Carne Golf Links

Carne Golf Links is on Ireland’s west coast near the town of Belmullet and situated amongst magnificent unspoiled sand dunes overlooking Blacksod Bay. The last course to be designed by the late Eddie Hackett, a well known Irish golf links designer, Carne opened for play in 1992 as nine holes and with the second nine opening one year later. Consistently ranked amongst the top 15 courses in Ireland, many regards this to be Hackett’s finest, with its gigantic dunes and wonderful views across the bay and Atlantic islands of Inis Gloire and Inis Geidhewild.

Carne Golf Links Course overview

The lunar landscape of Carne Links is spectacular and at 6700 yards off the tips it is a formidable challenge to play. Unlike the traditional out-and-back links layouts, the two loops of nine here wind their way back to the clubhouse, with the holes snaking up and down through the dunes in all directions.

There has been very little disturbance to this wild landscape when creating the links, with tees and greens occurring quite naturally, and when you combine Carne with Enniscrone, County Sligo (Rosses Point) and Connemara it is difficult to find a better stretch of links golf courses anywhere else in the world.

Signature hole

The par-4 363-yard 11th hole is special with beautiful views as you climb up to the tee from the 10th green. The challenge of this hole is the dogleg right with the fairway disappearing behind a massive dune and no sight of the green. With the right conditions, the brave will try and cut the corner and drive over the dune. A hole you could play over and over again.

Did You Know?

In 2013 an additional nine holes (the Kilmore) opened and have been combined with the back nine of the original course (the Hackett) to form the new Wild Atlantic Dunes course, which is probably the biggest dunes course in the world.