Playing My First Top 100 Golf Course
- Mitch Martin
- 18 hours ago
- 11 min read
Updated: 10 hours ago
Golf is such a unique sport. You can watch a course on TV or YouTube and see where the best players in the world have hit shots. You can watch content creators play the same holes, hear them talk about the course and start to build an idea of what that place is like.
Then, unlike almost any other sport, you can go there yourself. You can stand on the same tee boxes, hit into the same greens and experience some of the places where famous shots have been hit and some of golf’s best memories have been made.
For my 30th birthday trip to Ireland, I knew I wanted one of those experiences.
I wanted to play my first Top 100 golf course. I wanted it to be Ballybunion.
What “Top 100” Meant Before I Got There
To be honest, I was completely unaware of Ballybunion’s existence until I stumbled across a serious on YouTube from No Laying Up.
Watching No Laying Up’s Tourist Sauce: Ireland, Episode 4 really grabbed my attention. The NLU crew is joined by writer Tom Coyne, author of A Course Called Ireland, for their round at Ballybunion. Listening to the way Coyne and the No Laying Up guys talked about the place is what really drove my interest in making Ballybunion my first Top 100 course.
There was also a practical side to it.
Ballybunion worked perfectly with everything else my wife and I wanted to do in Ireland. I could book a tee time and still build the rest of our trip however we wanted. We could stay in Killarney, drive the Ring of Kerry, spend time in Dublin and experience Ireland beyond just golf.
But there was definitely something different about having Ballybunion sitting on the itinerary.
I had built this round up in my head for months.
Arriving at Ballybunion Golf Club
Anyone who has ever driven in Ireland knows the roads are memorable for how narrow and tight they can be. Getting to the course almost feels like an accomplishment itself.
Once you arrive, you are met with a grand but modest entrance. Through the gate, you pass the caddie house on the right before heading up the hill toward the parking lot.
From there, the clubhouse immediately grabs your attention.
Its horizontal, layered design creates a unique silhouette across the dunes, but interestingly, it also blocks most of your view of the ocean from the parking lot. You know the North Atlantic is back there somewhere, but you can’t really see it yet.
Then you walk up the ramp and through the clubhouse doors. That’s when the place opens up. The large windows around the pro shop overlook the 18th fairway of the Old Course and the North Atlantic beyond it. It was one of the best walks into a clubhouse that I have experienced.
It definitely isn’t your traditional old-school clubhouse feel, but for my first Top 100 golf course, it immediately felt like I had arrived somewhere important.
After checking in and signing the tee book, I received a complimentary scorecard book and holder in this beautiful maroon color. It’s a small thing, but it was one of those details that immediately made the day feel a little more special.
From there, you can catch the shuttle across the street to Ballybunion’s practice facility. The range has covered bays, mats and natural turf. On my day it was mats only, so I spent some time getting dialed in before heading back over to the Old Course.
Before the Round: A Club That Didn’t Feel Stuffy
This was something I was curious about before I arrived.
When you hear “Top 100 golf course,” especially one with the history and reputation of Ballybunion, it’s easy to build up an idea of what the atmosphere might be like.
Would it be stuffy? Would I feel out of place? Would I feel like I didn’t know what I was doing?
As someone who is inherently anxious, Ballybunion could have very easily felt overwhelming.
It didn’t.
The staff did a great job of welcoming me and shepherding people around the property without making anything feel too formal.
After taking the shuttle back across the street, I headed toward the first tee and starter shed. I had a lovely conversation with the starter, who introduced me to my playing partners and our caddies for the day.
Everything just felt relaxed. And then there was nothing left to do but play golf.
My First Caddie Experience
Ballybunion was also my first time playing with a caddie. That added another completely new part to an already new experience.
A course like Ballybunion can look overwhelming when you’re seeing it for the first time. There are blind shots, massive dunes and times when you’re standing in the fairway trying to figure out where the golf hole even goes. Having someone alongside you who knows the place changes that.
The caddies made the course feel less intimidating and became part of the experience rather than just someone carrying the bag and giving yardages.
One of my favorite examples came late in the round when our caddies started arguing about the 16th and 17th holes. One preferred 16. The other basically thought it was a “meh” golf hole. These guys walk Ballybunion all the time and even they disagree about which holes are great. That type of discussion is part of what makes golf courses interesting in the first place.
For my first caddie experience, there probably wasn’t a much better place to have one.
That First Tee Shot
The first tee is always a battleground for mental warfare with yourself. Now make it the first tee of your first Top 100 golf course.
Ballybunion adds another little feature to the equation: there is a graveyard running along the right side of the first hole, and it is 100% in play. No pressure.
I had built this trip up in my head for months, and suddenly all of that anticipation came down to one golf shot. You want to tell yourself it’s just another tee shot.It’s really not. At least it wasn’t for me.
This was my first time playing a golf course like this. Eventually, you just have to pull the trigger.
Fairway hit.
A little thin on the face, which was probably to be expected considering I couldn’t really feel my hands. But we were off and running.
The Old Course at Ballybunion
Before Ballybunion, my only other experience playing a true links-style course was The Golf House Club, Elie in Fife, Scotland. I thought I knew what links golf was. Firm. Fast. Heather. Wind. Dunes.
Ballybunion was very different from what I expected in Elie.
During Tourist Sauce, the No Laying Up crew described Ballybunion as a “big ballpark.”
Yeah. They were right. Everything feels larger. When I stepped onto the first hole and looked across the property, one of my first thoughts was:
“Where are the holes?”
All you can really see are the tops of massive, heather-covered dunes, with the occasional glimpse of a tee box, flag or green tucked somewhere between them.
The best word I can use to describe Ballybunion is grand.
The dunes are grand.
The views are grand.
The wind can certainly be grand.
And the golf holes feel like they were carved through all of it.
That really started to hit me on the second hole. You tee off into a fairway that gradually rises before reaching a second shot played between two large dunes to an elevated green.
From the fairway, all you can see is the top of the flagstick. It feels like you are hitting through a hallway onto a table.
That was one of the first moments where I thought, Okay. This is different.
The Walk Is Part of Ballybunion
Before getting into my favorite holes, I have to talk about the walk. Specifically, the walks from tees to the fairway or from green to a tee box, and the natural grass pathways weaving their way between the tan heather dunes.
Instead of feeling like you’re walking through one giant golf property, the dunes separate everything. You walk down a grass path, disappear between two dunes and suddenly another golf hole reveals itself.
It makes you feel like you and your group are in your own little world.Then you climb another dune and the Atlantic appears. Then it disappears again. The walk becomes part of how Ballybunion reveals itself to you, and I think that’s one of the things I’ll remember most about playing there.
The Holes I’ll Remember
I don’t want this to turn into a hole-by-hole review of Ballybunion. That’s really not what this article is about. But there are a handful of holes that I know will stick with me when I think back on playing my first Top 100 golf course.
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Hole 7 — Castle Green
After playing the first five holes, you finally get your first real view of the North Atlantic as you approach the sixth green.
You can feel the breeze.
You can hear the waves.
Then you walk off the back of six, make the turn and arrive at Castle Green.
The fairway sits along the cliff above the beach with what feels like miles of room to the left. You absolutely do not have to flirt with the cliff. But, like every great golf hole, there is a tradeoff.
The closer you stay to the right, the better your angle becomes into the green. Bail too far left and you stay safe, but you make the next shot harder. It’s the type of risk-and-reward decision that Ballybunion gives you without needing a lake, forced carry or a bunch of bunkers to manufacture it.
Hole 8 — Lartigue
I love short par 3s that demand your attention. Lartigue does exactly that.
The hole turns away from the North Atlantic and heads back inland, and on my day that meant playing a roughly 135-yard shot with the wind behind me.
The green is tiny, and anything working toward the right side can fall away quickly. The play was to favor the left and let the ball work back toward the green.
I hit mine long. Not ideal. But I managed to get up and down for par, so I’m going to remember it fondly anyway.
Hole 11 — Watsons
This was my favorite hole at Ballybunion.
It is the type of par 4 that fights back against the modern idea of just pounding driver as far as you can.
From the tee, you can see the fairway and green together, with the green sitting between two dunes and the beach and cliffs running along the right side.
Just like the seventh, you can bail way left if you want. What you can’t really appreciate from the tee is everything happening between you and the green.
There is a valley in the fairway that can catch longer tee shots. Depending on where the ball finishes, you can be left on one of the lower shelves or fall farther into the valley, where the slope and dunes can completely block your view of the green.
You can stand on the tee and see exactly where you are trying to go while still having no idea what kind of second shot you’re about to leave yourself.
It’s fantastic.
Hole 12 — Citadel
After finishing my favorite hole on the course, you immediately get Citadel, a long uphill par 3.
This hole makes my list for one very selfish reason.
Long par 3s are my kryptonite.
I hit an amazing 5-hybrid that fought through the wind and found the green. Sometimes your favorite golf holes are the ones where you happen to hit a great golf shot. I’m perfectly fine admitting that.
Hole 16 — Windy Gap
This was the hole our caddies were arguing about.
One loved it. The other thought it was kind of “meh.” I was firmly on Team 16.
You hit the tee shot over a dune into a fairway that bends left before playing a long uphill approach through another one of Ballybunion’s dune hallways.
The opening between the dunes creates the “Windy Gap,” allowing some of the wind coming off the water to funnel through toward the approach.
And the fact that two people who walk the course constantly could argue about whether it was great made me like it even more.
Hole 17 — Devils Elbow
This is probably one of the most recognizable spots on the Old Course.
The 17th tee is one of those places where you stop for a second.
You can look back across the property and see so much of the course you just played. In front of you is the North Atlantic and a dogleg-left fairway bending toward the finish.
The green is also guarded by this grass-covered knoll, a feature that feels unique compared with almost everything else you have seen during the round.
Once you’re down in the fairway, you sit below the seawall and suddenly feel protected from the wind.But don’t forget. It’s still up there.
Hole 18 — Sahara
I don’t see the 18th talked about nearly as much as some of Ballybunion’s other famous holes.
I don’t even have a good picture of it. But that finishing hole is completely embedded in my memory.
Standing on the tee and looking toward the clubhouse sitting high above you on the dune, the building almost looks like a ship cresting over a wave. After spending the entire day disappearing in and out of the dunes, suddenly the clubhouse is sitting there waiting for you.
It’s such a cool way to finish the round. It probably helps that I also hit the fairway, found the green in regulation and finished my first Top 100 golf course with a nice tap-in par.
I’ll take that memory.
When I Forgot About the Ranking
It took longer than I wanted, but somewhere around the 10th hole I finally settled into the round. And it was probably perfect timing.
In my opinion, the back nine is where Ballybunion really starts showing its brilliance. For most of the front nine, I was still very aware of where I was.
This is Ballybunion.
This is my first Top 100 course.
Don’t screw this up.
Eventually that started to disappear.
The nerves settled down. My anxiety got under control. The ranking stopped mattering as much. I was just playing golf.
And that allowed me to enjoy the closing stretch of the round much more than I probably
would have if I spent all 18 holes thinking about how important the place was supposed to be.
Maybe that’s one of the strange things about finally playing a golf course you’ve built up in your head.
At some point, it has to stop being a bucket-list course. It has to become the golf course you’re standing on.
Walking Off 18
Walking off 18 felt like I had conquered a beast. I talked earlier about Ballybunion feeling grand.
Well, it was also a grand walk. My WHOOP strain score would confirm that.
The constant climbs up, over and through the dunes definitely put some wear and tear on the body by the time we reached the clubhouse.
But once I got back up there and walked into the pro shop, I had a chance to think about what I had just done. I had finished my first Top 100 golf course. And I felt proud of myself.
Part of that was getting through the anxiety I had carried for a good portion of the round. But it was bigger than golf too. I felt fortunate to be at a point in my life where I could travel to Ireland and have an experience like this at all.
It made me appreciate my wife for pushing me to travel, see new places and do things that might be a little outside of my comfort zone. And, as cheesy as it may sound, it made me appreciate life a little more.
All because of a round of golf.
So, Did Ballybunion Feel Like a Top 100 Golf Course?
Absolutely. It was the best golf course I have ever played.
But what made Ballybunion feel like a Top 100 experience wasn’t just the golf architecture.
It started when I drove through the entrance.
It was the walk into the clubhouse and seeing the Atlantic through the windows. It was signing the tee book. It was the starter making me feel welcome. It was experiencing a caddie for the first time. It was standing over that first tee shot with my hands basically numb from nerves.
Then there was the course itself.
The dunes.
The walks between holes.
The moments when the ocean suddenly appeared.
Hole 11 - Watsons.
Hole 17 - Devils Elbow.
That view up toward the clubhouse on 18.
Ballybunion. It’s grand.
That applies to the Old Course, but it also applies to the way the club treats you and the experience they want you to have while you’re there.
Before the trip, I thought playing my first Top 100 golf course would mostly be about finally getting to play a really great golf course.
Walking off 18, I realized the golf course was only part of what made the day memorable.
And I think that’s what I was hoping to find in the first place.
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