Ballyliffin Golf Club

Close enough to combine with a Northern Ireland golf trip, Ballyliffin Golf Club boasts two of The Republic of Ireland’s best championship layouts – Glashedy Links and The Old Links.

Referred to often as ‘The Ballybunion of The North” or “The Dornoch of Ireland,” heady praise indeed for two relatively young championship links. It is Ireland’s most northerly course located on The Wild Atlantic Way at Tullagh Point, on the Atlantic Edge of the Inishowen Peninsula.

The Old Links started life as a basically nondescript 9-hole course in 1947 on leased fairly flat farmland. In 1973 it was expanded to 18 holes by Eddie Hackett with input from the firm of Lawrie and Pennick. In 1993 Sir Nick Faldo visited and it was love at first sight. He later would make some tweaks including revetting bunkers and adding additional tees. Faldo’s praise for the courses helped establish the Club as a ‘must play’ and a venue for future championships, including the 2018 Irish Open.

The Club, as many in Ireland, went through its share of financial difficulties However in 1992 it was decided that there needed to be an additional 18-hole championship course, taking the playing pressure off The Old Links.

Pat Ruddy had already done some work on The Old Links and was brought back in to do further renovations and improvements to The Old Links. With the addition of 400 acres of wild linksland punctuated by towering dunes, his focus soon shifted to designing the new Glashedy Links course. 

Time was of the essence as at that time environmentally sensitive sites were being heavily restricted on golf course construction. So, he and his partner, the late Tom Craddick, set about securing funding and construction of Glashedy Links and Faldo took over his renovation of The Old Links.