On another journey down memory lane recently I travelled to Belmullet Golf Club and to say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I decided to take the campervan for a journey on my own into the wild west corner of Mayo. I recall playing this course some two decades ago when I played with the Wings Golf Society. They used to play the course twice and include an overnight stay and after taking on this drive again I can recall why you would stay at least one night. The journey took me up the motorway to Tuam and from there I took secondary roads on towards Castlebar which now looking back felt like a motorway compared to the roads from Castlebar to Belmullet. When you arrived into Castlebar you feel like you have well and truly broken the journey however the next one hour and fifteen-minute drive is one you won’t forget in a hurry. It is 80km drive through some of the bumpiest roads Ireland has on offer. Although I was only crawling through the rugged terrain in the campervan when I landed into Belmullet I felt like a sailor leaving his ship after sailing a storm.
However, when you stand on the first tee at Belmullet and you look around, you just know it was worth every second of that bumpy drive to get there. Belmullet has a combination of three courses The Hackett, The Wild Atlantic Dunes and The Kilmore Course. I played the Wild Atlantic Dunnes course and to this day I can recall every hole which I believe is a true reflection to every great course. I can never recall a golf course where I had to play so many fun exciting golf shots. I have to admit the weather unfortunately was beyond horrendous when I was there, the winds were breaking 65km an hour and the sideways rain was so severe at times it felt like sand was been blasted into my eyes, but I still managed to weirdly thoroughly enjoy my round. In the past I would not have even dreamt of playing in these conditions but having spent several months in a Children’s Hospital a few years ago, I swore I would never complain about playing bad golf or to let bad weather dampen my spirit because I remind myself there is always someone in a hospital right now who would give anything to be in our shoes playing golf regardless of the weather conditions.
My opening hole at Belmullet was a Par 5 to a tight fairway which was playing severely downwind. After the drive I had a second shot that played 175 yards to a green that is situated some 70 feet below the fairway top. It is an easy Par 5 if you manage to find the tight fairway off your tee shot. There is always a fun element to playing a shot to a green that is situated well below the level you are hitting from, like you have with your second shot to this opening hole.
The second hole is a severe 90° left to right dogleg which only plays about 285 yards as the crow flies but if you miss the green you probably won’t find your tee shot, so it is a huge risk and reward hole. To go for the green, you have to hit your tee shot over a high tall sand dune and the green rests at the backside of this large dune. The fairway itself sits well below the height of the tee box, so to lay up on this hole make sure you hit one or two clubs less from the tee to make sure you don’t run out of fairway. This hole is one of the more memorable holes I have played in Ireland and I find I am always torn between playing aggressive towards the green or simply hitting an iron off the tee box to leave myself a flick of a wedge for my approach shot, to a green that sit some three stories high above the fairway.
One of the fun and exciting elements to playing Belmullet is you have a lot of elevated holes so you have a lot of shots you have to play both severely downhill and uphill. Choosing the right club is extremely challenging because of these severe slopes but you also have to work with the strong westerly winds that usually batter Belmullet as its practically jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean.
The 7th hole is a Par 3 that plays over 170 yards from the back tee box but the tee sits roughly 50ft above the green surface and was also severely downwind. I was playing a smooth PW roughly 125yards which will give you an idea of how strong the wind was and how high the tee point is located. This short hole is then followed by the 8th, a beast of a Par 5 that was playing into a gale. My usually 300+ yard drive went about 225 yards at best. For the second shot here to reach the green surface you have to hit your approach shot over a high sand dune, similar to what you face on the 4th at Lahinch but even taller. If you can’t manage to get enough elevation to clear this sand dune, you can bail out to the right of this dune, however there is also heavy some rough should you bail out too far to the right. This blind second shot adds a lot of thrill and some unknown excitement even if you do manage to clear over the top of the giant sand dune you can’t wait to run up around it to see if you have managed to get anywhere near the narrow long green that sits behind the beast of a dune.
If you enjoyed the front nine it is only warming up for the spectacular back nine. In particular the finishing 17th & 18th holes are two golf holes I will never forget. The 17th is a must hit fairway that played into the wind for me and even after one of my best drives all day, I was still left with a full two iron to a small green with a severe steep 20ft drop off, short or to the right or this green. Should you miss this green at all to the right, you will be faced with a 25 yards chip up a 20ft slope to the green’s location. If you tried to bail out left there is a huge bank also that will grab and pull in any ball that heads its way. This hole is definitely in my top 20 of the best holes I have ever played.
If the 17th wasn’t enough to blow you away then the 18th hole will manage to. Again, it is crucial to find this fairway which sits on top of a high plateau well above the second half of the fairway on this dramatic hole. There is a huge dip in the centre of this hole so if you aren’t long enough to carry over the dip you will have a third shot that plays severely uphill to this final green surface that is surrounded by run offs at every angle.
Having good course management around Belmullet is probably the main key to holding a score, between the severe slopes and strong winds you will usually find in the wild west corner of Mayo, choosing the right club and ball flight are both vital elements if you are to tame this beast of a course. I highly recommend taking a trip to the Northern corner of Mayo and stay at least one if not two nights and play a couple if not all three of the great course Belmullet has on offer. I was unlucky to have met such strong ferocious winds while I was there but in truth what really blew me away was the amount of fun I had playing this course and the number of challenges it throws at you, playing up and down so many severe slopes. On top of having one of the best links courses I have ever played the hospitality at the club between members and the staff leaves you with a longing to return. Even writing this article has me itching to return again in 2025.
