Lahinch Old Course: a Restored MacKenzie Course

MacKenzie course par excellence, Lahinch Old Course is a mecca for keen golfers from far and wide. Apart from the splendour of its location, Lahinch's MacKenzie Course has gained worldwide recognition through its charming idiosyncrasies, and its debt to golf legends Dr Alister MacKenzie and Old Tom Morris, and more recently Martin Hawtree.

First amongst the idiosyncrasies being the goats whose outline adorns the crest of Lahinch Golf Club, and who act as Met-Men for all on the course. Local legend claims that if the weather is fine the goats graze happily out on the dunes, but when they sense rain approaching, they seek shelter in the shade of the clubhouse. And who would dare to disagree with them!

Then there are the Klondyke (5th) and Dell (4th), amongst the most famous holes in Irish golf, two original Tom Morris holes. The Klondyke (5th), a par five, features a drive into a scenic valley from where one is (hopefully) expected to play a completely blind second shot over a monstrous sand dune to a gently rolling green some 200 yards further on.

The Dell (4th), a par three, is one of the most photographed and controversial holes in golf. One loves it or despises it but must always admire it. The green nestles between two steep sand dunes, front and back, and is completely blind from the tee. To guide the golfer a white stone is moved along the face of the fronting hill to indicate the current pin position. Here, the result of one's tee shot is very much in the lap of the golfing gods.

In the 1920s, Alister MacKenzie capitalized on all the natural features of the site to create a truly memorable golf experience.

Many of these features were lost when remodelling was done in the 1930s. However, in 1999 the Club embarked on an ambitious project to put back the MacKenzie characteristics. After extensive screening of many world-renowned golf course architects, eventually Mr Martin Hawtree was selected for the challenge. The choice was made after officials from Lahinch Golf Club travelled to Royal Birkdale, the venue for the 1998 British Open Championship, to see Hawtree's work on that course. Mr Hawtree, whose father and grandfather before him were also eminent golf course architects, is a keen student of the MacKenzie traditions. His plans for Lahinch fell into five phases, beginning in October 1999, and were expected to take five years to complete. The Club took the ambitious step of endeavouring to complete the task in just four years. Phases 1 & 2 were accomplished by mid-March 2000. Phase 3 was begun in October 2000 and completed in March 2001. Phase 4, the most intensive part of the Plan, began in October 2001 and successfully completed in March 2002. Phase 5 brought the project to completion in March 2003, after just three and a half years.

In all, there is almost a complete refurbishment of the course, offering a new challenge to all its patrons. Lahinch Golf Club wishes all its members and visitors alike many happy hours playing the restored MacKenzie course.