Tralee Golf Club

Tralee Golf Links Ireland
6975 Yards
Par 72
Designers: Arnold Palmer & Ed Seay

In a land with an abundance of awe inspiring settings for golf, choosing Ireland’s most scenic course is a near impossible task. Yet for many, that course is found on a rugged corner of the Barrow Peninsula at the Tralee Golf Club.

Of those who sing Tralee’s praises, golf writer Peter Dobereiner perhaps captured the sentiment best when he said “Robert Lewis Stevenson was wrong, and by a long chalk, when he described the Monterey Peninsula as the greatest conjunction of land and sea that the earth has to offer. As a spectacle, Tralee is in a different class.” The dramatic and stunning nature of the site is certainly without question, but turning that into great golf would still require an architect with keen a vision. At Tralee, that task fell to none other than The King himself.

Shortly after he arrived at Tralee, Arnold Palmer said “I have never come across a piece of land so ideally suited for the building of a golf course.” Some will argue, however, that this was only partially the case. The front nine plays over relatively flat and uninteresting linksland, while the inward half is seated in the rugged and undulating dunes that produce thrilling golf. This disparity between the two nines is often cited by Tralee’s critics as a mark against the course. A view that can only be reached if the front nine is played with a blindfold.

There is no denying the front nine received the short end of the topographical stick, yet many of the outward holes hug the coastline producing some of the finest views in all of golf. The par-5 2nd hole is a perfect example, as it wraps around the cliff’s edge in stunning fashion. Meanwhile, the 3rd is a cracking one-shotter, played to green perched above the sea and a Tudor-era gun turret. It is here that many are reminded of the 7th at Pebble Beach, albeit with nearly twice the amount of length.

After another inspiring approach to the 8th, we turn to the back nine and the promise of sensational links golf. The uphill climb between the parallel dunes on the par-5 11th sets the tone, while the chasms short of the 12th and 13th greens have swallowed more than their fair share of Pro-V1s.  Ahead on the par-3 16th, a driver is likely to be the club of choice and even that may not be enough. The hole is known as “Shipwreck,” owing to a vessel from the Spanish Armada who ran aground here at the peril of its entire crew. In less consequential fashion, the hole more than lives up to its name, wrecking even the best of scorecards on a daily basis.

Arnold Palmer and his partner Ed Seay are often credited with designing the front nine at Tralee, while Mother Nature gets billing for the back. Indeed, Tralee is a tale of two nines, as well as a cast of do or die shots throughout the round. But it’s the bold and inspiring setting that makes it a popular choice on a golf trip to Ireland, especially when the sun is shining on the Monterey Peninsula of the Emerald Isle.


For more insight on planning your golf trip to Ireland, visit the links below, read our Ireland golf trip reviews, or have a look through our Yardage Book, where you’ll find answers to many of our most frequently asked questions.

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