Tralee Golf Club at Barrow, IRELAND

Another tough day at the office!

The design of Tralee Golf Club polarizes golfers more so than any course with which the authors are familiar. Some people absolutely swear by it as among the finest anywhere while others say the two nines are too disparate and the course has too many all-or-nothing shots to be considered as a great course.

How can both views exist among reasonable men?

As for the first point of view, those who endlessly sing Tralee's praises, a large part of their reasoning lies in the course's setting. Its appeal is impossible to overstate but Peter Dobereiner did well when he wrote, 'Robert Louis Stevenson was wrong, and by a long chalk, when he described the Monterey Peninsula of California as the finest conjunction of land and sea that this earth has to offer. As a spectacle Tralee is in a different class.' In recent times, Old Head of Kinsale has received a lot of attention for its setting but it too falls visually short of the diverse glories on offer at Tralee.

The beach that Ryan's Daughter was filmed is in the distance.

Pictures will never capture the sight that awaits you upon first seeing the course and no man could be faulted for falling under its charms. However, the important thing is this is a golf course, so how about the specific holes themselves? Are there compelling shots and does the course strategy draw you back again and again?

In analyzing the course, the Club's instructions to architect Ed Seay should be considered: build us as many spectacular holes as possible. On more than one occasion, Seay had to be talked into some of the final green placements. He advised them that the 3^rd green out on a promontory would need to be replaced virtually every year. He thought the 12^th green located directly above an 80 foot chasm on a 440 yard par four was excessive. He worried that the back markers on the 16^th tee would require a driver on some days, and even then the ball would still end up in another deep chasm.

And yet… the Club told him to press ahead with all of them. The biggest reason? They, like most in Ireland and the United Kingdom, much prefer match to stroke play. As Archie Baird, the curator of the golf museum in Gullane, Scotland recently remarked, 'Americans are killing the game. Look at them after a match. You have four unhappy men bent over their scorecards frowning. With match play, at least two men are always smiling!'

This same belief helps explain why the members of Tralee swear by their golf course. Who can blame them? The course offers many incomparably thrilling moments; only a scorecard and pencil mentality could ruin the day's fun.

The front nine is open and is set across a broad field that sweeps down to the ocean's edge. Three compelling holes along the cliffs (the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 8^th) are the obvious highlights. Though not nearly as dramatic as these holes, the two shot holes from the 4^th through the 6^th are fine and solid holes in their own right. When combined with the short 7^th, the golfer appreciates that Seay's clever routing has these four holes pointing in opposite directions and that he made the best use of the only prosaic part of the property.

The approach to the 5th sets up just fine.

The back nine is set among dramatic dunes and unique holes are the result. The three shot 11^th twists its way up a massive hill and is a heartbreaking hole to some. At least to the authors, its originality is captivating. Seay also did a fine job building several deep bunkers into some of the slopes such as front right on the 10^th green or to the left of the 14^th green. The sloping terrain helps gather the ball into these pits but the resulting recovery shots adds genuine short game interest to the course.

Tralee is not without its weaknesses. The uphill home holes on each nine are just means to climb back towards the clubhouse. However, as for the argument that the nines are too disparate, the authors would disagree. Unlike a Spyglass for example, the sweeping views are equally dramatic on either nine at Tralee, and this continuity of grandness seems to help tie the nines together.

 
The dogleg 2nd hugs the cliffs out to the very end.

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