Dough Castle is the stump of a tower house on the Lahinch golf course. The O'Connors established a stronghold here in the early 14th century, and they ruled the western half of the old territory of Corcomroe from it. Nothing of the original structure remains, and what does stand looks ready to topple: the name comes from the Irish for sand dune, and the castle was undone not by siege but by its unstable sandy foundations.
It's a minor sight, but it explains the town's Irish name, which commemorates an O'Connor chieftain killed at the castle by his nephews in 1471.