New book on history of famous Mayo golf course

A unique collection of stories, drawings, photographs and letters, which chronicle the incredible history and journey of Carne Golf Links, has been published.

Building Carne charts how the famous links course started with a small group of people putting a few pounds into a hat in the 1980s before becoming the award-winning facility it is today.

The book was recently officially launched in the clubhouse at Carne Golf Links, Belmullet.

Author Eamon Mangan said that he finally put pen to paper after many requests from people in the Belmullet community.

“Unfortunately, many of those who were involved in the development of the Carne project from the beginning are no longer with us. I have great memories of working alongside fellow members of Erris Tourism, Belmullet Golf Club, businesspeople, farmers, community clubs and national organisations. So many people contributed in different ways and it is heartening to see Carne continue to progress and thrive. I felt that it was an important part of our history and heritage and that now was a good time to record the story, in the centenary year of the club."

Fr Kevin Hegarty said it was a privilege to launch Eamon’s book and he compared the efforts of the local community to that of Monsignor Horan, whose determination to build an international airport near the village of Knock was met with widespread skepticism in the 1980s.

“ Building Carne is a story of how a dream became a majestic reality, told expertly and lovingly by one who was there through it all. Along with being a work of history, the book has the style and texture of a coffee table book, decorated by several magnificent photographs of the course,” said Fr Hegarty.

He added that the book not only illustrates the great work of the golf course architects – Eddie Hackett, Ally McIntosh and Jim Engh – but also “showcases the contribution of local workers who transformed paper plans into physical reality”, ensuring that “Carne has now taken a high place in the list of links courses in the world”.

Building Carne is available in Carey’s Newsagents, Belmullet; SOLAS Visitor Centre, Eachléim; and Castle Book Shop, Castlebar. It is also available online at www.mayobooks.ie