Clubhouse
The first layout of Lahinch Golf Links in 1892, was redesigned by Old Tom Morris of St. Andrews in 1894. A remaining example of his work is the present 5th hole "The Dell". In 1907 George Gibson the Westward Ho Professional was invited to modernise the links to cope with the newly developed rubber cored golf ball. He brought all but five of the holes to the seaward side of the road, which was the favoured choice of the committee at the time. 1927 saw the arrival in Lahinch of Dr. Alister MacKenzie. Dr MacKenzie was a qualified doctor who gave up medicine in favour of golf course architecture; happily for Lahinch and its now famous MacKenzie course. After Lahinch, he was to go on to design Augusta National, Pebble Beach, and Cypress Point among others in the United States and Royal Melbourne in Australia. Lahinch Golf Club is proud that the qualities he perfected at Lahinch were to earn him such a high reputation in his later years.

MacKenzie was a purist in golf course design. He would use all the natural benefits of the site he was working on. He strongly believed in keeping a natural appearance to a golf course, creating and shaping holes through the sand dunes and creating greens with subtle contours and movement rolling with the natural fall of the land.

Liscannor Point
Lahinch Golf Club added another 18 hole links in 1975 - the Castle Course designed by Commander John D. Harris. This course was built on the land identified first by Gibson in 1907 on his visit to modernise the original links.
The Old Course at Lahinch has been the home of the oldest Provincial Championship in Ireland - the South of Ireland Amateur Open Championship, since its inception in 1895. Previous winners and finalists of the "South" have gone on to great heights in the professional ranks. Names like John O'Leary, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley spring to mind.

Picture Of Liscannor Bridge
Lahinch Golf Club and the village of Lahinch are steeped in golf and its traditions. There is always a welcoming face and pleasant smile to greet the visitor. In the Club nothing is too much trouble and the members and staff delight in the visitors who come to play and enjoy the marvellous links. In 1999 the Club embarked on a very big challenge of Course Development to modernise the Old Course, first of all, with the Castle Course to follow. This process was started in order to put back the MacKenzie characteristics on the links that had been lost by alterations carried out in the 1930s. The Club undertook a screening of many world renowned Course Architects and finally decided on Mr. Martin Hawtree, whose father and grandfather before him were also eminent golf course architects. Martin Hawtree was selected after officials from Lahinch Golf Club travelled to Royal Birkdale, venue for the 1998 British Open Championship, to see Hawtree's work on this course. Mr. Hawtree is a keen student of the MacKenzie traditions and endeared himself to all Club members in responding to a question at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the members to approve his plans for the Old Course. When asked what the Club would have after his endeavours, he replied "a restored MacKenzie course". Hawtree came to Lahinch in early 1999 and commenced his planning of proposed work on the Old Course. His plans fell into five phases, which were expected to take five years to complete. The Club took the ambitious step and decided to try to complete the task in four years. Construction of Phases 1 and 2 started in October 1999 and were completed by mid March 2000. Phase 3 was begun in October 2000 and completed in March 2001. Phase 4, which was the most intensive part of the Plan, began in October 2001 and was successfully completed in March 2002. The work to date has seen 13 of the 18 holes altered. The remaining phase, Phase 5 has seen the 2nd, 4th and 6th holes being undertaken, with minor alterations to holes 5 and 18, and was completed in March 2003.

View Of The New 7th Green Looking Back The Fairway
The Club is proud of the improvements which Mr. Hawtree has completed. Lahinch Golf Club wishes all our members and visitors many happy hours playing the restored MacKenzie course at Lahinch