Lahinch, Old Course

A caddie's goat has been in the club badge since 1956. In March 1892 two Limerick Golf Club officials, Alexander Shaw and Richard Plummer, came looking along the Clare coast for dunes, found these, and laid out the first course with officers of the Black Watch. The first game came on Good Friday, 15 April 1892. Old Tom Morris built a new links here in 1894 and called it the finest natural course he had ever seen. Alister MacKenzie redesigned and extended it in 1927 for £2,000, and Martin Hawtree re-routed four holes and added two par threes between 1999 and 2003. The South of Ireland Championship has run here since 1895, Jon Rahm won the 2019 Irish Open, and the Walker Cup comes on 5 and 6 September 2026.

Two holes back to back carry the Old Course's reputation. Klondyke, the fourth, is a par five of 475 yards from the blue tees; the club's own advice for the second shot is to aim at the V in Klondyke Hill and take one club less, because the fairway tilts towards the green. The Dell follows, a par three of 154 yards from the same tees, its green hidden behind a dune. You cannot see it from the tee. A white stone on the hill marks where the flag is for the day, and the club's guide tells you to trust your distance. Blind holes went out of fashion long ago. Both survived MacKenzie's 1927 redesign, and both are still played the way the club's own guide describes.