'Building Carne' book now available worldwide
Turning the sod at Carne Golf Links in 1987 were, from left: Eamonn Shevlin, Erris Correspondent, 'Western People'; Vincent Sweeney, founding director of Erris Tourism; Séamus Cafferky, founding director; Brendan Padden, founding director; Helen McAndrew, honorary secretary and founding director; Eddie Hackett, architect; Eamon Mangan, founding director and author of ‘Building Carne’; Paddy McManamon, Mayo County Council engineer; Patrick Cafferkey, chairman and founding director; Michael Mangan, Máirín Uí Mhurchú and Paddy Leech, all founding directors. Picture: Eamonn O'Boyle
A new dedicated website, www.buildingcarne.ie, now allows readers at home and overseas to buy by Eamon Mangan. The limited edition photographic memoir, which captures the raw beauty and rugged soul of Carne Golf Links, has been a standout success since its launch.
is a coffee-table book which contains over 200 pages on the people, places, memories, history and heritage behind Carne Golf Links on the Mullet peninsula of Erris. It is a collection of stories, drawings, photographs and letters, priced at €35.
The Carne story begins modestly. A handful of locals each put £5 into a kitty for phone calls. They went on to form a community tourism group and bought commonage shares from 17 local farmers for £130,000 to secure the land.
Golf architect Eddie Hackett, then in his mid-70s, fell for the site. He shaped the course with the community, using minimal machinery rather than bulldozers. In the 1990s, the course opened, and a third nine was added in 2013 with Ally McIntosh and Jim Engh.
Carne is now a 27-hole links regarded as one of the finest in the world. As course co-ordinator, Eamon Mangan worked alongside the architects, local committee members, club members, volunteers and farmers, over more than 30 years.
Interest in the book has been strong at home and overseas. Orders have come from golfers and readers across America and the United Kingdom. The story of a rural community building a world-class course resonates with American golf and heritage enthusiasts.
In the , golf writer Kevin Markham invited readers to "read the story behind one of the world's most remarkable golf courses".
Brian Keogh described the book as "a lovely tribute to the myriad local people who helped create this golfing miracle". He added: “Eamon Mangan has watched Carne Golf Links emerge from the imagination of the local people to become one of the leading links golf courses on the planet, and he’s brilliantly chronicled the creation of this little corner of golfing heaven in a new book."
Eamon is delighted with the response to the book.
"Several people asked me to write about the building of Carne," said Eamon Mangan. "Many of those involved from the beginning are no longer with us. I felt it was important to record that part of our community’s history and about what was achieved, and I’m delighted with the feedback and kind comments from readers across the country and abroad.”
The book is an ideal Christmas gift - it suits golfers, historians, and anyone with an interest in Irish rural life, community enterprise and the Wild Atlantic Way. is available at www.buildingcarne.ie. It is also stocked by Carey's Newsagents, Belmullet; SOLAS Visitor Centre, Eachléim; Castle Book Shop, Castlebar; Pangur Bán Bookshop, Ballina; McLoughlin’s Bookshop, Westport, and Séamus Duffy’s Bookshop, Westport.
