Irish resort Rosapenna acquires more linksland
An Irish resort will become the largest hotel and links site in Europe with 81 holes of seaside golf.
The Rosapenna Hotel & Golf resort, situated in Donegal on the north-west coast of Ireland, is privately owned by the Casey family and already comprises two championship 18-hole layouts and a further nine-hole course.
Now the resort has acquired a further 36 holes.
The original course here was designed by Old Tom Morris and dates back to 1893 but the main attraction is the Sandy Hills. Golf Monthly recently ranked it at 42 in their list of Great Britain and Ireland’s Top 100 courses and NCG has rated it the seventh-best links in Ireland.
“It is essentially one piece of dune land that is ideally suited to championship links golf and the views of Sheephaven Bay are spectacular,” said Frank Casey Snr, resort owner and operator for the last 31 years.
“The dunescape is some of the finest in the world and very similar to what we already have.”
The new 36 holes sit adjacent to the existing ones. Eddie Hackett designed the original Maheramagorgan course in 1982, but it was not completed until 1996.
Royal County Down assistant professional Joanne O’Haire designed the second course, Tra Mor, in 1996. Tra Mor is the only female-designed course in Ireland.
Relton Developments purchased both courses in November 2006 and commissioned Nicklaus Designs to reshape them. But by December work stopped due to machinery costs and Nicklaus was not paid for his input.
“The dunescape is some of the finest in the world" – Frank Casey Sr
Dan Murphy
Dan loves links golf, which doesn't mean he is very good at it. He is a four-handicapper at Alwoodley. A qualified journalist and senior editor with 25 years’ experience, he was the long-time editor of NCG. His passion is golf courses and he is the founding editor of NCG Top 100s course rankings. He loves nothing more than discovering and highlighting courses that are worthy of greater recognition.
