A lost links: The love affair between Nick Faldo and Bartragh Island has fizzled out

Kevin Markham recalls Nick Faldo's failed bid to transform Bartragh Island into a world-renowned golf course

Golfer Nick Faldo of England poses for a portrait during his visit to Bartragh Island in Mayo. 

THE lengthy saga of Nick Faldo and Bartragh Island has come to an end.

A love affair that started in 1997 has fizzled out in failure.

And you know what… that’s no bad thing. Located in Killala Bay, the island is 4.6 km long and just 0.5 km wide. It weighs in at 170 hectares. With Enniscrone directly to the east and Killala to the west the island is nestled tightly in the bay between the two. It is a dunescape of exceptional beauty and heaving sandhills which blanket much of the island from the beaches on one side to the beaches on the other. No wonder Faldo had such a desire to turn it into a links golf course.

He bought the island in 2003, and word of Faldo’s ambitious plan spread like wildfire throughout the golfing world.

On the southern tip lies Bartragh House, a Georgian Gothic from the 1830s which is now dilapidated… but could have become a magnificent clubhouse.

After such auspicious beginnings, the project then stumbled for almost 20 years. Concerns, objections and, questions, dogged the project from the outset.

1: The ecological impacts were of concern: there was a risk of damage to the coastline of Killala Bay if Faldo over-developed the course. Bartragh Island is the only natural barrier island in Ireland. It protects the coastline from erosion, e.g. from storms. The major concern of environmental groups was that rock armour would be more harmful than helpful.

2: The island’s status as a Special Protection Area (SPA) for birds would be adversely affected. “To say the island is of ecological significance is an understatement,” said Mr Ian Lumley, Heritage Officer of An Taisce, at the time. “There is a serious question as to whether any development is appropriate on the island.” Brent Geese visit in important numbers during winter, and the island is home to curlews, dunlins, redshanks, ringed plovers, and oystercatchers.

3: How would the island be reached? At low tide it is accessible by foot from Killala, but a boat is required the rest of the time. Would a bridge need to be built?

4: There were legal issues with the previous owner which were only settled in 2016.

5: And then there’s the more obvious question: do we really need another golf links built on virgin land? The country is awash with courses and despite a recent increase in membership numbers thanks to Covid we still have too many courses for too few golfers. The argument might well be that this new links would be for the international market and not the domestic golfer, and that it would put this region firmly on the golf destination map – it would add to the attraction of Carne, Enniscrone, Strandhill and Co. Sligo – but the argument remains the same: do we really need more golf courses built on beautiful, pristine landscapes?

6: Finally, would the promise of 300 new jobs really have been realised… and how long would they have lasted once the course was finished? Such ‘promises’ are always touted early on and so rarely live up to expectations.

Faldo, in perhaps his final throw of the dice, brought Skratch TV (the in-house PGA channel) to the island in 2019, to show the world what Bartragh could be. They made a six-and-a-half minute film filled with Faldo’s unbridled enthusiasm and the beauty of the dunes and sea.

“Here we are at the 7th tee at Bartragh Island. This is one small step for man, one giant leap for golf architecture,” he announced as he stood deep in the dunes and hit a shot towards an imaginary flag. He even claimed he’d found the middle of the green…

Watch the January 2020 video online and you’ll get a very good idea of what was in the offing. (search ‘Scratch TV’ and ‘Bartragh Island’.) The dream has now died and England’s greatest golfer may be the only person ever to hit a shot over the island’s dunes.

Faldo paid between €1.5 million and €3 million (depending on which report you believe) for Bartragh Island. It was sold in recent weeks after it went on the market for €1.1 million last year.

Nothing is known about the new owner, but the property has been purchased as a private residence and agricultural use. It is therefore highly unlikely it will become the links that had the international golf world all a-flutter in 2003.