a — Golfing Gems on the Emerald Isle —

Donegal (Murvagh) Golf Club
   near Donegal town, County Donegal, Ireland

Murvagh makes 'Golf World' Magazine's List of Top 10 Irish Courses. It makes our Top 5.

        Murvagh is the most dramatically beautiful golf course we have ever seen. We visited the club on a late summer’s morning when the wind was blowing hard off the Atlantic. Coming from the south, we turned one turn too early. When the road turned into one lane leading back into the pine-forested hills, we parked to check our map. I noticed a path leading into the forest. In a minute I was through the woods and looking across a wide beach. Rows of foamy, wind-driven waves were assaulting the beach. A mix of clouds raced across a cobalt-blue sky: cottony white low clouds; flatter, denser middle-level clouds; and wispy Nike-swoosh stratospheric clouds. To the right 150 or more yards along the beach, unexpectedly, was a golf green, its pin bending between 45-60Ί off of vertical in the near gale. I retreated to the car in a run. I had to see more of this course. By taking every left turn possible, we found a service road that breached the wooded ridge. Opening up in front and somewhat below us was Murvagh in all its glory: deep greens of fairway, golds of sand and dunes grasses, deep blues of sky and the waters of Donegal Bay, purples of the distant Bluestack Mountains, and rushing whites of clouds and Atlantic breakers. A few foursomes dotted some but not all of the fairways and greens at 9AM. With collars up, sweaters, jackets, and caps on, golfers leaned into the wind, even when putting. I wondered at the scene, and wish even today to find a large oil painting of it to display over the mantle piece in my living room.

        Donegal Golf Club—usually called "Murvagh"—extends on an appendix of land into Donegal Bay, 5 miles south of Donegal town in northwestern Ireland. The course occupies an ideal site of exposed links land on the Murvagh Peninsula, bordered to the north by the Bluestack Mountains, to the south and east by a ridge forested with tall pines, and by the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

LOCATION:
        Donegal Golf Club
      Murvagh, Laghey, Ballintra, County Donegal, Ireland
      Tel: (+353) (0) 74 9734054
      Fax: (+353) (0) 74 9734377
      e-mail: info@donegalgolfclub.ie

Open & Playable Year Round.

LENGTH & PAR: 18 Holes, Par 72
    Championship Tees: 7,295 yards, Par 73, SSS 75
    Medal Tees: 6,977 yards, Par 73
    Ladies' Tees: 5,938 yards, Par 73

FACILITIES:
• Golf Cart (Buggy): €40/round, €60/day
• Pull Cart (Trolley): €3
• Club Rental: €15
• Caddies available on request
• Putting Green
• Pitching Green
• Practice Area
• Golf Shop
• Restaurant & Bar

GREENS FEES:
    Weekdays: €50/round or €75/day Mo-Fr
    Weekends & Holidays: €65/round or €97.50/day Sa-Su & holidays
    Currency Converter: http://www.xe.com/ucc/

Visitors Welcome: advance tee times required; no handicap restrictions.

BOOKING OF TEE TIMES (required in advance):
    Reservations of Tee Times: Tel: (+353) (0) 74 9734054,
    or e-mail: info@donegalgolfclub.ie

NOTES:
• Advance payment of 25% total green fee required with booking.
    Balance is due 21 days prior to date of play.

LOCATION: Donegal (Murvagh) Golf Club is on the Murvagh Peninsula about 5 miles south of Donegal town and west of the N15 main Sligo-Donegal road.

NEAREST HOME AT FIRST LODGINGS:
• In Northwestern Ireland approximately 50-60 minutes south.
  See: HOME AT FIRST in NORTHWESTERN IRELAND

OTHER REGIONAL COURSES OF NOTE:
    • Bundoran: quality Harry Vardon links 7 miles south of Murvagh on Rt. 15 in Bundoran.
    • County Sligo (Rosses Point): County Sligo, tough, scenic peninsular course near Sligo town, 45 miles south of Murvagh.
    • Enniscrone: County Sligo, brilliant, relatively unknown links facing the wild ocean on the western end of County Sligo, about 60 minutes west of Sligo town. Another Eddie Hackett minimalist design from the early 1970’s. Bless him.

HISTORY: The founding of the Donegal Golf Club, although recent enough (1960) to be within eye-witness memory, is already steeped in misty lore befitting such a magnificent natural setting. No—the Murvagh course is not some magical gift of Celtic gods nor a vision from one of the great designers of Pantheon of 19th century links builders. Simply put, a group of local boys who tired of the old Donegal 9-hole course’s seasonal-only operation started looking for a site on which to develop an 18-hole all-year track. After all, if the boys down the road at Bundoran could play links golf all year on their venerable Harry Vardon course, why shouldn’t they shouldn’t they enjoy the same privilege?
        When the ideal site—the Murvagh Peninsula—came available in the early 1970’s the group hired old Eddie Hackett to design the club’s new course. Hackett, a Dubliner of Tipperary parents, came to know Harry Vardon (and the great James Braid, too)—from playing the British Open at Muirfield, Scotland during the 1930’s. Now, at the end of his long golf career as club pro at Portmarnock, Hackett dabbled in course design. The Donegal Golf Club was prepared to pay Eddie £200 to do the job. Hackett’s design philosophy—like the great Vardon and greater Braid—was perfect for the new site: "I only dress up what the Good Lord provides."
        Donegal’s golfers opened their new Murvagh links and clubhouse in 1976. Eddie Hackett returned often to tweak the course until his death in 1996. While elsewhere modern designers have felt it important to create gimmicky golf courses, old Eddie was smart enough to take an ideal site and develop it in the traditional way. The results are neither boring nor clichιd, and the course’s deserved recognition is building. In recent years Murvagh has hosted important national tourneys, including the Irish Amateur close championship for men (2004) and for ladies (2003). The November 2004 issue of "Golf World" magazine ranked Donegal Golf Club’s course at Murvagh as one of Ireland’s top ten courses. With a bullet.

THE COURSE & SOME NOTABLE HOLES: Like Muirfield in Scotland, Murvagh is a pair of 9-hole circuits, the back nine looped inside the front. Ocean winds—often fierce on this course with front Atlantic exposure—affect each nine and potentially every hole played in a given round. Murvagh is cut off from mainland Donegal wedged between the ocean and elevated pine forest, is more exposed to wind than most links courses, and seems wild and remote. The course is long for a links (almost 7,300 yards from the blues, and almost 7,000 yards from the whites), and usually plays even longer because of the wind. And, because weather plays such an important role at Murvagh, holes that seem benign on one day may fight you with tooth and claw on the next. Still, there are some holes that are more memorable than others:

• Hole #5, "Valley of Tears", Par 3, 190 yards: Well-named short hole that requires both length and accuracy to reach the plateau green in the wind.

• Hole #6, "The Long Ridge", Par 5, 523 yards: Unforgettable for its overview of the beach from its elevated tees. The length and accuracy required may render your score here very forgettable.

• Hole #7, "Badger’s Set", Par 4, 439 yards: Despite being downhill from the tees, the correct placement on the heavily-bunkered, two-tiered green is difficult to manage or hold with a long second shot in the wind.

• Hole #8, "Moyne Hill", Par 5, 546 yards: Your first two shots here are blind. This ocean hole plays even longer in the often fierce wind conditions.

• Hole #10, "Round the Bend", Par 4, 350 yards: The shorter inner loop begins with a short par 4 that requires an accurate drive to set up any chance of reaching the green "around the bend" in two.

• Holes #12 & #14, "Runway", and "Hare’s Croft" are the longest on the course, at 598 yards and 548 yards, respectively. Both holes add the challenge of a stream crossing to the problems of wind and length.

• Holes #13 & #16, "Wee Dunt" (159 yards) and "Big Dunt"(240 yards), are two not insignificant Par 3’s, especially that longish #16.

THE REGION: Northwestern Ireland is blessed with some of Ireland’s most dramatic scenery where Ireland girds itself against the relentless forces of the Atlantic. Its people are equally hardy, but also welcoming and a little shy. The further north and west you go the more Gaelic you will hear spoken, and the more turf fires you will smell. Touring here is the primary activity for visitors, but the region properly draws numerous fishermen and hikers. There’s great seafood on the menu, along with many traditional, local delicacies. For a change of pace, it’s easy to cross into western Northern Ireland from Counties Donegal and Sligo, if only to visit the Belleek Pottery factory near Enniskillen in County Fermanagh.

HOME AT FIRST offers independent, flexible, fly/drive travel to IRELAND
and other great golfing destinations in SCOTLAND, WALES, and NEW ZEALAND.
Plan your own trip, with our expert help.

More information about travel with HOME AT FIRST to NORTHWESTERN IRELAND.

More information about GOLF IN IRELAND