Rosapenna Hotel & Golf Resort, Downings, Co Donegal, Ireland
Hotel: Tel: +353 (0)74 91 55301 | Fax: +353 (0)74 91 55128 | Email : Hotel Enquiries
Golf : Tel: +353 (0)74 91 55000 | Fax: +353 (0)74 91 55899 | Email: Golf Enquiries
Sandy Hills Golf Course
Ranked No.21 in Golf Digest Ireland's Top 100 Course List in 2011
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Sandy Hills. Remember the name! This course, opened in June 2003, is set to become one of the most famous golf courses in the world. In 2010 Sandy Hills moved to a new high of 39th in Golf Monthly's Top 100 Rankings in GB&I. Where Old Tom settled for a course alongside the dunes, Pat Ruddy has gone straight through them from start to finish and created an awesome course that will test any golfer, yet somehow still seduce those that cannot live with it. Each hole is spectacular and the views across the Old Tom Morris Links toward the beautiful Sheephaven Bay will salve any wounds inflicted by this incredible golf course. |
Sandy Hills is in many ways the ideal of a modern links. Intended for the serious golfer, its narrow fairways appear constricting from the tee, but the landing areas sculpted from the dunes are deceptively wide. Measuring a hefty 7,255 yards from the tips, Sandy Hills was designed with championship play in mind. However don’t allow this to deter you, with a multiplicity of tees there is a length to suit all strengths.
Above all, the appeal of Sandy Hills lies in its beautifully balanced routing through the high dunes cloaked in marram grass. These sandhills bear a striking resemblance to the ones near the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland that form the spine of Royal Portrush, Portstewart and Castlerock. Many of the holes feature elevated tees and greens, with drives into natural bowls on the dune floor.
Most of the holes run north and south along the dune ridges, parallel to the front nine of the Old Tom Morris Links below, and above Tramore, the large beach along side Sheephaven Bay that caught the Scotsman’s attention so long ago. A few of the holes, like the Par-3 third, Par-3 seventh, the Par-5 eighth, and the Par-4 10th, 12th and 15th, run across the dune ridges, lending a change of pace and overwhelming sense of seclusion in the dunes.
There are no weak holes on the new layout, but the best come at the stretch of Nos. 6-13, which romp across the interior dunes. No. 6 is at the far southern end of the course, with the drive over a crest that reveals a picture-postcard view of the sickle of beach and bay with Muckish Mountain straight ahead. No. 7 is a downhill Par-3 to a sliver of green peeking from the dunes, and the eighth leads inland, tumbling downhill and then rising toward the backdrop of Carrigart and the Lough Salt Mountains in the distance.
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The 10th hole heads back towards the sea through a secret valley in the dunes, with the raised green framed by the grey peak of Muckish. No. 12 continues in the same direction, coursing upward through the dunes, and the 13th, having reached the higher ground, is a seamless band of smother fairway that coils to the right towards Murloy Bay. No doubt Old Tom would approve of what has become of this links land that he so keenly recognized more than a century ago.
“A stunning modern links that funnels its way through centuries-old dunes created by and still whipped by the winds coming in off the Atlantic Ocean" .a must play links course for serious golf enthusiasts. Perhaps the best praise that can be given Sandy Hills is that there is not one weak hole on the course. In fact I would venture to say that there is not even one average hole on the course. With the Atlantic winds blowing, Sandy Hills simply offers a test of golf at its purest and toughest”
Peter Acheson, Editor, Golf Digest Ireland.
Spring Bridge Congress 2012 |
 Come and join the 26th Spring Bridge Congress at Rosapenna from Sunday 15th April |
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Spring Seabreaks - 3 night offer |
| STILL TIME TO BOOK... Enjoy 3 nights B&B, table d'hote dinner each evening in a classic twin or double guest room and avail of unlimited golf on the Old Tom Morris Course for only €315pps |
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Easter Special |
| Three nights Bed and Breakfast with two Dinners and golf each day on the Old Tom Morris Course €350.00 per person sharing in a Classic Double/Twin Room. Available from Friday 6th to Friday 13th April. |
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Bed & Breakfast Package |
| Overnight accommodation including breakfast and full use of lesiure facilities. |
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Taste of Rosapenna |
| TIME TO SAMPLE A TASTE OF ROSAPENNA.... Sunday or Thursday Night April Special - 1 night - 1 night's B&B, table d'hote dinner and a round of golf on each course - €125pps. Excludes Easter Sunday. |
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