One of the founding members of the GUI in 1891, North West GC was designed by the pro from nearby Royal Portrush, Charles Thompson. It is located on the Inishowen Penisula in Lisfannon, Ireland. North West has been called by some the Old Course of Ireland. It is very flat and on a somewhat narrow parcel of true links land that is threatened by erosion from the North Atlantic. The turf here is firm and fast and produces the bounce that I've found on only a few great links courses. It took me a few holes of approach shots that ended up off the back of the greens to start playing short and enjoy the ground game on this very well conditioned course. The green complexes are mostly very challenging with bunkers that play much larger than the eye perceives from the fairway with many green edges that runoff into swales that makes for difficult recovery shots. Even though the course is fairly level it has many humps, bumps, and hollows in the fairways that provides interesting terrain to play from. NW produced the highest score I posted on this trip.
North West wins my award for the "Most friendly golf club in County Donegal" and the grounds crew does a wonderful job here in maintaining the fun, firm, and fast conditions. It exceeded my expectations and is very underrated in my opinion. Be sure and take a look at my photo's below which show you the contours and great design that squeezed in 18 holes on the limited acreage available for this course. BLUE
https://photos.app.goo.gl/kMmnCGtgrAsd7KC37 Copy link to view photos
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
#889 Cruit Island GC, Ireland
Cruit Island GC, pronounced Critch, located in Kincasslagh was designed by Michael Doherty in 1986. On my epic 2011 trip I could not locate Cruit Island and moved on to windy Narin and Portnoo. Fortunately, this trip I found the single track road that winds you 4km back to the very remote clubhouse. What I discovered was one of the most rugged, risk reward, blind shot courses I could have ever imagined.
This course is 9 holes, Par 34, 2800 yards, no par 5's and every hole except the two par 3's have a blindshot. The only mundane, level hole is the 213 yd Par 3 #8, everything else is a rollicking, exciting, ball of Fun. The marquis hole is the dramatic 160 yd Par 3 #6, with a spectacular tee location that hugs the Atlantic Ocean and requires a shot over two salt water filled chasms to an uphill green. BLUE
What a year it has been too have played two of the top 9 hole courses in the world, Culver Academy and Cruit Island.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Hjsk41jyKzoLphL99 Copy link to view photos
This course is 9 holes, Par 34, 2800 yards, no par 5's and every hole except the two par 3's have a blindshot. The only mundane, level hole is the 213 yd Par 3 #8, everything else is a rollicking, exciting, ball of Fun. The marquis hole is the dramatic 160 yd Par 3 #6, with a spectacular tee location that hugs the Atlantic Ocean and requires a shot over two salt water filled chasms to an uphill green. BLUE
What a year it has been too have played two of the top 9 hole courses in the world, Culver Academy and Cruit Island.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Hjsk41jyKzoLphL99 Copy link to view photos
Monday, September 19, 2022
#888 Gweedore GC, Ireland
It was great to be back in County Donegal, Ireland on the firm and fast conditions of a True Links course. Gweedore GC was originally a 9 hole course when it was designed by James Breslin in 1923. Eddie Hackett had his hand in doing some changes to the course and over the years they acquired more land. In 2014 they added 5 more holes to make it 14 holes, but now you replay 1,2,3,and 9 to make it an 18 hole course.
It was a slow day of play so Peter kindly came out and greeted us and got us on our way. Several interesting holes on the F9 with the blind Par 5 #6 being my favorite. You repeat three holes to start the B9 with the number one handicap Par 4 14th starting a nice finishing stretch. The short 118 yd, uphill #15 is one of the better Par 3's I played on the trip. The tee is jutted out into the ocean and you need at least two extra clubs for the steep inclination. The weather was very nice compared to my trip 11 years ago in this part of the world. GOLD
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AQz2F51bCB9qDpgQ7 Copy link to view photo gallery
It was a slow day of play so Peter kindly came out and greeted us and got us on our way. Several interesting holes on the F9 with the blind Par 5 #6 being my favorite. You repeat three holes to start the B9 with the number one handicap Par 4 14th starting a nice finishing stretch. The short 118 yd, uphill #15 is one of the better Par 3's I played on the trip. The tee is jutted out into the ocean and you need at least two extra clubs for the steep inclination. The weather was very nice compared to my trip 11 years ago in this part of the world. GOLD
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AQz2F51bCB9qDpgQ7 Copy link to view photo gallery
Sunday, September 18, 2022
Saturday, September 17, 2022
County Donegal Course Color Ratings
County Donegal presents a strong contingent of courses which you can access from the worldclass Rosapenna and Harvey's Point Resorts. I played 5 courses in 2011 and 9 new ones in 2022. There are two Black rated courses followed by 10 Blue courses. In my world of rating you get at least a half color boost if you qualify as a TRUE LINKS golf course, which these 14 do.
St.Patricks Links Bk**
Sandy Hills Links Bk**
Ballyliffin Glashedy B
Narin and Portnoo B
Ballyliffin Old B
Old Tom Morris Links B
Port Salon B
Donegal B
Cruit Island (9) B
North West B
Bundoran B
Dunfanaghy B
Gweedore G
Coastguard Nine (9) W
St.Patricks Links Bk**
Sandy Hills Links Bk**
Ballyliffin Glashedy B
Narin and Portnoo B
Ballyliffin Old B
Old Tom Morris Links B
Port Salon B
Donegal B
Cruit Island (9) B
North West B
Bundoran B
Dunfanaghy B
Gweedore G
Coastguard Nine (9) W
Friday, September 16, 2022
Return from County Donegal Ireland
"If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all."-- David Livingstone.
The golf in County Donegal, which is part of the province of Ulster and is located in the far NW corner of Ireland is fun and exciting. The accomodations at Rosapenna Resort and Harvey's Point are worldclass. Livingstone would have loved most of the roads in Donegal as they are remote, very difficult to access, and stressful to negotiate. The Wild Atlantic Way is a tour route of the rugged coast that is true to its name. There were several incidents of roads I needed to traverse to get to my destination being only a single track. The worst stretch was on the way back to Dublin, when we had 18 km of single track that we shared with sheep and cattle. There are very few roads that two cars can pass each other without the possibility of being side swiped. So my suggestion if you want to experience this great golf region of the world would be to hire a driver, and close your eyes until you arrive at your destination.
Eleven years ago, after being inspired by Tom Coyne's book "A Course called Ireland" I embarked on a 23 course tour around the top of Ireland from Dublin to Carne. I got a little taste of Donegal by playing 5 of its courses, so the roads were not a surprise. As I stated previously, three of those rounds I played in the worst weather of my life. If I hadn't prepaid I would have NEVER gone out in that severe of weather. This trip of 11 rounds in County Donegal the weather was fantastic, 12 days and NO rain!! I actually prefer to play in wind, cool temps, overcast weather and planned accordingly for that attire. I could have played in shorts on several days but didn't pack a single pair.
I have now played every TRUE LINKS course in Donegal, 14 courses in all which is a third of all my Irish golf experience. My second trip, 10 years ago, I played the 12 top courses around the South of Ireland where the roads are very good. Once I return to Florida I will start editing the over 1000 photos and write the accompanying articles.
The golf in County Donegal, which is part of the province of Ulster and is located in the far NW corner of Ireland is fun and exciting. The accomodations at Rosapenna Resort and Harvey's Point are worldclass. Livingstone would have loved most of the roads in Donegal as they are remote, very difficult to access, and stressful to negotiate. The Wild Atlantic Way is a tour route of the rugged coast that is true to its name. There were several incidents of roads I needed to traverse to get to my destination being only a single track. The worst stretch was on the way back to Dublin, when we had 18 km of single track that we shared with sheep and cattle. There are very few roads that two cars can pass each other without the possibility of being side swiped. So my suggestion if you want to experience this great golf region of the world would be to hire a driver, and close your eyes until you arrive at your destination.
Eleven years ago, after being inspired by Tom Coyne's book "A Course called Ireland" I embarked on a 23 course tour around the top of Ireland from Dublin to Carne. I got a little taste of Donegal by playing 5 of its courses, so the roads were not a surprise. As I stated previously, three of those rounds I played in the worst weather of my life. If I hadn't prepaid I would have NEVER gone out in that severe of weather. This trip of 11 rounds in County Donegal the weather was fantastic, 12 days and NO rain!! I actually prefer to play in wind, cool temps, overcast weather and planned accordingly for that attire. I could have played in shorts on several days but didn't pack a single pair.
I have now played every TRUE LINKS course in Donegal, 14 courses in all which is a third of all my Irish golf experience. My second trip, 10 years ago, I played the 12 top courses around the South of Ireland where the roads are very good. Once I return to Florida I will start editing the over 1000 photos and write the accompanying articles.
Thursday, September 1, 2022
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