Which golf courses in the British Isles have the most dramatic dunes?

[T_MacWood]

A couple that immediately come to mind are Cruden Bay and Ballybunion....but I also understand there are less famous courses, like Burnham & Berrow or Silloth, that have them as well.  Really which golf courses in the world...I've seen some pretty dramatic dunes else where...like Holland and South Africa (and Nebraska).

Not necessarily the highest dunes....the most dramatic.

[SPDB]

A couple that come to mind:

Royal St. David's
Royal Aberdeen
Lahinch
Murcar
Sandwich
St. Enodoc

[Pete Lavallee]

Add Perranporth in Cornwall to that list.

[ForkaB]

Tom

The trouble with your question is that not long after a dune becomes "dramatic" it collapses or is otherwise eroded.  I think the course with the dunes of the most magnificent scale is Birkdale, but this is because they have been stabilized with vegetation for many years, and the routing allows them to maintain their shape.  Of course, if you can stomach the words subtle and dramatic in the same sentence, the older gracefully eroded dunes such as at St. Andrews, Ballyliffin, Dornoch, Brora, etc. best fit the bill.....

[Norbert P]

           

              Carne Golf Links, Belmullet, Ireland.



 Lahinch and Enniscrone have some of my favorite dunes, as well.

 

[Norbert P]

 Though I've never played it, and not exactly in the UK, but above it intermittently, I hear that Fra Mauro Highlands Golf Club (lone member Alan Shepherd) has some fantastic impact created (non-eolian) dunes.

"One of these days, Alice! ... to the moon!"   Jackie Gleason

[Jeff Fortson]

Of the ones I have played, I would nominate Cruden Bay.  I have not played in Ireland so my vote could change if I were to ever play there.


Jeff F.

[Yancey_Beamer]

The Island Golf Club outside Dublin is said to have the largest dunes in Ireland.It's a dramatic setting and to me Ireland's equivilant of Cruden Bay.

[Robert Thompson]

Cruden Bay is amazing in spots, especially the middle of the front nine. Murcar, just down the road, is also amazing -- once more largely on the front nine. It opens tamely enough, but holes 3 thru 8 are truly standouts on what remains one of my most memorable rounds of golf.
Montrose, near Carnoustie, which I played with GCA's own Robin Hiseman (a member), also has some excellent dunes. However, in what is surely to become a more common site, many of the tees on this excellent course where situated on the dunes which are now eroding badly. It is a shame -- there were some amazing tee shots before....

Robert

[Gene Greco]

Portstewart front nine.

[Tommy Williamsen]

The European Club has some very dramatic dunes, as does Royal Birkdale.

[Sean Walsh]

Of those I played the largest were in order:

Enniscrone, Carne, The Island, Cruden Bay, Lahinch, Doonbeg.

Small but dramatic (thanks Rich):

Ballyliffin Old, TOC, Brora, County Louth (e.g 14th), Royal Dornoch.

Small and Bland:
Nairn, Ceann Sibeal.

[T_MacWood]

Maybe I should have framed the question: which course as the most perfect dunescape for golf...perhaps a combination of lower lying dunes with a dramatic dune here or there. What about County Down?

[Paul_Turner]

I agree with Pete.  In terms of drama, the dunes of Perranporth reign free:


The newly wed GCAer

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Awesome pictures of Perranporth, which I have not played.
I have played alot of the links courses at home, but the ones that always stick in my mind are those of Royal Birkdale.
I lose track of the holes,but if I remember correctly, the tee shot on # 13 is hit between two towering dunes..an awesome teeshot on this superb par 4..especially on the heels of number 12, one of my favourite par thress anywhere.

I love dunes..Ballybunnion, Burnham and Berrow, Hunstanton,Hillside..all have some great dunes, even the smaller ones that frame Western Gailes.

Links golf..the more I think about it, the more I miss home!!!!

Mr Doak, thanks for giving this country Pacific Dunes, it feels like, smells like,and plays like home.

[Tom Dunne]

I'm surprised Royal Portrush hasn't been mentioned yet. And I have to second The Island--some of the dunescapes there are just wonderful.

[Jack_Marr]

'nuff said.

[Philip Gawith]

the sandy hills course at rosapenna has some pretty serious dunes, as does the second, unlamented course at Ballybunnion.

i believe the largest sand dunes in the world are on the coast in Namibia, south of Walvis Bay (open up your atlas chaps!), but i think they are a bit severe for golf!

[Robert Thompson]

I've posted a couple of shots of Montrose and its dunes on my blog: http://goingforthegreen.blogspot.com/

It strikes me that a number of the great golf dunes could disappear -- at least erosion is starting to cut into the massive one at Montrose.