Road signs near the Giant’ s Causeway. Dunluce Castle
After enjoying an excellent morning of outdoor pursuits, learning fly-fishing under the watchful eye of Robert Gillespie( holder of the Irish record for single handed distance casting), clay-pigeon shooting with Stuart Price, a falconry display by Head Falconer Jason Deasy and hitting some balls on the range, we are ready for our fourth round at nearby Enniscrone Golf Club. Enniscrone started life as a modest nineholer in 1918, but it was the prolific Irish designer, Eddie Hackett, who put the place on the map when he extended the layout to eighteen in the mid-1970s. Then, a few years back, Donald Steel visualised another six holes in the dune range and built three others, enabling the club to spread its wings to 27 holes.
The scenery of the main championship course, appropriately called The Dunes is second to none. Twelve of the holes wind and twist their way through a maze of the tallest and shaggiest dunes land on the coast, where a sense of isolation and tranquility surrounds you, along with the tall marram grass rough. One hole that will etch itself in the memory is the mountainous 350-yard par-4 13th, called The Burrows, which is like teeing off the summit of Everest with the green nestled down at base camp below. The Dunes at Enniscrone isn’ t your average layout – it’ s a serious golfing adventure on a breathtaking course.
ON THE PILGRIMAGE TO CARNE
As we travel around the north-west, we discover that getting to the courses is all part of the golfing experience – driving through eerie heather-cloaked moorland, the home of curlew, buzzard and stacks of drying peat, past ancient castles perched on top of windswept headlands and through quaint villages with more pubs than shops. The roads, often twisting and narrow, take longer than expected to navigate, but it’ s time well spent in anticipation until that next links weaving its way among the dunes comes into view. A good case in point is our penultimate round at Carne Golf Links 80 km west of Enniscrone. The special charm of Carne lies in the journey required to get there, plus its remote location in magnificent sand dunes overlooking Blacksod Bay and the wild Atlantic Ocean near the town of Belmullet.“ If ever the Lord intended land for a golf course, Carne has it,” so said the late Eddie Hackett, who laid out the course in the early 1990s. This was his final links layout, and it is now believed by many who have played it to be his greatest challenge.
One of Carne’ s classic holes is the par-3 16th that drops steeply from an elevated tee to a green encircled by dunes. The tough par-4 17th, and the par-5 18th are a memorable finale to this wild and rugged links that makes a lasting impression on all that play it. Complementing Hackett’ s original eighteen is the recently created nine-hole Kilmore course designed by Ally McIntosh, offering more exciting holes routed through the same huge dunes. Be sure to make the pilgrimage.
After playing Carne’ s new Kilmore nine with Hackett’ s unmissable back nine, we continue south along the Wild Atlantic Way through more dramatic scenery to Clifden, the picturesque capital of Connemara in County Galway, with just enough time for a couple of Guinness and our bed for the night at the Foyle’ s Hotel. Points of interest along the route include the holy mountain of Croagh Patrick, magnificent Kylemore Abbey, Killary Harbour( Ireland’ s only genuine fjord), and popular Westport, where like Clifden, the flowing melodies of traditional music fill the colourful pubs.
THE FINAL ROUND
Connemara is one of Ireland’ s most iconic areas with its inspiring landscapes and eternal skies. On this sunny spring morning the rolling green hills and shimmering lakes are interspersed with patches of grey granite with stone-walled fields bursting with wildflowers. Connemara( Conamara) is Irish for‘ Inlets of the Sea’ and the coastal road we take from Clifden, bears this out as it winds around small bays, hidden beaches and coves to Connemara Championship Golf Links.
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