Dublin - Ireland’s fairway city
If you are planning on popping over to Ireland for some golf, you might want to ask the following question: Have you packed your bucket, spade and binoculars? If so, then you’re ready for a round or two at some of Ireland’s premier golf courses just a nine-wood from Dublin.
St Anne's
St Anne's
Telephone:
+353 1 833 6471
Email:
Website:
Courses:
6,717 yards, par 71
The bucket and spade aren’t really necessary, of course, but given the joys of some of the links courses, you might very well feel like building a sand castle. The binoculars, on the other hand, will come in useful if you feel like keeping an eye on the wildlife. Or, alternatively, for spotting the clubhouse as you march up the 18th and prepare for a well-earned pint.
Ireland is a haven for golfers, but the sheer number of superb courses, catering for every budget, in and around Dublin, makes the idea of a weekend visit all the more appealing. From the windswept links at Portmarnock to the splendour of The K Club, it’s all on Dublin’s doorstep, meaning you can clock up holes rather than mileage.
In fact, you can begin spotting the courses from the air. When you fly into Dublin Airport, one weirdly-shaped slice of land might grab your attention. A sliver of green shaped like the blade of a sword, Bull Island is a perfect distillation of what makes Ireland such a haven for tourists. St Anne’s is one of two courses on the island and named, delightfully, in honour of the Guinness Estate, which was called, appropriately, St Anne’s. It shares the island – also a nature reserve and something of a mecca for bird-watchers – with the Royal Dublin Golf Club.
Legend has it that St Anne’s began when three local people started to dig holes at one end of the island, and from this hand-made start the course has now developed into one of the best loved, and friendliest, links courses in the country. Irish legend Des Smyth even describes it as “a hidden gem”. On travelling its eye-popping terrain, it’s not hard to see why. The island is home to a bird sanctuary under the protection of UNESCO, and a beach that is more than three miles long. Consequently, the course has plenty of natural material to work with, and carries it off with aplomb.
Dotted with sandy dunes, it has a par of 71 with three par fives and four par threes. Recent years have seen the building of five new greens and eight new tee complexes, and another nice touch is the use of turf from the nearby Croke Park Stadium on stretches of the back nine. For the uninitiated, Croke Park is home to the country’s native Gaelic games, hurling and football, and in recent times has also hosted Irish rugby and soccer internationals. One of the pleasant challenges is the wind coming in off Dublin Bay, and the views are truly glorious, stretching from Howth Head across to south Dublin and the Wicklow Mountains.
