Sandy Hills

Type: Links
Par: 71
Location: Donegal

The sister course to Rosapenna, Sandy Hills was designed by Pat Ruddy and opened for play in June 2003.

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. 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 Course 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 doubt Old Tom would approve of what has become of this links land that he so keenly recognized more than a century ago.