What is the west of Ireland

Kevinmarkham

A little help required please as I'm having a debate over a (golf) website domain name with someone I know.

If I said to you I was going to play golf in the 'west of Ireland' where would you think I'd be playing? How far south, how far north?

Many thanks in advance! This is proving to be a very interesting quandary.

Uncle Ben

Kevinmarkham wrote: »

A little help required please as I'm having a debate over a (golf) website domain name with someone I know.

If I said to you I was going to play golf in the 'west of Ireland' where would you think I'd be playing? How far south, how far north?

Many thanks in advance! This is proving to be a very interesting quandary.

From east Galway for starters. Ballinasloe Tuam or Mountbellew.

Pretty simple really West=Connacht, North West is Sligo/Donegal and South West is Clare/Limerick/Kerry

PARlance

Galway, Mayo, Sligo...anything else is South West or North West. Then there's Roscommon and Leitrim (technically in the West), you'll probably have to pass through them on your way to golf in the West.

slave1

Anything past and parallel to the Shannon

Akrasia

Clare is in the mid West

FixdePitchmark

without reading above.

Clare - Galway - Mayo - Sligo.

A New earth

Whenever golf in the West of Ireland is discussed, nearly everyone understands this to mean Galway, Mayo & Sligo. If they wanted to include Clare it would be mentioned separately by name

FixdePitchmark

A New earth wrote: »

Whenever golf in the West of Ireland is discussed, nearly everyone understands this to mean Galway, Mayo & Sligo. If they wanted to include Clare it would be mentioned separately by name

I'm not sure it is an expression unique to golf ?

I've never heard anyone saying they are going South to Clare.

joebloggs32

As a leaving cert geography teacher, I would define the west of Ireland as Galway, Mayo and Roscommon using a variety of physical, economic and social factors.

searay

Kevinmarkham wrote: »

A little help required please as I'm having a debate over a (golf) website domain name with someone I know.

If I said to you I was going to play golf in the 'west of Ireland' where would you think I'd be playing? How far south, how far north?

Many thanks in advance! This is proving to be a very interesting quandary.

When I hear the term "west of Ireland" in a golf context, I think of the Scratch cup played in Rosses Point, Sligo which I'd regard as being in the North West!

FixdePitchmark

So - not going to be a straight answer as it a bit subjective.

princess poppy

To me if you are playing in the west of Ireland you can only be in Rosses Point

PARlance

princess poppy wrote: »

To me if you are playing in the west of Ireland you can only be in Rosses Point

That's the first thing I thought about, The West of Ireland Amateur, when I read the thread title.
Think it has ventured away from Rosses on occasion?

coylemj

Kevinmarkham wrote: »

If I said to you I was going to play golf in the 'west of Ireland' where would you think I'd be playing? How far south, how far north?

It depends literally on where you are standing when you make that statement, 'west' being a relative term.

If you said it in Athlone, it would be interpreted as meaning Galway/Mayo/Sligo.

If you said it in Dublin, it could be interpreted as meaning anywhere west of the Shannon.

There are golf championships called the (North/South/East/West) of Ireland Championship but entry is not restricted to people from specific counties - each championship is simply played in one of the four provinces but open to all, that's as far as it goes.

PARlance

joebloggs32 wrote: »

As a leaving cert geography teacher, I would define the west of Ireland as Galway, Mayo and Roscommon using a variety of physical, economic and social factors.

While that may be NUTS...(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Region,_Ireland) ...I think most people from Connaught consider themselves from the West.

Under that NUTS geographical division, Sligo is a "border" County. It would take a nice driver to get to the border from Sligo.

I've never met a Clare man who claims to be from the West. West of the Shannon, but not West of Ireland.

But going back to OP, it probably depends on the intended audience Kevin. If the primary audience is outside looking in, i.e the non-Irish market, then you could probably go from Kerry to Donegal in terms of West. The US is a far greater landmass and we get by with just dividing it into East and West Coast rather than getting into all the variants.

FixdePitchmark

PARlance wrote: »

While that may be NUTS...(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Region,_Ireland) ...I think most people from Connaught consider themselves from the West.

Under that NUTS geographical division, Sligo is a "border" County. It would take a nice driver to get to the border from Sligo.

I've never met a Clare man who claims to be from the West. West of the Shannon, but not West of Ireland.

But going back to OP, it probably depends on the intended audience Kevin. If the primary audience is outside looking in, i.e the non-Irish market, then you could probably go from Kerry to Donegal in terms of West. The US is a far greater landmass and we get by with just dividing it into East and West Coast rather than getting into all the variants.

Agree.

Kevin - the question needs context.

I was talking to a Mayo man this evening - who said - that anyone who claims that Clare is not west , is just wrong, geographically, socially and economically.

He was speaking in a Shannon context - but, Dublin people have had to listen about the deprivation of the west and west of the Shannon for so long
That - it would be impossible and unfair, for anyone from the east, to consider Clare less deprived versus Sligo.

saabsaab

A few years ago in Dublin I man said he thought that anything west of Lucan was west of Ireland.

Kevinmarkham

Thanks for all the responses. Looks like I'm a bit out of kilter with the general view as I'd have tossed in Clare, for sure.

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Kevin

---

You are suffering from your own globalisation.

I hope not... but I am suffering from a cold... thanks to Scotland!

PARlance wrote: »

But going back to OP, it probably depends on the intended audience Kevin. If the primary audience is outside looking in, i.e the non-Irish market, then you could probably go from Kerry to Donegal in terms of West. The US is a far greater landmass and we get by with just dividing it into East and West Coast rather than getting into all the variants.

Yes, most likely it's for UK and US audiences. I would have thought that US golfers would define the 'west' as anywhere on the west coast, pretty much from Kerry to Donegal.

The website under discussion is promoting golf in the 'undiscovered' west, so I wanted to find out if people would look at it and think: 'Hold on, Lahinch is hardly undiscovered'.

Thanks for all the feedback. Very helpful.

searay

Would it make sense to link it to the Wild Atlantic Way, although that might tie him in to Coastal and Links courses.

mike12

Would think of it myself as from Sligo town down to Shannon. Above north west below south west.

Kevinmarkham

mike12 wrote: »

Would think of it myself as from Sligo town down to Shannon. Above north west below south west.

That, I would have to say, was very much my thinking. But seems to be Galway and Mayo with Sligo squeezed in

RoadRunner

<dub>
I would consider anywhere on the atlantic coast from Kerry to Donegal "west".
</dub>

ironkiwi

There is a sign at the Shannon in Athlone that says "Welcome to the West" therefore anything west of the Shannon thats in Connacht!

Dayor Knight

I'd be inclined to include Clare, too. Not for any technical reason, just a perception - west of the Shannon.....

irish coldplayer

Its a funny one as Clare is regarded as the mid west, but the South of Ireland golf Tournament takes place every year in Lahinch.
You could also regard the West to be any county along the west coast i.e. Donegal to Kerry, or even the "Wesht" i.e. Sligo, Mayo Galway

whizbang

For me, it has to be the other side of the line Galway - Sligo.
There is so much coastline, and decent golf courses in that region, it would look like a cheap search tag 'catch all' if you include places like Ballinasloe.

Galwegian Guy

The "West of Ireland" is also a prestigious competition for aspiring amateur golfers.

billy3sheets

searay wrote: »

Would it make sense to link it to the Wild Atlantic Way, although that might tie him in to Coastal and Links courses.

Yeah - good idea - The Wild West!

BigChap1759

Would always have thought Clare was The West...........but then I'm a blow in

Eugene Norman

Dayor Knight wrote: »

I'd be inclined to include Clare, too. Not for any technical reason, just a perception - west of the Shannon.....

I would. The Shannon estuary is a natural barrier between west and south west. Clare may not be in Connaught but it's definitely west.

(Mid west is meaningless in an Irish context. Mid west = West. In America it means midway to the west, although that's not really true either)

Bandana boy

RoadRunner wrote: »

<dub>
I would consider anywhere on the atlantic coast from Kerry to Donegal "west".
</dub>

Me too

mike12

Maybe it should be west coast, athlone is just across the Shannon but right in the middle of the country

mike12

Maybe it should be west coast, athlone is just across the Shannon but right in the middle of the country

blackwhite

Deleted User wrote: »

Pretty simple really West=Connacht, North West is Sligo/Donegal and South West is Clare/Limerick/Kerry

What province do you think Sligo is in?