Carne's Nine New Magnificent Holes: Ireland’s North West

Larry lets fly on Kilmore's 8th hole

Larry’s finger pointed out to sea, past the islands that flank the coastline.

“You know what that is?” he asked Bob Gillespie, a golf writer from South Carolina.

“No,” Bob replied.

We were standing on the 14th tee at Carne, on the very north-west tip of Co. Mayo, the wind battering us, the ocean swelling against the beach below.

“That’s next stop America.”

Not to be outdone, Bob raised a hand and shielded his eyes. “Oh sure, I can see the Statue of Liberty.”

The Opening

Larry, Bob, Pat and I were playing at the soft opening of Carne’s new Kilmore nine holes. Soft was an apt word, seeing as we were having one of those ‘soft’ Irish days that brought equal measures of swirling rain and golden sunshine.  

“It wouldn’t be Ireland without a bit of rain,” Bob had quipped earlier, upon noticing that everyone had umbrellas except him.

The first flag you'll see driving in to the club is on Kilmore's 9th green

We were playing in a Scramble to celebrate the opening of Carne’s new nine holes – named the Kilmore nine. Their history and cost (see below) make intriguing reading, but of far greater interest is the scale and excitement of these new holes.

If you’ve been lucky enough to play Carne (Facebook Page) then you’ll know that the back nine is of the enormous, muscular dune variety. The course is famous for them and with good reason. The new nine holes may be even bigger. They weave in and around the existing back nine to create a new loop. You can feel overwhelmed, lost and insignificant… and yet be standing in the middle of the fairway. Nowhere is this more obvious than the par five 5th.

“Hello down there,” someone called from the 7th tee, high above the 5th fairway.

Views over Kilmore's 5th fairway from the 7th tee. Mind the nosebleed.

“Are you getting a nosebleed up there?” I yelled back, as my three playing partners disappeared from sight, leaving me alone to be squeezed by dunes on three sides. It was almost claustrophobic.

The New Nine

The new nine are, in a word, magnificent. Intrigue and beauty greet you on every tee and some of the green settings are mouth-watering. They are approaches where you are almost desperate to hit a good shot.

It is only the 5th that I struggle with, where a good drive will leave you blind and disoriented. The obvious route (the fairway) whips out of view around a dune and requires no more than a mid iron into the tight bend. Larry and Pat, both members, steered us well right, going over the dune itself. It is a hole that needs to be tackled a few times to appreciate fully how it can best be played.

I was taking photographs – for my Flickr page – and Bob would often end up beside me, his camera busily snapping away. Every time he said he was going to stop taking photos we came across another hole, another view, another something that had him reaching for the camera again.

The startling par three 2nd hole on the Kilmore 9

A friend of Bob’s once told him that he was not a 22 handicapper (his official h’cap), but an 8 and a 36 handicapper rolled into one. It’s true, too, because he sank some big putts and hit plenty of straight drives… accompanied by a few disasters. Larry plays off 16 and is enjoying his golf on the back of his second Captain’s Prize at County Longford Golf Club in July. It’s 51 years since he won his first. Pat plays off 8 and is one of those efficient golfers who rarely puts a foot wrong and came to the rescue on many occasions. As a team we combined brilliantly, to be five under after six holes. We didn’t drop a shot but only managed two more birdies, to give us a net 59.7. Unfortunately, 58 won it and we didn’t even make the prizes. Oh how we muttered at the bar about missed chances.

The History

Thirteen organisations were involved in making the new holes a reality: DSP/Fas, Erris Community Gain Fund, Corrib Fund, Fionntair Comhrac, Meithea Mhaigheo, Mayou County Council, CIE Tours International, Mayo Enterprise Board, Udaras, Leader, Failte Ireland, North & West Coast Links, Tourism Ireland... and Carne Golf Club. The gestation period was a lengthy one, dating back some 20 years.

The serpentine bunker and views back to the tee on Kilmore's 6th hole.

When Carne was first designed by the great Eddie Hackett, in the 1990s, he kept an ace up his sleeve. Yes, he had created one of Ireland’s great links courses, but he saw even greater potential for this remote spot on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Sadly, when he died in 1996, he had not had a chance to play that card. He did, however, leave behind a vision that others were determined to fulfil.

I was honoured and privileged to be invited along to the celebration. It’s a six hour drive from Wexford, but heading up to the north-west is never a hardship. I have found myself in this beautiful part of the world many times over the last few years – lured by the golf courses and the people.

These are the first new holes to be built in Ireland in several years and they form an astounding run that rivals the very best in the country. It has taken time to achieve this vision and a budget that would teach many of the world’s golf architects and developers a lesson or two. The work was completed for roughly €200,000 and most of it was done by a six-tonne excavator, a six-tonne dumper and by the sheer hard work of the local community. That speaks volumes of the respect paid to Hackett, who always believed in working with the land and not through it.

The Design

The Kimore nine were designed by Scottish golf architect, Ally McIntosh, with an initial routing mapped out by American Jim Engh, a member of Carne and also a golf architect.

Bob putts across Kilmore's par three green. Yes, that bunker's in play!

“The dunes are entirely chaotic, entirely random,” said McIntosh at the launch. Typically, he pointed out, dunes are created in a formal line of ridges, parallel to the sea. That is not the case at Carne. “Here, it’s one dramatic hole after one dramatic hole,” McIntosh says, thanks to what he believes are the biggest dunes in the world of golf.

Not surprisingly, therefore, there are a couple of steep climbs (up the 6th hole and from the 3rd green to the 4th tee) and a buggy may be required by some. But all the energy expended will be richly rewarded.


The Kilmore nine venture into the dunes where the existing back nine reside. They therefore use the biggest dunes on the 280-acre property. At times the scale can leave you speechless, as my experience on the new 5th fairway accentuated, but McIntosh, with Engh's outline and Hackett's vision, has created the most dramatic holes of all. The style is very much in keeping with the original 18, but McIntosh has introduced a few quirks of his own as any good designer should: some greens have heavy ridges to follow the flow of the land; and the bunkering is more punitive, nowhere more so than on the 6th, where a small serpentine bunker to the right of the green will cause havoc.


Every hole has intrigue. Every challenge is exciting. On a windless day (if there is such a thing in Belmullet), only the par three 7th will prove seriously tough. The rest will need to be tackled with care and placement, thanks to the dunes and rolling fairways. It is a big challenge because it is a big course - possibly the biggest - but there is little that would be deemed unfair, although you may be inclined to disagree when you walk off some of the greens with their serious slopes.

Bob drives on Kilmore's long par three 7th 

Carne now has 27 holes, formed by three loops of nine. The new holes open officially on August 1st, 2013, with limited play available in August, September and October, as part of a 27-hole package. This is to protect the new holes and let them settle in.

The Best Holes

Always tough to pick the beauties after only playing the course once, but the par three 2nd will live long in the memory, slotted in delicately between two dunes and with wicked green slopes. The par three 4th and 7th are beautiful, too, but it is the drive on the 9th and the approach shot on the 8th that made me go weak at the knees. Delicious shots and tough ones too - with dunes this big you are always aware that an errant shot will mean big trouble, and these two holes epitomise that.

When I play a course I want to be enchanted and enthralled, I want to feel a thrill on every tee I step onto and be mesmerised by the challenge that lies ahead. If, as Carne has indicated, the main 18 will comprise the old back nine and the new Kilmore nine, then this heavenly spot in Mayo will come as close as any course I know to achieving that.

Tee shot on Kilmore's 9th

A Golf Destination

For some, building a new nine holes, given Ireland’s current woes, may seem extravagant (despite the club’s limited expenditure), but there is a sound rationale. Carne is a remote spot and for golfers who venture this far, the 27 holes offer them a wider choice. The new holes also tackle the misguided criticism that the front nine are bland – a statement that holds no merit. Compared with the back nine they are not as muscular or big, but these are scintillating holes nonetheless, routed through and around dunes that would overwhelm most other links courses.

With these 27 holes, surely Carne will rise ever further up the world rankings and golfers' bucket lists.

Scenic Location

From almost every tee box, golfers will be rewarded with stunning views. Islands are dotted across the ocean, the Nephin Beg mountain range rises to the south-east and Slievemore stands proud on Achill Island to the south. In every direction there is endless sky, until you drop down into the heart of the dunes and chase that little white ball.

The beauty of Mayo and Carne opens up from Kilmore's 1st fairway,
back towards the clubhouse.

What has been achieved on a shoestring budget, using sustainable principles which marry with the landscape's beauty, is hard to appreciate unless you visit Carne. The road across the county is long and barren, but golfing joy awaits and it is a journey no golfer will regret.

A full set of photos (holes 8-16 in this set)

My immense gratitude to Mary Walsh and Eamon Mangan for their generosity and for giving me the opportunity to play Carne again and experience the new holes. My thanks, too, to my playing partners Bob, Larry and Pat. A pleasure.

Website: www.carnegolflinks.com

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Green fees: €35-€70. €90 to play all 27 holes (2013).

Hotels: Broadhaven Bay, The Talbot.

Best pub for a pint: McDonnells Bar, Belmullet