Shannon Golf Course

Shannon Course Description

Shannon has long since matured into perhaps the best parkland course in County Clare. Offering a variety of holes and interesting routing the course builds to its signature 17th hole, a long par-3 adjacent to the estuary shore. Water encroaches in front of the green and with the expectation of the wind to be whipping in from the right off the estuary, finding the green 213 yards away is a real feat.

Just how strong that wind can be is illustrated at the very next hole, a 511 yard par-5 back to the clubhouse. Greg Norman, playing in the Shannon pro-am in the late 1970s, smashed a drive 370 yards down the fairway leaving just a sand iron for his second. A plaque still marks the spot today.

Shannon begins by venturing east where the overwhelming impression is left by the tall deciduous trees that frame the fairways. From the sixth hole the course moves westward and as the ground becomes more open a large lake becomes the feature.

At the western end of the course, from the elevated 8th tee, the Shannon Airport runway can be seen. Long enough to accommodate the Space Shuttle should the need ever have arisen, seeing a departing or arriving jet at such close quarters is a unique experience. Holes 8 & 9 are two of the best holes on the course.

Holes 10-12 make maximum use of limited space near the airport's apron -- in fact hole 11 is on a separate piece of ground across an airport access road. The golf course gets going again as it again heads west and emerges one more onto exposed ground (normally head on into the wind) and reaches the shore once more for the challenge oh number seventeen.

Anyone with spare time at Shannon Airport should definitely consider a round here, while those considering a weekend trip to Ennis or Limerick almost certainly will have Shannon high on the list of candidate courses.