Enniscrone

"It's not the destination, it's the journey."

As we reflected on our week on the Wild Atlantic Way, Ralph Waldo Emerson's words couldn't have been more fitting. 

Pearls of wisdom are on plaques on each tee-side bench at Enniscrone golf course.

And this one was most apt for us.

Our quest to play the world's top 100 golf courses may never end, but the joy we're finding along the way is the true reward.

We arrived at Enniscrone on the last of five brilliant days of golf in Ireland, for the final round of the Experience Ireland Golf & Travel competition.

Our early hope for glory had faded due to our stamina rather than any flaw in the magnificent Enniscrone Dunes course.

 It was clear from the start that these links are rightly celebrated and deserve their critical acclaim.

After a warm West of Ireland welcome in a smart clubhouse, where we enjoyed a post-game meal, we headed to the practice putting green. 

We should have stayed longer. The surfaces were the fastest of the week, and their treacherous borrows and undulations gave us headaches for the next four hours.

Enniscrone's quirks begin at the first hole, with a drive to a wide-open fairway before a sharp turn right toward a green surrounded by dunes.

The second, a par-five played toward the Atlantic, features another superbly manicured fairway that funnels between towering sandhills. 

Mrs. W reached the green in regulation but discovered its difficulty, four-putting for an exasperating start.

The hits keep coming with the beautiful par-three third, carved amidst the dunes. 

My approach was good enough to secure my first par of the day.

The course emerges from the tall dunes on the fifth, a long par-four with a stream down the right and bunkers on either side of a fairway that narrows as it approaches the green. 

The seventh is a magnificent par-five from an elevated tee, with trouble all down the right side. 

I avoided the cunningly placed fairway bunkers, but my approach shot caught the top of a bank and sloped down into a heavily contoured green.

My round had been struggling, but I found new life around the turn.

The ninth is a sublime par-four alongside Scurmore Beach. My drive landed in the centre of a narrow, rippled fairway, and I followed up with a low fairway wood that pinged to the back of the green. 

A delicate nudge out of the rough left my ball within an inch of the cup.

The tenth follows a similar tract of land, where my approach found the middle of the green, just missing a birdie.

The Enniscrone club website forewarns players about the gorgeous par-three 11th, stating, "There is no future in missing the green to the right as a deep ravine awaits." 

I laughed in the face of such a dire forecast, found the green from the tee, and tapped in for par. 

While I played that trio well, the next three holes are the course's best combination, in my opinion.

The 12th requires a substantial carry from the tee into a fairway that disappears over a brow. Shots leaking right will fall into a deep, grassy chasm. 

Mrs. W and I struck our drives perfectly, finding our balls in a dell less than 100 yards below the green. 

However, what seemed like assured success turned to embarrassment as we both hit through the target into a hill of hellish, tangled rough behind the pin.

Memories of Lahinch were rekindled on the 13th, where a member of the Enniscrone team stood atop a dune. 

After ensuring the group ahead was clear, she encouraged us to blast our tee shots on the short, blind, downhill par-four. 

A precise shot took the bank and rolled to within 80 yards of the green, which slopes from back to front.

More power is required on the 14th, a cracking par-five that demands a drive over rough and between dunes. 

The undulating fairway then falls and rises to a green tucked away on the right, where overambitious shots can fall into the thick surrounding rough.

The 17th has a reputation as one of Ireland's most testing par-threes, despite being only 140 yards long. 

With the sea on its left and a holiday park to its rear, the hole is picturesque but certainly not harmless. Its peril lies in the rolling turf in front of the green, which flings the ball to the right. 

I hit what I thought was a perfect strike, but it zipped through to a "valley of sin" on the left.

Mrs. W and I had been in a decent position on the first day of the competition, but this day was not ours. 

Our woes were summed up on the 18th. My drive was a perfect stripe from the elevated tee, and I smashed my second toward the green, only for it to find an impossible lie in a pot bunker. 

I managed to heave the ball out, only for it to squirt into the adjacent one. Mrs. W suffered similarly, and we finished meekly.

Nevertheless, Enniscrone had more than lived up to its billing. This is a truly cracking club and course.