User Reviews
for Connemara Isles Golf & Seasports Club, Ireland
Reviews 1 - 11 from 11
Beautiful course but unhappy experience.
Reviewed September 11, 2023
Our group of eight arrive for our September booking in the midst of the expected rain, wind and cool temperature. No one greeted us. After a perfunctory check in experience we went out to find our buggies. There was no one around. We had to empty the garbage that had been left in them. We also had to wipe the seats because there were pools of water sitting on them.
It was a tough front nine in very difficult weather but the sun came out on the ninth hole. We went into the club house looking forward to a dry towel, at least. No such luck. We were told the towels were all in the laundry. No apology.
It was a beautiful course with beautiful scenery, but we all left with an unhappy feeling about it. None of us have ever received such an unwelcoming reception.
Ditto
Reviewed September 6, 2015
Rather than repeat all that previous reviewers below have said, let me just update the reviews by saying i have just played the course (Sept 2015) and i heartily endorse what they say. Play it and by the way there is a b&b right beside the course and they sell pre owned balls!
Incredible
Reviewed August 24, 2014
We played Connemara Isles 3 times whilst staying locally. It is a truly wonderful golf course, though had we played just once it would have turned us away from links golf forever!
The course is a 9 hole links format, carefully crafted into the landscape. There are no bunkers and no man made lakes. There are however, the Atlantic Ocean, potential gale force winds and some pretty wild rough! Very cleverly, the course plays as 18 holes by the simple addition of an extra tee box on each hole. You play from the white tees for the first 9 and the blue tees for the back 9. It would be a mistake to assume this means facing the same challenges twice. Each hole plays markedly differently on the back 9. Not only are you approaching the hole from a different angle and aiming at a different landing area each time, but the strength and direction of the wind changes so frequently that every time you play any hole here, it is a different prospect.
Each hole presents an exciting challenge. Though the course doesn't play very long, you can't overpower it. In fact, unless you know it well, this is not a course where bombing a long drive often helps very much, especially when the fairways and greens are dry. Hitting fairways and keeping the flight low is the ideal way to play this course. I myself had a rude awakening the first round I played. The wind was very strong and, being used to a parkland course, it was alien to me having to punch low shots as best I could. In that wind, a clean strike with a 7 iron beats a dodgy drive with any hint of slice or hook!
Though there is plenty to be said for every hole, there are several that are particularly memorable. The par 3 third and the par 5 fifth immediately spring to mind. Both require a decent strike over the ocean as they play to and from a small island joined to the rest of the course by a bridge. The third at the moment is nigh on impossible to land and hold the green, so it requires careful thought as to where to land. Off whites, the green is some 150yards away, the carry about 120. Tempting as it is to hit long to ensure clearing the water, that doesn't help if you drop off the other side of the island! The fifth requires either a 240yard carry (off white tees) to set up an unlikely eagle opportunity, or more realistically, a very accurate iron down the fairway and a 110yard strike over the water.
I guess you get the picture! This is not target golf, bombers paradise. This is a different game altogether. If you aren't patient and enjoy a challenge (and don't mind losing a ball or 10), a round here could become very distressing!
At 15euro per day, it is certainly great value. Any golfer staying in the area should play this course if given the chance.
The clubhouse is very friendly. This is an irish speaking area and the club seems well used by members and lively. The welcome here though is very warm and you get the impression that there is a genuine enjoyment at having visitors playing the course.
I'd go back today if I could!
A wild and wonderful experience!
Reviewed March 12, 2014
I played this course during the last week in Sept 2013. It was, without doubt, the most enjoyable experience I've had on a golf course for many a year. Can't understand how 'unknown' this little course is. Of course it helped that the weather on the day was a glorious mixture of blue skies, gentle breezes, low tides and dry fairways. Connemara, and most particularly the surrounding mountains, inlets and stone-ringed fields, were a backdrop to a great day. As was the welcome in the bar afterwards. And I didn't lose as many balls as others had warned. So as to share my experience, I posted a gallery of images taken on the day, and available on the Flickr site at:
http://flic. kr/s/aHsjL8PWcn
Happened to be down in the Clifden area at the end of February 2014, after one of the worst winters in many a year. While half the country was still under water, I decided to drop in here again on a whim. Yea, a different kind of 'fun' this time! Gale-force winds blowing, occasional 'soft/waterlogged' fairways, threatening rain squalls all around . . . . but the Gods smiled on me, and the rains skirted the area. Mind you, this time I lost more than the usual quota of balls.
If you're ever in the region, make a spacial effort to play this course.
A must play, if you really love a different experience of golf
Reviewed June 20, 2013
If you really love golf and if you want to experience a something different golf course, this is a must. yes, it's only a 9 whole course, but at a very special place. a bit rural, (almost) no links, no parkland but lots of atlantic ocean as a beautiful scenery and as a 3 times crossed obstacle. you will be happy, to play the 9 holes twice, because the first time you go through a very steep learning curve. the 5th hole (par 5, only 412 yards) is the toughest i ever played. IF it happens, i say IF, that you reach the green with 3 strokes, you really have mastered the game or you happen to be more than lucky. sometimes 412 yards are a long way.
Also at the other 8 holes you will not have a dull moment.
And all that for 15 Euro (20 $).
Don't miss it!!!
Original version
An experience!
Reviewed July 30, 2022
A highlight of our golf tour through Ireland, away from the expensive courses. Reserved by phone, very nice people on arrival who showed us the mailbox for the €20 green fee, and off we went on the sometimes very challenging but scenically breathtaking 9 holes, which we played again right after a drink. Lots of balls lost but had a dream day on this island with the very Irish club. Be sure to play!!!
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- Original version
A challenge
Reviewed April 22, 2016
Have played the course many times, always a Herrausfordung. On lap you can sometimes lose 15 balls per round, I speak from experience. Coffee or tea should not drink in the clubhouse, the water has an aftertaste. For the Giunness tastes excellent.
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- Original version
Great Golf Links
Reviewed October 12, 2015
Can only agree with the Vorbewertern. Great place at a reasonable price. Very pleasant welcome. "Sorry" was going on a little so that the rustic clubhouse had already closed after the round.
The 5 but does not need a 250m drive, but played as a par 5 precise Submit to beat then about 120 meters above the estuary on the relatively steeply rising fairway. If one wants the same reach the fairway, so you need in fact a carry of about 220-230 m (laser), depending on the tee (white or blue = 1st or 2nd round). The green of the 6 is slightly closer and not marked as out...
The condition was good and therefore more than adequate.
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- Original version
Exceptional and super nice!
Reviewed August 29, 2015
The place is the middle of nowhere, but the journey is worth something on! Even the clubhouse, an old barn with a thatched roof is totally quaint and the people there were super nice. We were briefly explains the peculiarities of the place and then it was already going on. No one before us, nobody behind us and an empty parking lot indicated on a relaxing round.
The course itself is very creative nestled in the rugged coastline and is great fun, even if the 5 was unplayable for us because lying between the tee and faiway 250m sea. There is no bunker, but the place is so difficult enough.
Anyway, we were playing the course at any time. Anyone who comes along in the area should try the place. The course layout is down, the landscape breathtaking, the people super nice. This is really something different. The price is a joke. 15 Euro green fee is incredibly low for this place.
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- Original version
Large class!
Reviewed May 9, 2013
A wild and romantic place, which gives a lot of joy in the game. A pure golf experience in a natural, almost familiar atmosphere.
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- Original version
Real wild
Reviewed May 27, 2011
Anyone who misses this place is your own fault. Great location, you play from one island to the other. The club manager is also very hospitable and friendly.
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