Enniscrone Golf Club: Enniscrone

Enniscrone’s holes in the chop hills along Killala Bay—one through four and 11 through 18—are among the steepest and most breathtaking in golf. They were late in the making. Irishman Eddie Hackett had plans to turn them into spectacular seaside holes in 1974 when he expanded an 80-year-old existing nine that crossed over rather flat farmland well away from the water, but due to cost constraints he could only run his design partially into the foot of the dunes. Twenty-five years later British architect Donald Steel made good on Hackett’s vision when he was allowed to build holes through the deepest valleys and vales, creating a riveting closing stretch with the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th greens set in the bluffs above the beach.