Mulranny

The seaside village of Mulranny nestles at the foot of The Nephin Mountains, between Clew Bay and Blacksod Bay in County Mayo, and it’s well known in the region for the outstanding quality of the blue flag sandy beaches that run along the coastline at this point.

The village lies on the recently developed Great Western Greenway cycle trail which stretches 42 kilometers along the route of the old railway line between Westport and Achill and this project was afforded a European Destination of Excellence award by the European Commission in 2011.

Mulranny’s little 9-hole golf course has been an integral part of village life for well over a century, since first opening for play in 1896 when the golf club was founded. It’s said that an 18-hole layout once operated here before nine holes were lost to the sea and these days the club struggles to maintain the remaining nine.

Winter storms at the start of 2014 almost wiped the course off the face of the map when a combination of high tide and high winds allowed the merciless ocean to break through the club’s coastal defences, depositing millions of gallons of seawater and hundreds of tons of rocks onto the fairways.

The course has since recovered but it took weeks to pump the water away and remove the many stones and boulders that were dumped onto the course by the unstoppable storm waters.