Tour Ireland: Golf in County Cork

irelandseye.com recommends Firefox for browsing. Click this link for a non-affiliated click-thru to get Firefox.

Emerald Greens - The Essential Guide to Holiday Golf in Ireland

North-East Cork

The following is extracted from the Appletree Press title Emerald Greens - The Essential Guide to Holiday Golf in Ireland by Roisin McAuley. The book contains course detail and commentary on nearly 70 Irish courses.

Rich farmland, rolling hills and quiet river valleys with fine old houses and castles, characterise this region. The River Blackwater flows from west to east across the county, through the market towns of Mallow and Fermoy, before turning south towards the sea. The Owenacurra River flows south through a wooded valley to Cork harbour. There are three islands, linked by causeways, in Cork harbour - Little Island, Fota Island and Great Island. East and north of Cork city are some of the loveliest, long-established parkland courses in Ireland. And some fine new courses as well.

CORK
18 holes - par 72
On Little Island, signposted from the N25 east of Cork city.
Telephone: 021 353451

"Please do not hit your ball if horses are approaching." (Sign at the 4th tee.)

Cork golf club, founded in 1888, is one of Ireland's senior clubs and earns further respect from the long line of champions who have played here. The foremost of these was James Bruen who represented Great Britain and Ireland in their first ever Walker Cup victory in 1938 as an 18-year-old and later won the British Amateur Championship at Birkdale. Respect is also due to the magnificent (and substantially unchanged) layout conceived by Dr Alister MacKenzie in the 1920s when the main tool for course construction was the shovel.
The round begins at a busy junction in front of the clubhouse. The 1st heading uphill into the park, the 14th finishing to the left, the 18th to the right, and the 15th tee-shot driving across the 14th green in front of the 1st tee. A recipe for mayhem at a lesser course, but merely the scene of well-mannered manoeuvres at Cork.
The 1st (340metres/372yards - par 4) requires a drive between trees, nothing too difficult, but your second had better be properly struck to avoid the bunkers to left and right and get to the raised green at the top of the hill. On the 2nd tee(par 5), take a look at your surroundings. The land falls away towards Lough Mahon (at the entrance to Cork harbour) on your right. In the distance is Great Island. This is an extremely peaceful spot. But there are glimpses all around of the industries - old and new - and the shipping on which the city's prosperity was built. Before you on the 2nd tee (par 5) lies a wooded ravine across which you must drive to a fairway sloping gently to the right. (You need to drive long and accurately to score well at Cork.) The 4th (par 4) along the shoreline requires 1111" hl'!' long carryover a rocky beach to the fairway. At the 5th (par 5) you drive, over what seems like acres of gorse, wild roses and honeysuckle. The sea is to the right, and out-of-bounds. Then Cork's famous quarry comes into play.
Much of the site for the course was formerly a limestone quarry (which means the course drains swiftly in wet weather). MacKenzie's brilliance was to lead the holes over, through and round this considerable obstacle in a way that seems entirely natural. The tantalising 6th (par 4) calls for a blind drive through a narrow gap with only the high quarry walls in view. The 7th, 8th and 9th are played within the quarry (two excellent par 3s and a tough par 4), with the 10th (374 metres - par 4) taking you out and back down to the shore. From here you climb up into the parkland on the (par 5) 11th (454metres/496yards) where Seve Ballesteros drove 332metres/363yards in 1983. A Spanish chestnut marks the spot. The 13th asks for another long drive over an extraordinarily deep gully to a well-protected green. Then you sweep down to the clubhouse on the 14th to play the parkland holes that complete the round. Don't imagine these are an anti-climax. The short 16th (par 4) requires two accurate shots - the first over a bank of gorse - to make par. The 17th has a 160metre/175yard carry to a sharply sloping fairway with out-of-bounds on the left.
You will want to play Cork again and again. It feels like a links course. The greens are fast and true. The rough is abundant with wild flowers, honeysuckle, roses, sea holly, and sweet-smelling gorse. It's peaceful, idiosyncratic and above all, a real test of golf.

FOTA ISLAND
18 holes - par 71
On Fota Island, signposted from the N25 east of Cork city.
Telephone: 021 4883700
The course lies on the northern shore of Fota Island, one of the larger islands in Cork harbour. It forms part of the Fota Island estate, the attractive clubhouse having previously been the stable block. The first five holes are played in a wide circle of bluebell-filled woodland. As you make your way up the sweeping dogleg 1st (par 4) to the highest point on the course, you will see the huge parkland ill which the course is set and understand why it is tranquil, so close to the city.
You get your first taste of water when you pitch across the lake on the 3rd (par 3) w a promontory green. You can hear the cries of the waterfowl, or perhaps something more exotic from the nearby wildlife park. Fota doesn't really show its teeth until the 6th (par 4) - a hole with a half-hidden wall crossing it, very much in play. Another wall is the boundary of the estate from the harbour behind the green, gracefully framed by Scots pines.
The designer, Jeff Howes, throws the book at you at the 8th (par 4). Look at the lovely stands of trees nearby, and till view back down to the water. Ahead you can see only bunkers at the apex of this dogleg left. There seems to be no way past. Behind the bunkers, a rock-lined stream crosses the fairway as the hole climbs up to a green protected by bunkers and a lake. Young trees line the fairway left and right. The 9th (par 4) reveals a gentle descent to the clubhouse, then it's back down to the waterside for a wonderful series of holes around a large pond populated with ducks and swans.
Enjoy, in particular, the 13th (par 3) where you'll need to keep your shot under the wind and out of the water to score. From here you've a demanding climb up the (par 4) 14th (where you may discover, too late, a hidden pond just short of the green on your right). Several beautiful tree-lined holes follow, with a majestic finish down the (par 5) 18th to the promontory green in the pond in front of the clubhouse.

The detail in this article was extracted from Emerald Greens - The Essential Guide to Holiday Golf in Ireland by Roisin McAuley, published by Appletree Press.

[ Back to top ]

[ Home | Features | Culture | History | Travel ]