Golf

Esker Hills Golf Club. This small Midlands golf club, near the village of Clara, was thrust into the international media spotlight in 2019 when one of its members, 32-year-old Shane Lowry, triumphed at the British Open at Royal Portrush on the north coast of Ireland. Lowry learned to play the game on the Esker Hills course and when he was 18, he broke the course record with a six-under par score of 65. The club, with 220 members, was thrilled when the former amateur player lifted the Claret Jug at the Open and on his return from Portrush he was given a hero's welcome. The 18-hole championship course where Lowry learned those vital early skills as a child—excelling at pitch and putt—is studded with natural lakes and woodlands, as well as superb sand-based greens. Masterfully designed by Christy O'Connor Jr., it is regarded as one of Ireland's leading inland links-type courses. Some small changes took place to the course during 2020, which included the 16th hole becoming a par 4. The full greens are playable all year round and welcomes visitors. The club takes its name from eskers, or mounds of sand or gravel left by streams of melted ice, which provide the dramatic undulations, never mind the challenges, of the course. N52, Esker Hills, Tullamore, Co. Offaly. 057/935–5999; www.eskerhillsgolf.com. Weekdays €35, weekends €45.