The ultimate Ireland golf trip
Sandy Hills
The longest of days was still not over though we faced a drive back to Londonderry and on to the neighbouring Inishowen Peninsula, where Rosapenna is found. It’s easy to group Rosapenna and Ballyliffin together, given they are both in Donegal with two courses of links action apiece.
Easy but a mistake. Where Ballyliffin is a members’ club, Rosapenna has a hotel and so feels more like a resort.
There’s always something new happening at Rosapenna but the star attraction is the Sandy Hills course. It is a bear of a Ruddy design amid a quite exceptional landscape of woolly dunes, the fairways sliding between the gaps like water owing towards the sea.
Like at Old Head, at the diametrically opposite end of Ireland, they see some wild weather here over the winter and that means the course is constantly changing with the shifting sands. It must be said that conditioning was an issue in places.
At its best, the Sandy Hills can compete with just about anywhere in Ireland, or beyond for that matter. For example, when you catch a view of Sheephaven Bay from the crest of the hill on the 6th, with Muckish Mountain as a backdrop.
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.
