Irelands Golfing Challenges – Free Team Entry Worth Over £2,350

Ireland is home to some of the most exciting and best value Golf Challenges available. These are amateur Stableford events, open to golfers of all abilities. In teams of three or four you play over many of Ireland’s finest courses and prize funds can range from £2,000 up to £8,000. There are well over a dozen such competitions and two of these are currently offering a free team entry.

1. The Atlantic Coast Challenge plays over the links of Carne, County Sligo, and Enniscrone from 7-9 July 2014. The prize is free entry/green fees for a team of three, worth over £350.

2. The Dunmore East Classic plays over the seaside and parkland courses of Dunmore East, Tramore, Waterford and Waterford Castle, from 27 April - 1 May 2014. Prize is free entry for a team of four, including travel to Ireland via Stenaline, five nights’ accommodation, four evening meals and green fees for the four rounds…  worth £2,000.

Atlantic Coast Challenge

2014 will be this tournament’s fourth year. The Atlantic Coast Challenge plays over three of the best and unsung links of Irish golf, stretching from the western tip of Co. Mayo into the heart of Co. Sligo and Yeats country.

These courses are big… big in thrills, big in drama and big in heart. There are no taller dunes than at Carne, few courses boast as many remarkable holes as Enniscrone and you’d be hard pressed to beat the variety of holes and the views of Drumcliff Bay and Benbulben at Rosses Point. This is a place of breathtaking landscapes and sparkling hospitality.

“The opportunity to play these three top links courses is second to none, and the dates should be imbedded in every golfer’s diary. What’s more, it’s superb value for money and great craic, too,” says David O’ Donovan, General Manager, County Sligo Golf Club.

To enter the free competition, visit Carne’s Facebook page and follow the simple instructions before end of Friday 31st January.

For more information visit www.carnegolflinks.com

Dunmore East Classic

Co. Waterford has been hosting the Dunmore East Classic in Ireland’s sunny south-east for 22 years. Unlike links courses, which can give you such a wind-battering golf education, Tramore, Waterford and Waterford Castle golf courses are more gentle and colourful affairs, coasting between avenues of trees, over streams and alongside rivers. Dunmore East Golf Club, the fourth course for 2014, slides across a headland overlooking Dunmore East fishing village.

The tournament is centred, quite literally, in this village. Here, golfers enjoy legendary evening hospitality and entertainment, and it is this that gives the Challenge its distinctive personality. Over the years the organisers have learned how best to package the event, combining golf, food and accommodation… which may explain why it hosts so many golfers from the UK, US, Germany, Canada and South Africa.

“Our evening 'Apres Golf’ nights are world famous for their fantastic ambience and boisterous singalongs. It all emphasises our ' Great Golf - Great Craic' motto,” says event organiser, Tony Boland.

To enter the free competition, visit the Dunmore East Tourism website, answer the question and fill in your details before Friday 14th February.

For more information visit www.discoverdunmore.com

Kevin Markham is an Irish golf writer, blogger and photographer who writes for a number of Irish and UK golf websites & magazines. His book 'Hooked: An Amateur's Guide to the Golf Courses of Ireland' was published in 2011 and reviews all 350 golf courses which he played whilst travelling round Ireland in a campervan.

To read his blog visit: www.theirishgolfblog.com