Golfing With an Estate Agent in Bantry
As any estate agent in Bantry will tell you, one of the best attractions that the area has to offer to newcomers, regular visitors, or already-established citizens, is the championship-sized golf course.
Located just outside the town, the course enjoys a setting that many other courses can only dream about. Its elevated position means that there are views of the ever-changing dreamscape of images emanating from the mystical mesmerising deep blue waters of Bantry Bay, inducing all golfers – men and women alike – to take a sudden exhilarating intake of Bantry-flavoured fresh air and release in a strong clear voice the un-quavering opening note of the well-loved and often-heard song “Bantry Bay”. It’s impossible to resist and there are mornings so beautiful when I arrive on the course to tee off when I feel that I’ve stepped onto the set of a South-west Ireland version of “The Sound of Music”, such is the volume and extent of the impromptu singing.
Alright – that was a bit of an exaggeration of factual events, but it does go some way to explaining just how wonderful it feels to play a course as impressive as Bantry’s, and that’s before you get to play on the next course West (ie. the breathtakingly beautiful Glengarriff Golf Course).
The club and course are very well organised, planned, designed and played (by some, anyway). It’s set on about 170 acres of land and it was designed by no less than Christy O’Connor Jnr. and Mr. Eddie Hackett. There are undulating landscapes, lakes, trees and smiling well-dressed fellow golfers, just in case the spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and sea and the constant singing aren’t enough for you.
The club itself was founded back in 1975, so it has seen a constant and impressive progression in the intervening 31 years. It is, very much like West Cork itself nowadays, a very cosmopolitan set-up, with over 100 of their members coming from abroad. Unlike a lot of clubs around the country located in spectacular places, Bantry Bay Golf Club are still taking in members, so it’s not outrageously-priced by any means. In fact, green fees start from as little as €35. Now that’s nice golfing if you can get it!
When you have finished your game and rounded up your friends and settled bets and fist-fights, the clubhouse itself is the ideal place to unwind. Grab a drink, sit by the suitably huge window and look once more upon that verdant course, running through your mind again how you should have played this stroke or shouldn’t have landed in that bunker, etc. Or better still, get something on the menu. The food is extraordinarily good. Last time I was there, the chef was a wizard – he has his own restaurant out on the Mizen Peninsula just beyond Durrus. I’m not sure if he’s still the head of the kitchen, but the standard is still very good.
So, as a good way to get to know a cross-section of Bantry society or if you just want to unwind and sample some good golf followed by a nice drink and bite to eat, all while enjoying the priceless scenic charms that we here have to offer, get yourself to the Bantry Bay Golf Course and check it out.
Harringtons – Estate Agents Bantry – 027 51553
Specialising in West Cork Property in Bantry, Glengarriff, Beara, Sheeps Head and surrounding areas
