Bantry Bay Golf Club

Bantry Bay is about 1 1/2 hours west of Cork, and is almost halfway between Old Head or Killarney and Waterville, a good stop over point for either trip. It is a Christy O’Connor Junior and Eddie Hackett design, a parkland style coursed on Bantry Bay in West County Cork. It's as quirky as some of the links courses here as it's not possible to see the green from the tee on any of the par 4 or par 5 holes, but if you can't see the golf, you've got great views of the countryside, the Bay, the Beara Mountains, Sheeps Head and the Mizen Peninsulas. The course is routed sort of on a cliff overlooking the Bay with fourteen holes immediately over the shore. It was like two different courses, the first five "Hackett" holes are more traditional parkland layout, somewhat hilly, and tree lined. At the 6th, the routing drops down toward the beach with the "O'Connor" holes in a stretch of more modern type of holes, but somewhat funky design with a couple of steep climbs. After 15, it's back the the original Hackett layout with a couple of doglegs, and a hill to navigate before the mundane 18th. It was an interesting course to say the least with the views outweighing the golf course experience by far. Wouldn't come all the way to Ireland to play it, but if it's on the way and I've extra time, it will do.