Mulranny
Founded in 1896 it’s a compact and natural, lay of the land nine-holer on the shores of Clew Bay, Co. Mayo at the foot of the Nephin Mountains with a modest but functional clubhouse.
Golf courses don’t come much purer than Mulranny. In many ways it’s a mini version of Brora in the Scottish Highlands.
The terrain is perfectly undulating for good golf and the stunning setting just adds to the experience of playing here. A perfect example that great golf comes in all shapes and sizes.
Sadly the club are fighting encroachment from the sea. I believe a number of holes have been lost over the decades.
Sheep roam the fairways but not the greens thanks to fences surrounding them. The greens themselves are actually quite large and have some varied contours. My only criticism was that they were fairly soft on my visit and had perhaps had a little too much water applied to them.
The best of the golf in my opinion comes between the fourth and the eighth. The fourth is a brilliant two-shotter with a speed-slope fairway and a green lovingly etched into the central dune ridge that runs through the links. Don’t miss it left.
Another brilliant green site can be found at the next as we finally reach the shore that we have been edging closer to since we began. I suspect the 6th used to be a par-four but is now a short hole and is the weakest of this stretch, But a dell green at the 7th and a fine par-three to follow soon make amends.
I’m still not too sure about the final hole. It certainly looks the part; a rumpled fairway climbing to a plateau green but I feel the slope up to the green is a little too steep to be classed as good golf.
Par is 71 and the length 5,851 metres but as with many courses of this nature numbers are irrelevant. Just play golf.
The green fee is reasonable but there is no nine hole reduction – but why would you only want to go round once?
I tied it in with a round at nearby Achill and it is one of the most enjoyable days of golf I’ve ever had.
