Enniscrone Golf Club: Towering Dunes Over Killala Bay and One of the Northwest's Great Links
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Photograph: Enniscrone Golf Club.
The dunes at Enniscrone are the kind that change a golfer's expectations of a course they had never heard of. They run for miles along Killala Bay in Co. Sligo, some rising more than a hundred feet, and for most of the twentieth century the golf course skirted their edges rather than going in among them. Then, in 2001, an architect went into the dunes and brought back six new holes. The result turned a good links into one of the genuine highlights of the Irish northwest.
Enniscrone Golf Club was founded in 1918 and has been on its present site, on the bay near the village of Enniscrone, since 1931. It is one of the cluster of links along the northwest coast that most first-time visitors to Ireland never reach, and one that the golfers who do reach it tend to rate far above its modest fame.
At a Glance
Course: Enniscrone Golf Club (Championship Links), Co. Sligo
Type: Links
Founded / opened: Club founded 1918; on the present site since 1931
Main architects: Eddie Hackett (18 holes, 1974); Donald Steel (dunes redesign, 2001)
Par / back tee yardage: Par 73; plays to more than 7,000 yards from the back tees, depending on setup
Best paired with: County Sligo (Rosses Point) and Carne on a Northwest leg
Practical note: Towering dunes along Killala Bay; walking; a quieter Northwest links often missed by first-time visitors.
The Course: Eddie Hackett, then Donald Steel in the Dunes
The Enniscrone that golfers played for most of the twentieth century was largely the work of Eddie Hackett, Ireland's foremost links architect, who extended the course to eighteen holes in 1974. Hackett's routing mostly used the flatter ground inland of the clubhouse and only touched the edges of the great dunes along the bay.
That changed in 2001, when Donald Steel completed a radical redesign. Steel carved six new holes out of the high dunes along Killala Bay and rerouted the original eighteen around them. The Championship Links today is made up of twelve Hackett holes and six Steel holes, plays to par 73 at more than 7,000 yards from the tips, and is, for many visitors, the equal of any links in the region.
The Signature Holes
The Steel dune holes: The six holes Steel built in 2001 are what visitors remember, climbing into and running between dunes that tower over the fairways. They give the back of the round a scale and drama that the older holes, fine as they are, cannot match.
The bay views: From the high points of the course the views open out across Killala Bay and the Atlantic, with the hills of north Mayo beyond. On a clear day it is one of the best outlooks in the northwest.
The contrast of two hands: Part of the pleasure of Enniscrone is feeling the difference between Hackett's gentler, ground-game holes and Steel's bolder duneland sequence, played in a single round.
The Enniscrone Experience
Enniscrone is a welcoming members' club rather than a resort, and the round is walked. The green fee is gentle for the quality on offer, the welcome to visitors is warm, and the village of Enniscrone, with its long beach and seaweed baths, is a pleasant base. It is the kind of place that rewards the golfer who has gone out of their way to reach it.
Getting There and What's Nearby
Enniscrone sits on Killala Bay in Co. Sligo, roughly 45 to 60 minutes from Knock Airport and a similar drive from Sligo town, traffic dependent. It pairs naturally with County Sligo at Rosses Point and with Carne further west in Mayo, making a strong three-course northwest leg. For a non-golfing partner, the beaches, the seaweed baths and the Yeats country around Sligo are all close.
Why Enniscrone Belongs on Your List
For a golfer building a longer Irish trip, the northwest is the region most often left out, and Enniscrone is the round that makes the detour worthwhile. Paired with Rosses Point and Carne, it completes one of the most distinctive and least crowded itineraries in Irish links golf, in a part of the country where the courses are quiet and the dunes are as good as anywhere.
Enniscrone features in Argyle Links' Northwest Ireland itineraries, often alongside County Sligo and Carne. We arrange tee-time requests and build itineraries around confirmed access, coordinate accommodation in Sligo or Enniscrone, and arrange chauffeured transfers from Knock or Dublin Airports. See our itineraries at argylelinks.com.