Murray's summary:

A little effort required to get here; but you will be rewarded by some extraordinary links courses and dramatic scenery.

Birdies:

•  Wild links courses festooned with dunes

•  Less touristy corner of Ireland

Bogeys:

•  Takes a little time to arrive and travel between the courses

•  Two-centre stays required to play the best golf courses

Why go

The area around Counties Sligo, Mayo and the southern tip of Donegal is a wild and wonderful place.  Sandy seaside soil abounds with towering dunes in many places, perfect landscape for creating links courses - just add flags!

For many years a hidden corner of Ireland, however the addition of the airport at Knock has had a miraculous effect on ease of access and the number of visitors has increased over the last two decades.

Sligo is a great little town with plenty of life all year long and there are many seaside resorts, such as Bundoran, that are good fun in the Summer months.

When to go

Winter can be a little bleak out on the west coast, so the best time to travel is late March through to October.  School holidays do see an increase in traffic (and hotel prices) but this is not as significant as in other parts of the island.

Where to stay

Sligo sits at about the geographic centre of golf in this part of Ireland and makes a very good base, with lots of bars, restaurants and places to stay in town.  Although if you are planning on playing at Enniscrone and Belmullet (Westport too) it may well be an idea to stay out in Ballina or Enniscrone to save on the driving time.

What to see

Superb scenery is all around you and driving to the courses will show you bright green fields, mountains, and sandy beaches.

Co. Sligo "Rosses Point"

Course:

Condition:

Clubhouse:

Murray's word

Hidden from view by a small rise behind the Clubhouse, Rosses Point suddenly unfurls below you from the 2nd Tee, with the central holes laid out across flat links land until you reach the rise at the far end of the beach where six holes climb up and over the far ridge.  A good variety of terrain that offers great golf and superb views out to sea and across to the unmistakeable profile of Ben Bullen mountain across the inlet.  County Sligo is a traditional style links where running shots are often your best bet with the wind always a factor and the hard and fast Greens tricky to hold.  However, there is a meandering stream that has been marshalled around a couple of Greens and across several Fairways, making an aerial route the only option at times.  The traditional white pavilion-style Clubhouse has been extended with a conservatory at the rear - a great spot to relax and enjoy the views.

Enniscrone

Course:

Condition:

Clubhouse:

Murray's word

One of the most impressive dune courses you will find anywhere in the world.  Enniscrone is an unforgettable journey through some of Ireland’s biggest sand dunes, 60-70 foot high in places and all thickly carpeted with marram grasses.  The Clubhouse sits at the foot of the dunes and the 1st leads you straight into them for an initial skirmish, a brief respite follows on the flatter inland holes 5-9, then the real battle commences from the 10th until you emerge again at the 18th Green.  The inland holes are good links holes, but the ones that you will never forget are the twisting-turning-climbing-falling ones in the mountains of sand and Marram grass.  Each hole in splendid isolation, often feeling more like a golf maze than a golf course!  Not to be missed.

Donegal "Murvagh"

Course:

Condition:

Clubhouse:

Murray's word

An unusually serene setting for a golf course on a triangular spit of land that juts out into the Ocean, creating a lake on the more inland side that is dotted with odd looking hemispherical islands covered in thick forest – it almost looks Chinese.  The course is 75% flattish terrain with long grasses defining the majority of the holes, the exception being the 8th that has more of a seaside roller coaster ride.  The predominant feature of the course is the giant sand ridge running across the middle section, made good use of for several elevated Tees (and a similar dune for one Tee at the far end).  A genuine test of your golfing abilities with no hidden tricks, just good honest links fun.

Castle Dargan

Course:

Condition:

Clubhouse:

Murray's word

Nearing its tenth birthday, Castle Dargan has filled out and matured nicely into a good test and relaxing game of golf.  A Darren Clarke designed, mainly parkland course with a few links style touches, contrasting nicely from the windy links (offering respite too depending on your point of view!).  It lies a few miles inland form Sligo city in a quiet farming environment.  With a fairly open area of land to work with, albeit with a few speciancient oaks here and there, Darren Clarke shaped the course by moving earth to define the Fairways and creating lakes, rather than planting saplings and waiting thirty years…  This gives the course a distinctive look; tall yellowy grasses cover the ridges between the lush green Fairways, with additional splashes of deep blue here and there on the golfing canvas.  The Clubhouse is cleverly combined into the modern on-site hotel.

Strandhill

Course:

Condition:

Clubhouse:

Murray's word

Often overlooked by visitors to Sligo, which is a mistake.  A small friendly Golf Club squeezed in between the estuary, town and hills that offers a serious challenge to all golfers. The land has plenty of relief to it (buggies are available) but these contours also give rise to some great golf holes and good use has been made of the shapes available, without any really blind shots.  The holes run closely together so you will see everybody out on the course at some point; but there is no criss-crossing of holes.  The course is built on good fast draining sandy soil, which gives rise to hard and fast links Greens.  The small Greenkeeping team are extremely proud of their course and look after it lovingly.  Great value links golf at a genuine locals' Club where everybody knows everybody!

Bundoran

Course:

Condition:

Clubhouse:

Murray's word

For over a Century Bundoran has been the Donegal beach resort of choice: a riot of bucket and spades, ice-cream and fun-fair rides.  On the hill looking down on the town and beach is the Great Northern Hotel around which the little Bundoran course runs.  Constructed some 100+ years ago and aimed clearly at holiday golfers, it is a fun course designed to be playable by all.  There is no room to lengthen the course (even if they wanted too) and rough is kept to a bare minimum.  That said, some of the bunkers will test anybody’s skills and there are a few memorable holes and plenty of scenic views over the beaches around.

Good value, semi-serious golf where all levels of golfer will be made most welcome.

Castle Dargan****

Murray's Word

Castle Dargan lies a little inland from Sligo, but is nevertheless well placed for golf in the area and ideal if you prefer to stay out of town on your golf holiday.  Castle Dargan is more of an old stately home (there is a castle ruins in the grounds) with surrounding estate; this has now been turned into an 18-hole golf course with a selection of accommodation.  The main buildings are set-up as a hotel with an extension that houses the bedrooms.  The latter are well laid out and large enough for two golfers sharing.  Reception is on the ground floor with lounge, bar and restaurant clustered around it.  The hotel cleverly connects directly with the Clubhouse, which has a good bar and ideal for lunches. 

Castle Dargan - apartments

Murray's Word

The apartments at Castle Dargan stand in two separate buildings just across form the hotel and very modern and spacious - ideal for the longer stay as they have fully equipped kitchens and plenty of room for dining in the living area.  Each apartment shas two en-suite bedrooms.  These can be made up into Double or Twin rooms (or even two Singles if you really like your space!).  When staying in teh apartmenst you can choose to have breakfast included in the hotel restaurant (just across the car park area) and you will have easy access too to all teh otehr facilities in the hotel buildings.

Castle Dargan - House

Murray's Word

For small groups that wish to live like the Lord of the Manor, the original Castle Dargan house has been preserved in a traditional style and looks out over the course with the hotel and apartmenst tucked out of sight behind it.  So, once ensconced in the drawing room you will feel like you have the whole demesne to yourselves.  There are four en-suite rooms, more like Suites really, in the House and breakfast can be taken either in the house as room service or in the main building.  For total privacy you can even arrange for private dinners in the House.

Dining out in Sligo

Sligo is a busy city and there are plenty of places to eat.  One of the best is Source (071 914 7605) in a modern setting with the chef on full view and excellent use of the local produce.  Another good option is Limoncello (071 911 0088) a real Italian restaurant run by two Sardinian brothers.

Most of the bars in town also offer good old style traditional fare - Irish Stews etc.

Nightlife in Sligo

Most of the Sligo bars are open until late (Midnight at least at weekends) and there will always be two or three with music on on any one evening.

Plus there are a number of clubs that stay open later - Toffs down on the riverside is one of the more well known (and frequented) establishments.

Flights

Skyscanner

The most convenient airport for Sligo and Mayo is the tiny airport with the enormous runway at Knock, aka Ireland West Airport.  There are services into Knock with Aer Lingus from Gatwick and many more departure points with Ryanair; however the choice of flights is somewhat limited.

There are more options into Derry (two hours away), Belfast (two to three hours away) or even Shannon or Dublin (either of which is three hours away).

A very useful site that searches all the major airlines and some of the "lo-cost" carries for you is Sky Scanner.  You can alter depature and arrival points, dates and times at will and the website will come back with several options almost instantly.
Click the logo to give it a go.

Popular Airlines

Hover on a logo to see the available routes, clicking the logo below will take you directly to the airline's website to book your flights.

Hire cars

Probably the most flexible way to get around during your visit.  Both airports offer the full range of hire-car companies: Avis, Hertz, Budget, Europcar, Sixt et cetera, whose contact details are shown opposite (if you have not already been offered a hire-car by your airline when you booked your flights!).

Holiday Autos offer a 10% discount to Murray's Members off their already low rates.  Simply click on their logo opposite to be taken to their specially discounted website.

Ferries

By sea the Dublin crossings are the most convenient for Sligo with a drive time of around four hours.  You could also sail into Belfast from Liverpool, from where the drive would be a little further, or even Larne from Stranraer.

Hover on a logo to see the available routes, clicking the logo below will take you directly to the ferry company's website to book.

Discounted ferry prices for Murray's Members - just click on the logo to lower the gangway to our exclusive Member rates.

Chauffeur driven cars, minibuses and coaches

Local Transport Companies

If you would prefer to leave the driving to somebody else then there are a number of local travel agents who will take care of all you transfer arrangements.

Rose Travel - Small and medium sized coaches, based in Tralee but wil cover most of the island of Ireland.

Tel: +353/0 66 713 7407         

Discounted rates for Murray's Members