A golfer tees off at Castlerock’ s first hole watched on by his caddie.
The Bushmills Inn is an excellent base for golfers.
“ Golfing The Wild Atlantic Way”
( Ireland)
Golfing brothers Andrew & Paul Marshall take a wild ride in a magical corner of the Emerald Isle to play six classic links...
It’ s the end of April in Ireland’ s north-west and the start of our week-long golf trip from Donegal to Galway along a 550 km section of the Wild Atlantic Way- a scenic coastal touring route( with a total length of 2,500 km), dotted with beaches, harbours, headlands, stunning viewing points and some of the world’ s best golf courses. In addition to unspoilt coastal and moorland landscapes, other highlights along the journey include Sieve League( the highest accessible sea cliffs in Europe), salmon fishing on the River Moy, enjoying a pint of Guinness by a turf fire, staying in splendid accommodation and meeting the locals who have a tremendous gift of making you feel welcome.
And when it comes to the golf, there’ s a half-dozen collection of pure links courses from Narin & Portnoo in County Donegal to Connemara in County Galway that taken as a whole, has no rival. Some are old classics from the late 1800s, whilst others are more recent creations that look as though they have been part of the environment since then. Unlike the honey pots further south, golf in the north-west is more affordable with near-guaranteed tee times and all the ingredients that makes links golf so special are here in abundance: spectacular coastal views, towering dunes, hidden greens, deep pot bunkers, tumbling fairways, undulating putting surfaces and ever-present sea breezes.
PEAT FIRES AND SKYLARKS
Hidden in the hills of Donegal on the tranquil shores of Lough Eske is Harvey’ s Point, a luxurious 74 bedroom hotel featuring the very best in accommodation, award-winning cuisine and traditional Irish hospitality. As we check in for one night, the distinctive aroma of burning peat hits our nostrils before the welcoming fire, tucked in an alcove by the reception desk comes into view. There’ s no question of roughing it at Ireland’ s‘ number 1 rated hotel by Trip Advisor’, with suites so sumptuous and spacious, they can double up for some long range putting practise.
It’ s 9.30am the following morning at Narin & Portnoo Golf Club, etched into sand dunes in stunning Gweebarra Bay on County Donegal’ s west coast, about an hour’ s drive from Harvey’ s Point. Golf bags and carts are neatly lined up in rows outside the clubhouse, a group of golfers enjoy pre-round coffees while others loosen up in the practice nets near the first tee. There’ s a palpable buzz in the air on this crisp, sunny morning.
Opened in 1930, Narin & Portnoo is engagingly oldfashioned, with a meandering routing over and around the dunes. We join club professional Daragh Lyons to tackle the recently re-developed par-73 layout, who gets proceedings underway by expertly splitting the fairway with a hybrid on the short par-4 first. All manner of shots are required here- crisp irons to par threes over cavernous terrain, draws around sharp dog-legs, chip and run shots over mounds and dips, accurate tee shots down snake-like fairways and low trajectory shots into the Atlantic breezes.“ My favourite holes are the par-3 7th, par-4 8th and especially the stunning par-5 15th played from an elevated tee that epitomises the beauty of the course,” says Daragh, as
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