First, let me apologise for the lateness of this blog post. I think I have a relatively good excuse and that is that Gretta has made the journey from New Zealand to spend 10 days on the puregolf2010 bandwagon. It is great to see her and I think if you're lucky a guest blog might be forthcoming shortly...
To Carne Golf Links on day 250 of our journey (and the day prior to our lengthy drive south to Doonbeg). Generally Jamie and I ask for directions to our next destination only a day before, or even at times on the actual day we're heading to the golf course. Fortunately, with Carne Golf Links next on our schedule, we were advised with a good 24 hours notice that no, this was not a half hour drive down the road from Sligo and that we should give ourselves plenty of time.
The drive west from our luxurious base at the Mount Falcon Lodge (thanks Alan again for having us!!) to the Carne Golf Links is about an hour long and the roads flip between the 1910??s variety and the 1990??s. Whilst driving across some of the more antique concrete going around we were encompassed by a couple of serious showers. The type of rain that has penetrated through our helpless wet weather gear of late. As the windscreen wipers were turned to full speed silence fell on the car as Jamie and I both thought ??here we go again??. Our freshly cleaned and dried golfing clothes were about to get another hammering.
As we pulled into the car park at Carne Golf Links the skies lifted and whilst we prudently packed our wet weathers into the golf bags it looked like we were in for a dry day! The car park at Carne was not jam packed with tourist busses and nor were there swarms of golfers and caddies buzzing around the first tee. From the get go this place exuded a rustic charm.
The club that plays it??s golf at Carne Golf Links is the Belmullet Golf Club. Belmullet is the local village out here and one of the main service towns for the western ring of Moy - so it has a police (guarda) station, school and other services usually reserved for larger towns. Belmullet is inhabited by lovely people as we found out when we arrived and were greeted with an amazing welcome. Sorcha, the commercial manager who had invited us out here initially, had worded up the locals that some kiwi lads were in town and so it was that on day 250 we were greeted by possibly the welcome of the year! A couple of lads from the US were arranged to make up the four ball, one of which (Fred) is an international life member here. Fred was traveling Ireland for a couple of weeks with his buddy David a chap from Virginia. We said g??day to these boys, and then got chatting with the secretary manager, Liam, who was to walk the course with us. The club captain also came out to welcome us and we were ushered into the pro shop to meet the charming Mary whose folks, Sheilagh and Chris also came out to walk the back nine with us.
Teeing off in front of a crowd after the customary photographs has not been going so well for me of late (think first tee Aberdour and some shank magic). Fortunately both JP and I got away down the first and so we were off and keeping up the charade of low handicap golfers!
The Carne Golf Links was designed about 15 years ago by a chap named Eddie Hackett. A minimalist, Mr Hackett was determined to keep the use of any machinery to a minimum as he carved a course through this pure links land. Wandering the course with Liam, the stories flowed about Mr Hackett needing a minder to hold him up in the strong wind as his frail frame traversed the land deciding the routing. I think a minder was also needed for the guy operating the heavy machinery to ensure he didn??t go overboard and move any more land than is necessary.
The outcome? Quality. Absolute class. A rustic ??rough and tumble?? links course which touches those creative senses in the brain making you approach each hole as a calculated form of art. A 3 iron might go 140 yards, an 8 iron 200. I think that Mr Hackett has, in his years of experience, learnt not to underestimate the wind. He has built this course to embrace it. Rather than simply cut each hole between the sand dunes, minimizing the impact of the wind and instead creating a funnel for the golfer to play down, he allows the wide expanse to lull the golfers into a false sense of security, only for them to watch helplessly as their ball is captured by the wind and soars wildly off into the nether-regions. In this respect, the front nine is routed across only mildly undulating land. Some think it??s the smaller brother of the back nine, but I enjoyed it.
Holes like the par four 6th, (pictured above) with an exposed table top green, the 180 yard 7th hole that plays uphill 25 yards and normally requires a driver for most souls into the prevailing wind are brilliant. And the 8th green which, after an array of flat land is nestled amongst the dunes is sheer class as you can see below.
On the front nine a local couple came out to meet us and walk the course, Gemma and Michael Kavanagh (pictured below with the lovely Belmullet in the background). We chatted about life out here, the devestation of the earthquake back home in CHCH and, of course, golf. Everyone is very proud here of the success in Irish golf of late. And rightly so.
The golf was solid if not spectacular, although Jamie gave the onlookers something to cheer about with a birdie on the par five 4th hole. I got everyone involved on the next - looking for my ball in the hay. 12 eyes proved to be the trick as it was found nestled down in wrist breaking position. Although it wasn't as bad as the lie that poor Fred found himself with on the 9th as you can see below:
We did something very ??un-irish? and stopped for lunch after 9 holes. A smashing seafood chowder later and we were off to play the more revered back nine. You can see why it gets a good wrap as playing 10 through 12 the dunes are, all of a sudden very much in you face as you need to strategically negotiate around them or else you??re left with ??quite a stance?? and ??quite the recovery??. Good luck.
[Above: the par four 11th hole. 2 iron to the left of the dune and then wedge up. Or, if you're Tiger, you could go over the the top with driver carrying the ball 350 yards onto the green. Not the safe play]
[the short par four 12th. A reasonable chance to fly over the dune on the left to the green, or play safe to the right and knock up to the elevated green - pictured below. My first birdie for the day - (or even the week?)]
Personally I liked the par five 13th hole which plays out beyond the picture above towards the farthest point on the course. The 13th is as simple as they come. A wide fairway, out of bounds well to the right, but generally a hole completely exposed to the elements. For us, the wind was in our face (as it would be most days) meaning this is a real test of ball striking. Upon reaching the green, it is exposed to the wind and, if you can keep your focus away from the breathtaking views, you can negotiate the subtle slope from back to front and escape with a par 5. On the next tee everyone stopped to catch their breath and take in the truly spectacular, and unspoilt view.
I think a couple of the folk watching were particularly interested to see how we went at the short par three 14th. Their advise that we had a landing area of about a foot wide proved to be not far from the truth. This green is not Mr Hackett's finest work as the slope is too severe from left to right meaning that you generally need to sink a long putt to manage a two putt. Jamie put his 20 foot sidehill sloping putt about 12 feet right, as it appeared to stop right by the hole. A touch of luck involved on this one - but this type of criticism would be few and far between as a rule in Mr Hackett's generally simplistic design. [The next hole - a cracking par four up the hill has a beautiful green that craftily slopes from front to back creating all kinds of headaches without being a smidgeon unfair].
The 16th was another one of the steeply downhill par threes which have been causing me all kinds of de ja vu in Ireland. Many of the courses we've been playing have consisted of 2 or 3 such holes. They're generally not my favourite - but this one - well I particularly enjoyed it. Mainly because it came out of nowhere. The undulations had not been used to such dramatic effect throughout the round, and then all of a sudden there you are on a surprisingly high point on the course looking down upon the wee green below. Photo time..
The course gave us some respite with a down wind par five to finish where JP and I made matching birdies, gave a celebratory fist pump, shook hands with all and sundry and, with that, round 250 was over. We thanked all of the locals who gave the day some real character and went inside for a customary pint of the black stuff whilst chatting with the local barman (who had broken his ankle and was gutted to be off golf for a couple of months).
Final words on Carne is that it is one of my favourite tracks in Ireland to date (and even 7 days subsequently as I write this blog). It is different to many of the heavily duned courses, and has a more laid back feel than some of the 'more popular' courses. I think part of this is that the North West of Ireland has a charm that has not been fully appreciated by foreigners yet. Something I'm sure will change (particularly as more of the roads change to the 1990's variety and it becomes even more accessible).
Thanks to the team at Carne Golf Links and at Mount Falcon. This is a golf weekend away I'd recommend hands down.
M
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