Ballybunion Golf Club

Ballybunion Golf Club offers a mix of stunning views and fantastic golf holes along the ocean.

Ballybunion starts modestly but soon bursts into life and boasts some truly spectacular holes along the ocean and breathtaking views from elevated tees.

The holes among the enormous dunes are stunning and as Tom Watson said after lifting the Claret Jug at Royal Troon in 1982: “Nobody can call himself a golfer until he has played at Ballybunion; you would think the game originated there.” 

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Watson first played here when he was taught the intricacies of playing good links golf by Sandy Tatum of the USGA as a young man and it has stayed in his heart ever since.

Nevertheless, it is true that the first six leave you wondering what Watson and others have been making all the fuss is about.

There is a characterful start with a hole alongside a cemetery and a hint of the drama among the dunes on the next but the remainder of the first third is basically getting you in place for the rest of the course.

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The wait is worth it. From the 7th, the dunescape you’ve heard about unfolds before your eyes and the rest of the links is largely about threading your ball down slithers of fairway running between huge sand hills.

At other times it offers cliff-edge thrills, with the 11th combining both the bluff-side scene and the dune corridor experience; a wonderful hole. 

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It is spectacular and it is exhilarating but the Old at Ballybunion – arguably the highlight in the fabled ‘Ring of Kerry’ – is also exacting.

For Watson and many others, this Tom Simpson design (with assistance from Molly Gourlay) is an essential visit.

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