The Missing Links: Bomore, County Sligo, Eire

Wednesday 16 September 2015

Bomore, County Sligo, Eire

www.countysligogolfclub.ie

White tees par 70 SSS 69
Red tees par 70 SSS 70

Bomore is the 'little brother' of the Championship course at County Sligo. It is a nine hole course deigned by Jonathan Tucker which was opened in 1999. Its character is quite different from the Championship course and reminded us of Strathtyrum in St Andrews. It is flatter than its bigger brother with more gorse and a number of holes with strategically placed water hazards but no sea views. The round started well with a sighting of a peregrine falcon being mobbed by a crow at the first tee. The greens were excellent and the fairways similar to those on the Championship course, a bit softer than usual for a links course. The par 5 5th, said by some to be the best par 5 in the 27 holes at County Sligo is the most memorable on the Bomore, a gentle dogleg from right to left with water on the left and also across the fairway short of the green.

Worth a visit? Yes. A relaxing round after the tough challenge of the morning!

Bomore with Ben Ghulbain, Ireland's 'Table Mountain' in the background

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The Links Project

There are 246 true links golf courses in the world and this blog is a record of our attempt to play all of them. My husband Ron and I are keen golfers and I came up with the idea of this project after he gave me the book by George Peper and Malcolm Campbell 'True Links' which lists them all.

The commonest question we are asked about our project is 'How do you define a true links course?' This will be debated by aficionados for long after we have (hopefully) completed our quest and there will never be a correct answer. The strict definition is from the British Golf Museum:

1. The course must be beside a river estuary

2. It must offer partial or occasional views of the sea

3. It must have few trees

4. It must have numerous bunkers

5. It must have nines that run out and back, the front heading to a far point and the back returning to the clubhouse

Peper and Campbell defined their list as follows:

Terrain - how close is the course to the sea? Do the fairways run fast and hard? Do the greens favour a run-on approach? How open is the site? How natural? Is there a freedom from trees? Is the invasion of gorse and brush controlled? How light is the environmental footprint on the land?

Turf - is there a sand base? What grasses are dominant on the fairways and greens? Is the rough managed ( creating biodiversity for flora and fauna)? How well does the course drain?

Weather - how exposed is the site to the elements? What are the typical wind conditions? Does the course play hard and fast all year round? Must temporary greens and tees be used in winter? Is the course susceptible to winter closure?

Peper and Campbell included courses which supplied the correct answers to most of these questions. But however defined, to me the poem by Sir John Betjeman encapsulates the feeling of links golf.