Favourite Hole: The par four 11th receives global recognition, coasting above the beach, dropping down over two ridges to a green guarded by those aforementioned bodyguards.
What ' s in the Bag? Ballybunion throws everything at you so bring your‘ A’ game, your camera and gallons of confidence.
Ballybunion( Old)
Sitting majestically on the Co. Kerry coastline, Ballybunion offers 36 holes of intrigue and brilliance. The Old course is revered but it wasn’ t until Tom Watson’ s rapturous endorsement rang around the world that the links became a bucket-list destination. Ballybunion, and the fine links of the south-west, has been basking in that glory ever since. For many, the Old course is golfing nirvana. Every shot on these hallowed fairways and sublime( spanking new) greens is links golf in its purest form. There are so many things to enjoy but two things stand out: the first is that this is as natural a course as you could hope to find. Greens sit on high plateaus and in dells, fairways cascade between heaving shoulders and dunes squeeze greens like over-zealous bodyguards; and the second is that the course builds from a( relatively) calm start and then just gets better and better as the dunes – and holes – grow in character and stature. There is exceptional variety, too, with five outstanding par threes measuring between 130 and 214 yards( white tees).
www. ballybuniongolfclub. com
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