Ballybunion Golf
Ballybunion Golf – the very words have a mystical quality to them and anyone who has had the pleasure of spending a day playing golf in Ballybunion will have left with a little magic coursing through the veins. If you want natural golf in an awesome setting and enjoy the
vicissitudes of Links Golf, Ballybunion Golf is for you.
Tom Simpson
However, Ballybunion Golf Club, like a topped 3 wood, almost didn’t get off the ground. It first opened as a 9 hole golf course in 1896, only to fold a few years later. The redoubtable folk of Ballybunion were not to be denied however, and having re-opened the course, Ballybunion Golf Club sought out an eccentric independently wealthy Englishman gentleman by the name of Tom Simpson, to revise the course and make it an 18 holer. The modern-day Ballybunion Old Course was born. How eccentric was Mr. Simpson? Well it is reported that Mr. Simpson showed up for work at Ballybunion Golf Club in a chauffeur driven silver Rolls Royce, wearing a flowing cloak, Basque beret and a riding crop!
Tom Watson
Tom Watson is synonymous with Ballybunion which he used to warm up for his 5 Open Championship wins. Probably the greatest modern day links golfer, Tom said: “Ballybunion is a course on which many golf architects should live and play before they build courses”. Ballybunion Golf Club sought out their adopted son, Tom Watson, to update the old course in 1995, giving a face-lift to the century-old lady so beloved by all. Watson also served as the Club Captain in 2000.
South West Ireland
Ballybunion is located in the ‘Kingdom County’ – County Kerry – in South Western Ireland, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Shannon estuary. County Kerry is famed in Ireland and indeed worldwide for its natural beauty and charm and is home to some of the best places to visit in Ireland. A friendly welcome and relaxed pace awaits all in Kerry. Ballybunion Old Course placed third in Ireland’s Golf Course Poll of Poll’s. https://realirishgolf.com/best-golf-courses-in-ireland-top-20/
The Cashen Course
A greedy lot they are in Ballybunion, as not being content to have one of the world’s great natural links golf courses, Ballybunion Golf Club employed Robert Trent Jones, Senior to build a second course. Named The Cashen Course after the nearby river, it opened in 1981. While not as famed as The Old Course, it stands on its own merits and is another rollicking roller coaster of Links Golf through the dunes.
Come play both Ballybunion Golf Courses with Real Irish Golf and experience Irish Links Golf at its finest!
