Ballybunion Golf Club is a links on the Atlantic dunes of County Kerry, Ireland, and its Old Course — founded in 1893 — is regularly ranked among the greatest golf courses in the world. If your group is planning a golf trip to Ireland, this is the round the itinerary should be built around: a raw, walkable, dunes-and-ocean links that Tom Watson has spent decades calling one of the finest tests in the game. It's not a resort course dressed up for tourists — it's the real thing, and it plays like it.
Where is Ballybunion Golf Club?
Ballybunion sits in the seaside town of the same name in County Kerry, on Ireland's southwest Atlantic coast. It's about a 90-minute drive south of Shannon Airport, the usual entry point for golfers flying into the west of Ireland (shannonairport.ie), and close enough to the other great Kerry and Clare links to serve as the anchor of an entire trip. The course runs right along the shoreline, so the ocean isn't a backdrop — it's in play, and so is the wind.
1893the year Ballybunion Golf Club was founded — the Old Course has been shaped by the Atlantic dunes of County Kerry for well over a centuryWhat makes the Old Course so famous?
The Old Course is a natural links routed through some of the tallest sand dunes in golf, and it earns its top-100-in-the-world reputation on terrain, not gimmicks. The greens sit in dune hollows and on windswept plateaus, the fairways tumble toward the Atlantic, and the closing stretch along the cliffs is as good as links golf gets. The signature is the par-4 11th, a hole that plays straight down the coastline with the ocean falling away on the right — routinely named among the best holes in the world.
Two things cemented its legend abroad. American golf writer Herbert Warren Wind put Ballybunion on the map for U.S. golfers in the early 1970s with a celebrated essay, and Tom Watson fell for the course in the 1980s, praising it in terms that stuck: he's often quoted saying that after playing Ballybunion, a man would think the game of golf originated there. Watson later lent his eye to work on the Old Course, and the association still draws pilgrims.
Old Course vs. Cashen Course — what's the difference?
The Old Course is the historic, world-ranked links; the Cashen Course is the club's second 18, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and opened in the 1980s. The Old Course is the one that belongs on a bucket list — it's the reason most groups fly in. The Cashen is a fierce, more modern layout carved through an even wilder set of dunes; it's a genuinely hard, spectacular round that most visitors treat as the perfect second loop once they've played the Old Course. If you have two days at Ballybunion, play both.
Is Ballybunion worth building a whole trip around?
Yes — Ballybunion sits inside one of the densest clusters of great links in the world, which is what makes it a trip and not just a round. Within a manageable drive you can add Tralee (an Arnold Palmer design on the Kerry coast), Waterville and the Ring of Kerry links to the south, and Lahinch and Doonbeg up in County Clare to the north. Base a group in the region for four or five days and you can play a different championship links every single day without repeating yourself.
That's the pitch for a buddies' or bachelor trip: it's a golf-first pilgrimage. Kerry towns give you pubs, seafood, and Guinness at the end of each round, but the golf is the event.
How do you get to Ballybunion?
Fly into Shannon Airport (SNN) and drive — it's roughly 90 minutes south into Kerry, and a rental car is essential because the best links are spread along the coast. Kerry Airport (KIR) is closer to Ballybunion for connecting flights within Europe, but Shannon is the more common transatlantic gateway and the natural hub if you're also playing Lahinch and Doonbeg in Clare. Plan for a car per foursome; the driving between courses is part of the trip, and the scenery on the Kerry and Clare coast roads is worth the windshield time.
What does it cost and when should you play?
Ballybunion's Old Course carries a premium green fee — it's one of the more expensive rounds in Ireland, in line with its world ranking — and rates change year to year, so check the official club site for current visitor pricing (ballybuniongolfclub.com). The season that matters runs roughly May through September, when Kerry gets its longest daylight and its driest stretch. Shoulder-season rounds in April or October can be cheaper and quieter, but you're gambling more on the weather. Whatever the month, come prepared for wind and rain — links golf here is played in the elements, not around them.
Build a southwest Ireland golf trip around Ballybunion — flights, links rota, and lodging →How to play Ballybunion the right way
Play it on foot, ideally with a caddie. The Old Course is a walking links built for it, and a local caddie will read the dune-country lines you can't see from the fairway and tell you where the Atlantic wind is actually going. Give yourself the second round on the Cashen if the schedule allows, keep the daily agenda simple — one great links, one good dinner — and let the region do the rest. That's the trip a group remembers.
FAQ
Where is Ballybunion Golf Club?
Ballybunion Golf Club is in the town of Ballybunion, County Kerry, on the southwest Atlantic coast of Ireland. It's roughly a 90-minute drive south of Shannon Airport, the usual gateway for a southwest Ireland golf trip.
What makes Ballybunion's Old Course so famous?
The Old Course is a natural links routed through towering Atlantic sand dunes, founded in 1893, and consistently ranked among the world's top 100 courses. Its clifftop par-4 11th hole and its long association with Tom Watson made it a bucket-list round for traveling golfers.
What's the difference between the Old Course and the Cashen Course?
The Old Course is the historic, world-ranked links and the reason most groups make the trip. The Cashen Course is the club's second 18, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and opened in the 1980s on an even more dramatic stretch of dunes.
Is Ballybunion good for a buddies' or bachelor golf trip?
Yes — Ballybunion anchors one of the best links rotas in the world, sitting within driving distance of Tralee, Lahinch, Doonbeg, and Waterville. A group can base in southwest Ireland and play a different championship links every day.
When should you play Ballybunion?
The prime links season runs roughly May through September, when Kerry gets its longest days and driest weather. Old Course tee times book up well ahead in peak summer, so lock the round before you book the flights.