Tralee Golf Club

While we often note that expatriate Scots in search of a game founded various golf clubs throughout the world, Tralee seems to be a thoroughly Irish club in search of a course. The current one is the club's sixth since its founding in 1897. Opened in October 1984, the course is Arnold Palmer's first European design.

Located about seven miles west of the city on Barrow Harbour of Tralee Bay, the setting, seen on a sunny day, is quite marvelous indeed. The Atlantic flanks three sides and the course overlooks the Sleeve Mish Mountains. Ancient walls surround the first green. A Tudor-era gun-turret is located behind the third green. Randy Quay, a port of call for smugglers, lies below the seventh tee. The beach below the seventeenth was used in the film, Ryan's Daughter. Beneath the surf that crashes upon the rocks surrounding the course are the wrecks of countless ships. Surveying the environs noted golf writer, Peter Dobereiner, gushed, "The setting is quite the most magnificent backdrop for a golf course I have ever encountered." Palmer, who found the site covered with sand dunes and hillocks, has declared, "I have never come across a piece of land so ideally suited for a golf course." Opinions vary considerably on just how well he improved on the work of nature, as there are several holes that seem quite ordinary when a dreary, overcast day nullifies the supporting scenery. There is, however, practically universal agreement that the course is improving as it matures.

The course begins on the cliffs and finishes amid the sand dunes. The 5 par second demands three fine shots. The 3 par third is rather like the seventh at Pebble Beach. The eighth requires two precise shots to avoid the ocean on the left and the thick fescue on the right.

Most of the more memorable and difficult holes are on the homeward nine. The 430 yard twelfth offers a somewhat blind tee shot followed by an approach that must traverse a narrow fairway to an elevated green abutting a steep ravine. The 3 par sixteenth juts out to a point better known for shipwrecks than golf. During one of my visits to Tralee, it was dead into a stiff breeze. When asked whether I could reach the green with a 3 iron, my caddie replied "If you hit it often enough." On seventeen, the golfer begins on a high tee and finishes on an elevated green. The challenge is the deep gorge in between. On the whole, I find Tralee an interesting and scenic course worthy of a look in an Ireland golfing expedition.

Independent travellers: Take the R551 from Tralee and turn left toward Spa about six miles out. Once through Spa and past the Oyster Tavern, look for the sign to turn right and follow the signs henceforth to the club. Report to the Secretary's Office on the ground floor of the clubhouse. Meals are available on the upper floor of the clubhouse (no spikes) with the seafood chowder not to be missed. A visit to the Oyster Tavern is an obligatory part of a day at Tralee. Ask your server to recommend some special fish or seafood and follow the advice. Also attempt to be invited to join the locals in the small room on the right end of the bar towards the kitchen.