The History of Ballybunion Golf Club

The Limerick Chronicle of August 19th 1893 and the Kerry Sentinel in its Gossip Column (of all places,) of August 26th 1893 carried the same news item.

"The opening meeting of the Ballybunion Golf Club was held on the 18th inst., at the Castle Hotel, when it was decided to request Lord Listowel to allow himself to be nominated President, while Mr Carling of Newcastlewest and Mr Creagh of Listowel were elected Vice-Presidents. Mr Morden of Ennismore and Mr DArcy of Ballybunion were chosen Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer respectively. A vote of thanks was then passed to Mr Hewson, who very generously permits the use of the links to the club free. Twelve greens have been laid out upon the links - a number which might be easily increased to the standard eighteen, should the members so wish. The greens all lie along the sandhills. The turf is of the springiest and the course offers every variety of golfing interest".

In early 1897 an article in the Irish Times, headed The Golf Links of Kerry, dismissed Ballybunion Course with some contempt as “a rabbit warren below the village, where a golfer requires limitless patience and an inexhaustible supply of golf balls.”

This provoked a tart rejoinder in the same paper in black 1897 from P McCarthy, General Manager, Listowel and Ballybunion Railway. The course, he claimed, was “quite first class and a sporting course, laid out by the professional who had laid out the links at Lahinch and Dollymount.” The Irish golfers guide of 1897 names this course designer as Jo McKenna, who did this work “at the instance of the Lartigue Railway Company.” It is interesting to note the connection with present day Ballybunion as he was the grandfather of current Ballybunion Golf Club Secretary - Manager, Jim McKenna.

But despite the best endeavours of these early enthusiasts the Club was not financially equipped to survive, and the last recorded entry in the Minute Book is dated the 13th of August 1898.

There then followed an 8 year period of golfing oblivion which lasted right up until the formation of the present Ballybunion Golf Club in 1906. Its founders were Colonel Bartholomew, an ex-Indian Army Officer who had retired to live in the area, Mr B.J. Johnstone of the Bank of Ireland, Patrick McCarthy, Honorary Secretary of the original Club, and John Macauley of Listowel. Under their auspices, Mr Lionel Hewson, for many years the Editor of Irish Golf and one of the great personalities of the game, was commissioned to lay out a new 9 hole track.

As time passed, the growing reputation of the links began to attract players from all parts of the country, and by 1926 plans had been drawn up to extend the course to a full 18 holes. Work was completed within the following 12 months, but it wasn’t until 1932 that the new links were finally recognized at national level when Ballybunion was chosen as the venue for the Irish Ladies Championship. This was won by a club member from Tralee, Miss Betty Latchford. A repeat of this championship in 1936 was won by Mrs Clarie Reddaw. Four subsequent runnings of this championship went to Miss Philomena Garvey [1951], Miss Mary McKenna [1969 and 1977] and Miss Claire Hourihane [1991]. The GUI. has run its Irish Amateur Close Championship here on five occasions. The champions of these years were Jimmy Bruen [1937], Cecil Ewing [1958], Ray Kane [1971], Jackie Harrington [1979] and Gary MacNeil [1991].

Five years later it became the stage for the Irish Mens Close Amateur Championship. As part of the preparation for this prestigious event, the Committee appointed Tom Simpson, a leading golf architect of the time, to examine the course and make any necessary recommendations. Simpson was so delighted by what he saw that he suggested only three major changes - altering the sites of the 2nd, 4th and 12th greens - and some minor ones, which included the installation of a mid-fairway bunker on what is now the 1st hole. This bunker became known as “Mrs Simpson”, and though opinions about it may differ widely, it at least has the merit of providing the topic for much animated discussion!

The next significant date in Ballybunion’s history was 1957 when the course was selected as the venue for the Irish Professional Championship. Harry Bradshaw emerged victorious in what was to be the last of his 10 national titles. Further attention from the mass media came in 1970 with the arrival of television cameras to record the match between Ireland’s Christy O’Connor and Bob Goalby from the United States for the World of Golf TV series. In 1967 The Irish Professional Championship returned to Ballybunion; in 1978 Arnold O’Connor won the Carroll’s Irish Matchplay Championship here.

1971 triggered the start of a new era for Ballybunion Golf Club. Land was purchased on which the Cashen Course was to be built. The Club left its clubhouse on the present sixth tee and built a new clubhouse, on the present site of the clubhouse, central to both courses. We took a sudden leap into intemational prominence when world-acclaimed golf writer, Herbert Warren Wind, wrote an article ranking Ballybunion in the world’s Top Ten Courses.

Things were never quite the same again. Hordes of visitors, very many from the U.S.A., thronged to Ballybunion. Among these was Ballybunion’s favourite adopted son Tom Watson, who came first with his friend Sandy Satum in 1981, and has been a regular since. He has brought with him legendary figures of golf, Byron Nelson and Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Cohn Montgomery, Larry Mize, Steve Jones, Wayne Grady, Ian Woosnam, Bob Murphy, Jerry Pate, Peter Thompson, Peter Alliss, Deane Beman, Ken Venturi, Ben Wright also visited. From the U.S. Ladies Tour we have welcomed Pat Bradley, Val Skinner and Cindy Rarick. The club called on the doyen of Golf Architects, Robert Trent Jones, to design the Cashen course on its newly-acquired property. This course is increasingly finding favour on all fronts despite vying for attention with the agelessly-beautiful old course.

In 1993 Ballybunion Golf Club celebrated that proudest of milestone - its centenary. Fittingly its centenary captain was Sean Walsh, who as Sec/Manager since 1972, had overseen and contributed enormously to the fantastic development of the club in that time. Centenary celebrations befitting the status of the club were organised. Nothing was more adventurous than the decision to raze the 1971 clubhouse and to build the present new clubhouse to usher Ballybunion Golf Club into the 21st century.

In 1995 Tom Watson undertook what was for him a labour of love, updating the old course, giving a facelift to the century-old lady so beloved by all. After his deft and loving surgery she now presents to the world a face more beautiful than ever.

This is Ballybunion Golf Club: Thankful for the priceless gift of dunesland that nature has bestowed on it; Proud of its origins and past; Humble in realising that it must ever advance hand-in-hand with Father Time in outlook and development; And ever a cordial host to visitors from near and far.
 

The Old Course

Introduced by Tom Watson

After playing Ballybunion for the first time, a man would think that the game of golf originated here. Located on the Shannon estuary, it is a true seaside links course, virtually treeless and a course of sharp contours throughout. There appears to be no man- made influence. It looks like a course laid out on land back in the 10th century.There is a wild look to the place the long grass covering the dunes that pitch and roll throughout the course making it very intimidating. Yet the course is eminently fair. While there would appear to be a lot of blind shots, there aren’t. Even where there are blind shots, you are given a good idea where you must hit the ball. The course doesn’t fool you altogether!

The contours, on the fairways and on the greens, are what make it a great golf course. There are uphill and downhill and sidehill shots, uphill and downhill par-3s. You must play accurate iron shots into the greens, usually to a small target with not a lot of room to miss right or left. But there is room to roll a ball on to the greens in the true links manner. Playing Ballybunion is similar in many respects, to playing Cypress Point in America, and I like that style of golf. It’s the best way to play. If you hit a straight shot but miss-hit it by a little bit, a little too long or short, you shouldn’t be penalised as much as you are for missing left or right of the green. Yet if you roll the ball on to the green, and once you get to the green there are more contours you must contend with. It is all this that cause Ballybunion to offer some of the finest and most demanding shots into the green of any course I’ve played in the world. Combine this with the winds that are prevalent here and you have a magnificent challenge.

It is a course that will test your patience. It is not a course that favours one particular style of play over another, but one that simply rewards good play and good shots. For example, the 8th is only 155 yards and plays almost straight downhill, yet you must hit your shots within a 10 to 12 yard area or face a bogey.., or double-bogey. In a wind, it’s one of the most demanding shots I’ve ever faced. And that’s the character of the course. The 11th, a 446-yard par 4 perched right on the seaside cliffs, is one of the toughest holes in the world. That’s also the character of the course. Yet it’s a course you will always enjoy and never tire of playing. I know I never will. In short, Ballybunion is a course on which many golf architects should live and play before they build golf course. I consider it a true test of golf.
 

The Cashen Course

Introduced by Robert Trent Jones

 When I first saw the piece of land chosen for the new course of Ballybunion, I was thrilled beyond words. I said that it was the finest piece of links- land that I had ever seen, and perhaps the finest piece of links-land in the world. With the ocean on one side and the river on the other, it’s tumbling, undulating, free-flowing rhythm of line is beauty beyond description.

The boldness and variation of the terrain meant that the construction of a golf course would be no easy matter, but somehow, it has been achieved. You will play 18 spectacular holes, each with its own unique character and challenge. There are no weak holes whatsoever.

From the moment that you shoot out of the funnel at the 1st right, up until your final drive over a wasteland, and thence to the magnificent finish of the elevated 18th green, you will have traversed a quite incredible golf course. Many of the green surfaces, traps and contours have been created by nature, and to an architect like myself there can be no greater collaborator.

There is no more natural golf hole in the world than the 10th, an outrageously beautiful stretch of God-given terrain. Many will consider the 13th to be the most spectacular hole on the course.From the landing area you wilt be looking at perhaps the most superb green-site that has been conceived. As for the par fives, their length and challenge is matched only by their stunning beauty.

Though I would have to admit a certain amount of personal bias, I nevertheless feel totally confident that everyone who comes to Ballybunion will be as thrilled as I was by the unique majesty of this truly unforgettable golf course.