Even Farther from Civilization Lies Portsalon Golf Club

Bo Sjosten

Translated by AI

Here in County Donegal in northwest Ireland there aren’t many straight roads. A good example of the detours you sometimes have to make is the road to Portsalon Golf Club.

Portsalon Golf Club is less than 20 km (12 miles) from our base at the Ballyliffin Townhouse, but a sea inlet stretches down between us and the club, and we have to drive almost 100 km (60 miles) to get there. But as they say, the journey is half the destination. Our efforts are rewarded with fantastic scenery along the way, as the road takes us south to Letterkenny and then turns north through the mountains to Portsalon.

At Portsalon we are greeted by a modest clubhouse with a small pro shop on the ground floor. We check in and head straight out onto the course. Once again it’s classic links golf.

The first hole gives us a chance to warm up and shake off the drive to get back into the golf. And the warm-up is needed, because at Portsalon the most spectacular hole, and one of the hardest, comes early.

From the first green we climb up to the second tee and are met by one of the most spectacular views in the golf world. The hole, a par 4, is played from an elevated tee down to a fairway that bends slightly to the left. The hole is called The Strand, and along its left side, and on as far as the eye can see, stretches a wide sandy beach, one of the best (and cleanest) beaches in all of Ireland. If you manage to avoid the beach and find the fairway far below, you have another tough decision to make. Go for the green with a long approach over a stream, or lay up and hope for a wedge and a putt for par. One of Ireland’s finest golf holes, and one that often turns up as the “best second hole in Ireland” in various rankings.

Having survived The Strand, you are met by classic links golf. Holes 3 to 7 run along the beach but are well protected by dunes on both sides of the fairway. It sometimes feels almost like playing in a tunnel, and unless your shot is too wayward, the dunes help a lot by catching the ball and letting it bounce back to the middle of the fairway.

The course now turns back toward the clubhouse, and you face a challenging mix of holes. The fine par 3s are perhaps what you remember most on this stretch.

The finish is a little less links-like, a bit away from the dunes. No really bad holes, but not real links golf either.

But it’s the links holes you remember from Portsalon. Apart from the first and last holes, it is among the best links courses we have played. Not quite at the very top, but very close. Just as at Ballyliffin, Pat Ruddy has been here and modernized the course (it opened back in the late 1800s), and you can only admire the result. If you are in the area, don’t miss Portsalon. Fantastic golf, and good value too, like so many other courses in this corner of Ireland.

The only disappointment at Portsalon was the closed restaurant that greeted us, hungry after the morning’s round. But we are in the countryside, opening hours are not as generous as we city folk are used to, and we should have checked in advance.

We don’t go hungry, though. On the way home we stop in a small town and find an excellent restaurant where we can enjoy, what else, fish and chips washed down with a few Guinness. Mission accomplished.

Grianán of Aileach

On the way back to our base in Ballyliffin, we take the chance to do a little sightseeing. We visit Grianán of Aileach (Greenan Fort), the most famous ringfort in this part of Ireland. The fort was built in the 7th century on a high hill overlooking the surrounding countryside. Inside the walls there was probably a small village. We won’t give you a history lesson, but perhaps you can guess who conquered the fort in the 12th century? Definitely worth seeing, especially if the weather is fine and you can enjoy the sweeping views over large parts of County Donegal.