Ballyliffin Golf Club: Old

The Old Links at Ballyliffin opened in 1973 and was designed by the team of Eddie Hackett, Charles Lawrie, and Frank Pennick. Nick Faldo coined the Old Links at Ballyliffin “the most natural golf course in the world.” Faldo oversaw renovations to the course in 2006, which included adding new seventh and eighth holes, as well as routing a new 13th into the surrounding floodplain. The course now evokes a feeling of pure links golf with heavily pitched fairways, rolling dunes, fierce wind and stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean and mountains in the background. The signature hole on the front nine at the Old Course is the par-3-fifth, The Tank, playing uphill to a green protected on three sides by sand dunes. The back nine at the Old Course is more challenging as well as pleasing to the eye, as the closing six holes play nearer to the water and provide a perfect balance of challenge and beauty to close out the round.