Connemara Isles - Galway - Ireland

This is the most fun I have had on a golf course in years. Every shot has to be placed. If you blaze away you will be punished. A great day for a very modest fee. The water carries tempt and if you carry them you are rewarded. Miss your shot and it is a lost ball. If you are anywhere near this course you MUST play it.

Played yesterday, the amazing scenery en route and at the course make it a fun experience and a good way to break up the trip East or South from the brilliant Connemara Links. We played yesterday on a lovely sunny day and enjoyed the game, but stopped at 9. The course is very wet at present, and whilst one doesn't expect a manicured experience at a course like this, the fairways were very mossy making it a heavy walk. The holes on the island are the pick, and great fun in lovely surroundings, and no doubt later in the season when the friendly team is able to do some maintenance it would play well.

I played this course during the last week in Sept 2013. It was, without doubt, the most enjoyable experience I've had on a golf course for many a year. Can't understand how 'unknown' this little course is. Of course it helped that the weather on the day was a glorious mixture of blue skies, gentle breezes, low tides and dry fairways. Connemara, and most particularly the surrounding mountains, inlets and stone-ringed fields, were a backdrop to a great day. As was the welcome in the bar afterwards. And I didn't lose as many balls as others had warned. So as to share my experience, I posted a gallery of images taken on the day, and available on the Flickr site at: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjL8PWcn Happened to be down in the Clifden area at the end of February 2014, after one of the worst winters in many a year. While half the country was still under water, I decided to drop in here again on a whim. Yea, a different kind of 'fun' this time! Gale-force winds blowing, occasional 'soft/waterlogged' fairways, threatening rain squalls all around . . . . but the Gods smiled on me, and the rains skirted the area. Mind you, this time I lost more than the usual quota of balls. If you're ever in the region, make a spacial effort to play this course.

This is one of those courses that whispers what is best about Irish golf. OK it’s not one of the big names but for modest green fee, this is where the average golfer will have the most fun. The setting around the causeway is pure magic, from a scenery perspective it’s hard to beat. Not the most exacting test of golf but it will make you smile as you have a criac back in the welcoming clubhouse. I’d give it 4 balls for the course, 6 for the scenery and 5 for the clubhouse. Therefore it sneaks with a 5 ball rating for me. Play it if you get the chance. Hugh