The consistent quality and speed of the greens are on a par with any of the World’s great links courses and are a source of great pride to the membership of the Club.
Set on a beautifully tranquil stretch of ground, the course, a charming combination of holes challenging and agreeable in equal measure, winds its way down along what is called the Corcass, a stretch of land running beside the banks of the tidal River Inagh.
As the golfer loops around at the northern tip of the course, the landscape is dominated by the remains of Dough Castle, the river and the tidal plains stretching for miles and acting as host to a vast array of wildlife.
Surrounded by all of these wonderful natural distractions, it can be diffi cult to concentrate on the task in hand and yet, on the Castle course, failing to assemble a respectable score does not seem to perturb the golfer as it might in less idyllic settings.
The course gets its name from Dough Castle which provides a wonderful backdrop to the 7th hole. Initially founded by the O’Connor’s in 1306, its old name ‘Dumhach Ui Chonchuir’ translates as O’Connor’s Sandbank. The sandhills around the Castle are supposed to be the haunt of Donn Dumhach (the Fairy King) and the sandhill Crughaneer near the bridge is also haunted, according to folklore.
