Ballybunion Golf Club (Old Course)

Through Ballybunion's Towering Dunes

The Old Course at Ballybunion Golf Club began with a 12-hole layout in 1893. James McKenna is named in the 1897 Irish Golfer's Guide, while Lionel Lloyd Hewson laid out the nine-hole course used after the club was re-established in 1906. Fred Smith later directed the extension through the sandhills, and the 18-hole course opened in 1927.

Tom Simpson and Molly Gourlay made measured changes in 1936 before the Irish Amateur Close. Their work respected a routing already shaped by steep dunes and natural valleys beside the Atlantic. From the 7th onward, the course enters its most dramatic ground, moving between clifftop tees and narrow corridors cut through marram-covered hills.

The 11th, "Watsons", asks for a committed drive beside the shoreline before an exacting approach. Later holes continue through exposed coastal ground, where wind can alter both target and club choice. A later upgrade replaced all 18 greens with fine fescue surfaces and added revetted bunker faces. Selected changes were also made to several holes while preserving the links character that earned Ballybunion worldwide recognition.