Going for Golf

Dooks

Along the south-west coast, golf has been played in Dingle Bay since the 1800s and in 1889, Dooks, a nine-hole course, was opened. The members designed and built a further nine holes which opened in 1970.

Martin Hawtree carried out a re-design of 16 holes, which opened in 2006, and the links sit in a stretch of sand dunes at the head of Dingle Bay with the peninsulas of Rossbeigh and Inch and the whitewashed houses of Cromane eye-catching distractions. The famed McGillycuddy’s Reeks are to the south, with the hills of Glenbeigh, and across the bay are the Slieve Mish and Dingle mountains. Dooks features gorse, heather and wild flowers and, with the wind never far away, it’s a real test to find the narrow fairways and contoured greens – traditional links golf at its best.

It starts with a par-four that has out of bounds on the left and massive dunes on the right. The pick of the front nine are the par-five sixth with its two-tier green and a big bunker guarding the front, and the seventh with its long sloping green. And the 18th is as good a finish as you will see anywhere, with a drive over the hill and another big shot needed to make the green.