Ireland, Old Head Links - A challenge for single players

OLD HEAD GOLF LINKS
Where: The headland of Old Head of Kinsale, about fifteen minutes drive from the picturesque coastal town of Kinsale.
Distance to major towns in the south of Ireland: Cork - just over a half-hour by car, Shannon - 1.5 hours.
Architects: Sextet Ron Kirby, Paddy Merigan, Eddie Hackett, Joe Carr, Liam Higgins and Haulie O'Shea.
About the course: Par 72. Longest hole is the seventeenth, 572 metres from the championship tee. Most difficult hole is the 14th, par four, 380 metres with three guarding bunkers strategically placed and in play from all tee-shots.
Course length: There are five tees, black, blue, white, yellow and red. Distance from each tee (yards), 7,212, 6,866, 6,476, 5,708 and 5132.
Course record: 68 strokes held by European Tour player David Higgins and set on 9 July, 2001.
Opening hours: Follow the local golf season, which means March - late October. Golf games must be booked in advance. Trolleys are not allowed.
Green fees: EUR 200
More information: Old Head Golf Links
Phone: +353 21 477 8444

Ireland, Old Head Links - A challenge for single players

On the Irish headland of Old Head of Kinsale you find a really difficult to play treat. Old Head Golf Links is a majestic seaside course that puts your golf game to the test.

Old Head Golf Links is a real challenge.
This particular day there are no howling high winds which otherwise could stir up metre high waves along the numerous ravines which embrace the Old Head of Kinsale headland.

Here you have a course where you can, that day that the weather gods wish, hit a drive barely 100 metres, or maybe hit with a 9 iron over 180 metres. Consequently, the current strength of the wind determines most things at Old Head Golf Links. Yet, the longer our round continues the more it takes the form of a tough qualifying test for single handicappers.

Beginners should not go to the trouble of even considering the idea of going here because they most likely will feel completely fleeced by the more than 265 European shekels that the green fee actually costs, but you don’t get something for nothing.

It’s also perhaps best to say that I have played better seaside golf but never as grand and enchanting. This is precisely what makes the Old Head Golf Links a course that I will carry in my memory for many years to come.

Nine of the course’s eighteen holes are located along the cliffs and at most it’s scarcely a hundred metres straight down to sea level. The Atlantic Ocean is visible from all eighteen holes, even though nine of the holes are situated a bit in on the headland.

Old Head Golf Links is no old club with fine old traditions, but is little over ten years old. Despite this, the condition is very good and the facility as such is first-rate. As of this writing, next year a spa for members will be set up and a hotel section with a few rooms is also planned.

The round begins rather modestly with a fairly easy par four, barely 340 metres long. Then the serious part begins with a par four, dogleg left to a green that is slightly larger than a long and narrow postage stamp, 16.5 metres at its widest. Landing on the green with a strong crosswind is no easy task.

The fourth hole is one of the course’s signature holes. It winds down towards the Old Head lighthouse. The green is guarded by steep cliffs to the left and behind the green. The signs are hardly misinterpreted - "You are strictly prohibited from proceeding beyond hazard lines".

The advice we got from the starter was also difficult to misconstrue: "If you hit a ball over the edge of the cliffs - do not go and get it!"

Text: Stefan Bratt
Photo: Peter Corda