Enniscrone Golf Club in northwest Ireland: tough to find this bargain, but that's changing

I was a bit confused yesterday trying to find Enniscrone on my Ireland road map. I could only find a town in County Sligo named “Inishcrone". I’m told that is the town’s Irish spelling, but the more used Anglo-Saxon version is “Enniscrone", only maps and sign postings still refer to the traditional form. After I was finally assured it was the same place, I pointed my car in that direction from Ballyliffin.

I was warned roads in the northwest aren’t as good as other parts of Ireland. That’s about right. Most of the drive was on narrow, two-lane highway. The posted limit is 100km, but I was a bit freaked driving on these mysterious roads going 20km under, cursing at the lunatics whizzing by me. Roads further south towards Clifton I’m told are worse.

Transportation issues in the northwest will soon be a thing of the past, I’m told by locals here. A huge amount of cash is being pumped in to modernize roadways and connect this region with the southwest and Dublin. The local airport, Knock, is adding two direct flights to JFK and Boston, courtesy of FlyGlobeSpan starting in May.

Enniscrone Golf Club is relatively new compared to the courses I’ve played so far over here (County Down, Portrush, Portmarnock, Castlerock, Ardlass, etc.) having opened in 1974. It also didn’t really become a worthy addition to the Northwest links until 2000, when architect Donald Steele built six new holes on the most rugged and stunning links property. The icing on the cake is that it’s just 55-70 Euros here. I usually don’t ask what the greens fees are at a course until after I play. I would have guessed it was a 90-110 Euro course and more expensive if it was in the southwest.

The Season’s Lodge is also a fine five-star B&B in the course’s backyard. What I liked here is that unlike most European B&B’s that are a bit cramped and out-of-date (I believe “cozy” is the word often used), rooms here are modern and huge (enough to do my morning wall-to-wall wind sprints) and equipped with free WiFi (sadly that’s become the key to my heart. I mean, if I don’t go to MySpace at least three times a day, it might go under).

The 14th: The first of the stretch of new holes on the back nine at Enniscrone Golf Club.