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In ireland golf courses abound, both links and parklands varieties, about 410 in total, and this is a good number compared to the population of almost 6 million (4 million people in the Republic of ireland, and 1.8 million in Northern Ireland). Ireland is one of the world's great venues for a dream golfing holiday.

Links golf courses are usually found around the coastline where they've been scratched out of the abundant sand dunes, where the wind often challenges players, especially on the west Atlantic coast side of the island. Their designers have also used the proximity of water to make the game on these courses more interesting. One of the most famous links courses is the Ballybunion old Course, whose contures and sea breazes challenge every player.

Parkland golf courses are mainly inland amongst the naturally hilly landscape where woodlands provide tree-lined fairways, which are used to advantage by their designers to test the competence of even the best of the pros. A notable parkland's course is the K club just outside Dublin, which has been chosen to hold the Ryder Cup in September 2006. The Slieve Russell course in the Irish midlands is also another fine example.

Seven of ireland golf courses are included in a list of the best 100 golf courses worldwide (Golf Digest)

They are:

In Northern ireland: Royal Portrush Golf club (Dunluce) and the Royal County Down.

In the Irish Republic: the "old" club of Ballybunion (in the 1st ten world ranking), Lahinch, Portmarnock, The european club and Waterville.

Golf high season: June, July, August.

Golf mid season: May, September, October.

Golf low season: November through to April.

Book tee times well in advance of your vacation. About 20% of ireland golf courses have their own website on which you can make a booking. Visit the author's website to see a list of them.

Take care of how you dress. You may have difficulty at some venues if you do not take notice of the following advice regarding clothing. Wear proper shirts with sleeves and collars, golf shoes and sports socks, trousers or smart, tailored shorts. Clothes NOT TO WEAR include - denims, short shorts, trainer shoes or runners, track suits, sweaters without shirts, clothing with slogans.

Always be at the course well before your tee time. Most courses allow spikes - some encourage their use in wet weather. many links courses do not allow motorised golf buggies because of the hilly terrain.

Take your handicap certificate with you as many golf courses will insist on visualising it. The handicap limit will usually be 28 for men, and 36 for women.

If you are taking your own golf clubs with you, you'll need to acquire a very strong golf bag to protect them during manhandling by luggage personnel. Some find an easier solution is to hire golfing equipment in ireland, in which case this should be done at the earliest time, when booking tee times.

You'll find a friendly welcome not only from the Irish golfing community, but also from the population in general. ireland has now become a very popular venue for a stimulating golfing vacation.

(Ron mills is an amateur providing information on his Ireland Golf Vacation website, endeavouring to raise funds for TEAR Fund, a worldwide relief agency.)

The Nintendo Wii has just barely hit retail stores, and already the homebrew scene is fast at work. Creating not only killer applications and homebrew games, but also developing (or at least helping develop) the worlds first Nintendo Wii mod chip(s). In this article I am going to discuss Nintendo Wii Mod chips and give some of the features, pros and cons of the 3 different Nintendo Wii Mod chips that have just recently been released.

The good news for Nintendo Wii gamers is that regardless of which Nintendo Wii mod chip you buy - you'll have all the basics with each one. You will be able to play all Nintendo Wii Backup games (on DVD-R or DVD+R discs) and can use 8cm or 12cm DVD discs. You will also be able to play all Gamecube Backup games, import games as well as Gamecube Homebrew games. It really gets down to installation of the Nintendo Wii Mod chip and the features and functions, and future upgrade options of each Wii mod chip.

What is even more surprising with these new Nintendo Wii Mod chips is the prices that they're being sold for. I remember quite clearly the days of the very first Playstation 2 mod chips, costing in excess of $90.00 US Dollars. It seems the Wii chips have opted instead for a lower entry price, in an effort to gain a greater piece of the Homebrew / Development / Modchip market. The prices range anywhere from $44.00 to just over $50.00, depending on the chip you decide to buy.

At present, there are actually 3 different Nintendo Wii Mod chips which will hit the market and online stores within the next week or so. While many online news sources seem to focus on just 2 of the 3 mod chips, perhaps because they're unaware that there is a third chip in the making, I'm going to cover all 3 of the mod chips in the hopes of enabling you, the gamer, to make the buying decision that's right for you. And after reading this article, I honestly believe that your decision will be based solely on price, and perhaps the option of an upgrade (or lack of) for the Wii Mod chips.

Wiinja Nintendo Wii Mod Chip The Wiinja Nintendo Wii Mod chip was actually the very first Wii chip to hit the market. While many online news sources seem to disregard this chip, it is still the very first and one of the easiest mod chips to install for the Nintendo Wii. Like the other mod chips for the Wii, the Wiinja will enable you to play all Wii and Gamecube Backup games, as well as Wii Import backup games, and original import games with just a single swap. Gamecube Import and Homebrew games are fully supported. While the other mod chips promise that their modchips, in time, will have their own custom OS to enable additional features, the Wiinja chip does not make this claim. In fact, they have stated that their chip is not meant to be upgraded. Stealth mode is still built in, even into this mod chip, and whether or not the lack of an upgrade feature is a deterrent is entirely up to you, the user. Often times many modchip manufacturers claim upgrade features, but then they lack the support for the upgrades, which tend to come out very rarely, if ever at all.

WiiKey Nintendo Wii Modchip The manufacturer hype states the following: unlock your Nintendo Wii with the worlds first truly upgradeable Nintendo Wii Mod Chip. The WiiKey for Nintendo Wii is made by the famous xenoGC team, responsible for the xenoGC Gamecube line of mod chips, and now, with their WiiKey, Wii owners can enjoy all the benefits of a team of great developers with a truly upgradeable Nintendo Wii Mod chip. The WiiKey comes ready to use, and offers an almost wireless installation. When they say almost wireless, what this essentially means is that there are Quick Solder pads for the chip. This method enables you, the gamer, to simply position the chip in the correct place on the Mother board of the Wii, in order to then apply a little bit of solder with a soldering iron. The WiiKey chip does however also require that you solder 4 wires to the specified places on the Wii motherboard. The WiiKey mod chip was the first chip that boasted full upgradeability through DVD-R discs to which you can burn / backup the new firmware updates, put The DVD in to your Nintendo Wii, and it will run and update the chip. Once again, the WiiKey also supports loading of both Wii and Gamecube backup games and import backup games. Original import games can be played as well, with a simple, single swap methos. Gamecube Homebrew games are also supported. Whether or not this mod chip will end up with it's own custom OS is something we'll just have to take a wait and see approach with. However, it offers everything you want, for a VERY reasonable price.

And finally, the last Nintendo Wii mod chip (often claimed to be the very FIRST Nintendo Wii Modchip) is the only chip in this round up that actually does not require any wires at all.

CycloWiz Nintendo Wii Mod chips The major advatange, or selling feature of the CycloWiz Nintendo Wii mod chip is in how it's installed. Unlike the other 2 mod chips in this round up, the CycloWiz actually does not require you to solder any wires to the Wii mainboard. In fact, much like the WiiKey, you'll simply use Quick Solder pads which are strategically placed in the design of the CycloWiz to enable you to simply position the chip on the Nintendo Wii Mainboard, and gently put some solder onto the points. This will make the required connections, and the chip will simply be installed, with absolutely no need figure out where wires are to be soldered or whether or not you've got the right type of wires, etc... The CycloWiz is also a fully upgradeable modchip, with promised firmware updates for the chip from the manufacturer. Again, I want to stress that firmware updates may not at all be required and perhaps may not come for some time. I myself do however like the idea that the chip will not be outdated should some new function or requirement become the norm.

To sum it all up, all of the Nintendo Wii Mod chips boast the features below. The only exception to this is the upgrade feature which is NOT available on the Wiinja chip. Take a look at the features, and decide for yourself which Wii mod Chip is right for you.

Now it's up to you to decide which Nintendo Wii mod Chip is right for you.