Golf In Ballybunion

THE OLD COURSE

Ballybunion Old Course strikes a chord with golfing enthusiasts all around the world. Rated one of the top ten golf courses in the world, standing on the first tee at Ballybunion is truly awe inspiring, if a little intimidating, with most mere mortals whispering to themselves, don’t duff it, don’t slice it, don’t hook it and whatever you do, don’t put it into the graveyard!

The year 1971 triggered the start of a new era for the club when acclaimed golf writer Herbert Warren Wind wrote an article ranking Ballybunion as one of the best ten courses in the world. Things were never quite the same again as visiting golfers came in their hordes to experience the magnificent Kerry links. Among the many visitors was Tom Watson, Ballybunion’s favourite adopted son, while over the years the many who have made the pilgrimage include Byron Nelson, Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, Peter Alliss, Ken Venturi and one Bill Clinton, to name but a few.

The Old Course at Ballybunion is a true seaside links, with a distinct lack of man-made influences. There is certainly a wild look to the course, making it appear intimidating, yet the truth is that the course is eminently fair. The contours on the fairways and greens are what make Ballybunion a great golf course. The golfer is required to play accurate approach shots to the greens, usually to a small target with not a lot of space to miss left or right, to quote Tom Watson, “It’s a course you will always enjoy and never tire of playing…In short, Ballybunion is a course on which many golf architects should live and play before they build a golf course. I consider it a true test of golf.”

THE CASHEN COURSE

How do you follow one of the most celebrated seaside links courses in the world? If you’re Ballybunion Golf Club and you’re looking to build a second course to take some of the playing pressure off of your 1893-vintage classic Old Course, you acquire a stunningly beautiful, undulating tract of land and you bring in the most influential golf course architect of the mid-20th Century. The Cashen Course at Ballybunion Golf Club was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., and opened for play in 1981. Head Professional Brian O’Callghan describes its character as, “completely different to the Old Course. It’s much more undulating terrain.” Yet even with dramatic topography and an unassailable pedigree, the Cashen Course remains as a worthy, if vexing, little sister to the storied old course.

How the Cashen Course at Ballybunion plays. If nothing else, Robert Trent Jones, Sr.’s addition to Ballybunion is consistent with it’s big sister: The Cashen Course also contains numerous blind shots, pinpoint landing areas and well-guarded greens. In fact, one could make the case that caddies are needed more here than on the Old Course, at least forecaddies who can keep an eye on your ball as it whistles out of sight over yet another dune.