Connemara Golf Course
Ballyconneely, County Galway
Connemara Golf Club is a true links course situated on the western coast of County Galway. The scenery is stunning on a sunny day with the Atlantic to the west and south and the rugged Twelve Bens and Maamturk mountain ranges to the east. The wind is an all important factor in Connemara, on a calm day it can be as sheepish as any one of the ewes on the nearby hills but when an Atlantic gale blows it can make the 7000 or so yards feel twice as long. The opening holes are flat and the rough is not too penal, provided you keep the ball reasonably straight. It's as if the golf course is giving you a fair chance to warm up before it starts really challenging your golfing skills on the back nine.
Connemara Course Description
The 6th is a great par-3 with one of the trickiest greens on the course, a driver to 9- iron can be the right club depending on wind direction. The 8th is a fine golf hole usually into the prevailing wind, a par usually made by chipping and putting.
The homeward nine starts with a good par-4, the fairway is generous, but stray far enough left or right and trouble awaits. The green, like an upturned saucer, is very difficult to hold if approached from any distance. The 12th is another great hole, similar to the 10th but tougher. A good straight drive is required to bring the elevated green into reach on an average day. Very tough to get up and down for any ball that rolls off short or left.
The par-3 13th is a beautiful golf hole and in many people's opinion Connemara's signature hole. Standing on the tee you know you need a pure strike on the ball to get on the green. Anything short will roll back 30 yards and anything left or right will be gathered by bunkers.
Unusually Connemara finishes with back to back par fives. Although they run side by side they have a very different feel as one is nearly always into the wind and the other with. Once you have enjoyed the elevated 17th green nestled high up in the sand dune take in the scenery around you before facing the challenge of the final hole. Few golf courses can have such a beautiful scene as here.
The 18th is one of the great finishing holes in Ireland, and is nearly always played into the prevailing wind. You need to stay away from the out-of-bounds down the right while still maintaining a fairway position before the critical second shot. Box clever with the second or the ball will find the drain that traverses the fairway 150 yards out. Don't relax just yet, the challenge is just beginning. The elevated green is fronted by an embankment guarded at the bottom by three pot bunkers. No mercy is available (unless pure blind luck), for any approach that comes up short will surely find one of them as it rolls back towards its owner. Plenty of courage is required to avoid being short - 140 yards may require a full blow of a fairway wood. The best advice is to go for it even if it's too long - there are no easy escapes from the three dreaded hazards.
Connemara Golf Club is a superb links. Take the opportunity to build a score early and hang on for dear life over the closing holes. And if defeated, remember to absorb the place on the 18th tee and take consolation that you are not it's first victim and will certainly not be the last!
