The Missing Links: Scurmore, Enniscrone, Eire

Thursday, 17 September 2015

Scurmore, Enniscrone, Eire

www.enniscronegolf.com/

White tees par 72 SSS 72
Red tees par 72 SSS 70

The view from the 6th tee

Scurmore is the nine hole course alongside the Dunes course at Enniscrone which was designed by a combination of Eddie Hackett and Donald Steel. It is a bit of an anti-climax after playing the Dunes course as it lies mainly along the flat ground inland and lacks sea views. The first few holes are fairly featureless barring a few water hazards with the best saved for last. The 6th tee is elevated and requires a drive over daunting rough. The 7th is an uphill par 3 with trouble on the left (thick rough) and the right (a deep grassy hollow) for the errant drive. The 8th descends to the flatter land with a drive over shaggy dunes onto a fairway at right angles to the line. Unfortunately the ladies' tee is completely blind to the fairway as it is set too low amongst the dunes making it a bit if a 'hit and hope'. The greens were hard and fast but the fairways were lusher than expected for a links course.

The 7th hole climbs into the dunes. The flag can just be seen on the horizon

Worth playing? Only as a bit of light relief after playing the big course,

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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.