke, McGinley, Harrington, McIlroy and Lowry) who compete in the annual Scratch Cup have never scored better than the current course record of 64.

Esker Hills is a Christy O'Connor Jnr. design that many would consider one oif his best. Eskers are narrow, long, winding hills that were deposited by streams flowing underneath glaciers and Junior sculpted a golf course that flows up, down and across these ridges to present a golfing challenge that is very different, exhilarating and very memorable. The approach to the 4th green plays directly up to the top of a ridge while the next is a memorable par-3 straight back down to a green flanked by a pond. The first nine finish with two terrific holes playing along the side of the hill. The second nine continues with a driveable par-4, two more memorable par-3's across chasms (all of the par 3's are over 170 yards) and a challenging final 3 holes including two of the four severe doglegs taht are another feature of the design. Shane Lowry played his amateur golf as a member here and in 2006 won the Irish Open as an amateur (at County Louth).