Travel back in time on the Old Tom Morris Links at Rosapenna Hotel & Golf Resort in Ireland
COUNTY DONEGAL, Ireland -- Sometimes old school is the better school. Rosapenna Hotel & Golf Resort's Old Tom Morris Links doesn't measure up to the grandeur of the more modern, more difficult Sandy Hills Links.
It might, however, deliver more joy.
It's classic links golf on flatter terrain where you can bump-and-run your way to a respectable score.
The front nine cranks up the fun starting at the sixth hole, finishing at a green surrounded by dunes. What looks like a meteor crater guards the two greens at the par-3 seventh hole, each designed by a famous architect: One by Irishman Pat Ruddy during a greens renovation on the front nine in 2007 and the other by American Tom Doak, who redid them all again in 2009. The current plans are to keep both and possibly alternate play. The drive on the narrow eighth hole must stay within 10 yards either side of the fairway barber pole to stay out of the fescue-lined dunes. A good shot sets up a chance to reach in two if you avoid the mess of bunkers on the left side.
The back nine might be my favorite loop at the resort. It wanders the shore of Sheephaven Bay overlooking the beach. The first four holes, all interesting par 4s, follow the coastal dunes up the right side. The exception par 3 at no. 14 turns back inland, requiring the finest of shots, often through a cross wind, over a handful of front bunkers to a plateau green. The rousing finish -- a reachable par 5, a semi-blind par 3 and a stout par 5 -- can shift momentum in any match. Old Tom Morris, the Scottish legend whose statue sits above the final green, would be proud.