In a good news story for the west, Galway’s links golf courses came first in Europe and won the coveted European Golf Destination of the Year for 2011.
North & West Coast Links Golf (N&WCL ), based locally in An Fuaran in Moycullen, and run by John McLoughlin and Justin Farrell, received their award at the International Association of Golf Tour Operators hosted awards ceremony in Valencia, Spain recently.
Twenty top European golfing regions were selected initially before being whittled down to six finalists, including Fife in Scotland (which includes the world famous Old Course at St Andrews ), Tenerife, Murcia in Spain, and Lisbon in Portugal, along with north and west Ireland.
The success of Irish players such as Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington in the past decade would have been a plus too and there are some fantastic memories and stories from some of those link courses in the west and north - Rory Mcllroy as a youngster winning back-to-back West of Ireland Championships at Co Sligo Golf Club, or Tom Watson dropping in for a relaxing game with friends at Connemara, or major champion Graeme McDowell coming home to Royal Portrush.
N&WCL was established as a small marketing co-operative some 20 years ago, and has grown from just four clubs to now being considered the premier golf marketing organisation in Ireland. It represents 12 of the finest courses in Ireland, including Connemara Championship Links, Carne Golf Links, Enniscrone Golf Club, Co Sligo Golf Club, Donegal Golf Club, Narin and Portnoo Golf Club, Rosapenna Golf Resort, Portsalon Golf Club, Ballyliffin Golf Club, Portstewart Golf Club, Royal Portrush Golf Club, and Ardglass Golf Club.
