Any discussion about the portfolio highlights of Arnold Palmer’s design firm will quickly turn to Tralee.
Set on the shores of Barrow Harbour in southwest Ireland, the course opened in 1984 and represented the club’s fourth move since establishing its first nine holes almost a century earlier, in 1896.
Palmer and his designer Ed Seay first set foot on the land in 1981 – shortly after the club purchased it from two members who had initially intended to develop it themselves. Evidently enthralled by the site, Palmer was willing to charge a fraction of his usual fee so his services would be affordable for a club that was then a far humbler operation than it is now.
The landscape at Tralee is subtle and spectacular in equal measure. Under Palmer’s direction, Seay developed a routing that sees the first ten holes and the eighteenth occupy the relatively gentle terrain, stretching from the clubhouse towards low cliffs and a tidal inlet, across which lie Fenit Island and the remains of its castle. These holes are completely exposed to the elements, particularly along the coastline. Golf course architect Harrison Minchew, who worked for Palmer for 25 years, recalls a visit to Tralee in 1983: “I hired a car for the trip and was driving down towards the third green, which we were going to rebuild. The wind was howling, the waves were crashing over the land – and the car was literally rattling.”
Tralee’s famous par-three third hole (Photo: Ian Cronin)
Holes eleven to seventeen have a different character, a rollercoaster ride among some of the most extreme dunes in golf. The long par-five eleventh, ‘Palmer’s Peak’, climbs to the highest point of the course and some of the most impressive views over a distinctive curved spit of dunes to the Atlantic Ocean beyond. The twelfth then tumbles back down the dunes, and is followed by a sensory overload of par threes and relatively short par fours that largely play on top of, rather than within, the high dunes, before the course turns back inland for the closing par five towards the clubhouse.
Such was the contrast that Palmer is famously quoted as saying, “I may have designed the first nine, but surely God designed the back nine”.
The par-three sixteenth hole, which plays among the enormous dunes on the north of the site (Photo: Ian Cronin)
There have been alterations to the course since Palmer and Seay’s original layout was completed. For example, a project overseen by Tom Mackenzie – while he was working for Donald Steel – shortly after the turn of the millennium included reworking of greens to open up more pin locations. Later work completed by Palmer associate Brandon Johnson included a redesign of the par-five ninth.
After Palmer’s death in 2016, there would eventually be, as course manager Colm Lawlor describes, “an accumulation of things to change”. The club set out to identify a new golf course architect who had considerable links experience and would be sympathetic to Palmer’s design. Enter Graeme Webster, a Scotsman who had become somewhat accustomed to life in southwest Ireland thanks to his work then – and since – at Ballybunion. He would become part of a project team that included Atlantic Golf Construction, which had already completed a driving range and six hole short course for Tralee, and golf consultancy Turfgrass.
The club was keen to ensure future work was approached in a coordinated and consistent way, as general manager Maurice O’Meara explains: “We were ready to make the appropriate investment to create and execute a proper, coherent masterplan, to be developed from a brief that summarised the wishes of the members.”
Those wishes included some requests relating to specific holes or features of the course, such as addressing the drainage performance of several greens, but overall the club sought to achieve consistency in presentation and to ‘harmonise’ the nines.
The renovated fifteenth hole at Tralee, a short par-four (Photo: Ian Cronin)
“The back nine occupies such dramatic land that it would never be conceivable to replicate that on the front,” says Webster. Instead, his plan was to give the course a greater impression of continuity and to further instil links characteristics on the front nine. This would include introducing new dunescapes, a preference for individual teeing areas that would sit more lightly on the land, a completely new bunker scheme consisting entirely of revetted hazards, and grass pathways that wind through the dunes.
One of the first tasks, however, was to relocate the club’s statue of Arnold Palmer, who now welcomes golfers to the course as they approach the first tee. As Webster set out to work each day he would pass the statue and say ‘Good morning, Mr Palmer, I hope you approve of what we’re doing’.
The club’s statue of Arnold Palmer welcomes golfers to the course as they approach the first tee (Photo: Ian Cronin)
The statue relocation was part of the very first phase of work in 2019 on the opening hole, which now sees golfers walk from the putting green along a pathway into the dunes and emerge at the new teeing areas to a fabulous broad vista of the course, before playing to a fairway that heads directly towards the coastline. It’s a grand entrance and sets the tone for a round that delivers one thrill after another.
Over the years since that initial work on the first, every hole on the course has seen significant changes, and some are quite substantially transformed. Of particular note are the second and third and the stretch from seven to eleven.
The tees and fairway of the par-five second are now closer to the cliff edge, while new dunes line the entire left hand side of the hole and wrap behind the green. From there golfers take one of the new grass pathways to the iconic par-three third, where a twelfth century medieval tower provides the ideal line of attack to a green that appears to sit on the sea defences. The back tee has always provided a dramatic and complete view of the hole. Moving all the other teeing areas to the shoreline and reshaping the area immediately in front of the tees has made the visual impact equally strong from every teeing location.
At the next par-three, the seventh (see main image), Webster has moved the green closer to the water, with three pot bunkers cut into the rumpled surrounds. A new pathway runs along the cliff edge; players rejoin it after putting out, as it curves around new dunes behind the green to reveal the majestic eighth.
Where there was previously one large teeing area on the eighth that somewhat imposed itself on the land, there are now – as is the case on most holes – four separate smaller teeing areas among the dunes. This par four, where golfers take on as much of the angled fairway as they dare, was already one of the most memorable on the course and with a new green and surrounds – again pushed closer to the water – it is even more impressive than before.
Two fairway pot bunkers provide a line for drives on the par-four eighth (Photo: Ian Cronin)
The new green complex at the eighth, now closer to the coastline (Photo: Ian Cronin)
The par-five ninth has been almost entirely rebuilt and the fairway now double doglegs its way to a new green that is reachable with two good hits but will repel as many balls into the surrounds as it retains. New dunes behind the green complex provide something of an amphitheatre while also obscuring the view of the car park.
Golfers pass the clubhouse on their way to the tenth, which runs parallel to the first and eighteenth, those three holes now separated by more pronounced dune formations that provide an appropriately scaled taste of what’s to come as the golfer makes their way to the holes Palmer credited to God.
The eleventh tees have been relocated into a valley and will offer a moment of respite when the wind is up. The fairway has been completely reshaped and now offers a steadier climb and more options for players of all abilities to find a location from which to attack the skyline green.
The tees for the par-five eleventh have been relocated into a valley, and the hole has been reshaped to enhance playability (Photo: Ian Cronin)
Each of the remaining holes has been tweaked too, with new teeing areas, bunkering and reshaping work all contributing to an overall greater sense of consistency and playability throughout the course, while allowing what nature provided to do most of the talking. What was already an enormously enjoyable golf course is now even more striking and strategic, while also presenting a more seamless journey, punctuated by a series of amazing reveals, across the varied landscape.
Webster attributes the project’s success to the combined efforts of everyone involved. “Atlantic Golf Construction has delivered outstanding work throughout all eight phases of the masterplan, while Colm and Ger [O’Gorman] have led the greenkeeping team and represented the club during construction works and helped to ensure a seamless transition to grow-in,” he says. “I am very grateful for the support and encouragement I have received from everyone at the club. I was also fortunate that the course committee I met on day one has, almost to a person, remained in place for the entire time.”
Those who know the architect will be aware of his great admiration and respect for traditional links golf, as well as a meticulous and detail oriented approach to his work. There is little doubt he will have thoughtfully considered the relative merits of every suggestion he received – and there will have been many!
The seventeenth green (foreground), then the first, second and third beyond. The latest work at Tralee has included the accentuation of links characteristics on the front nine (Photo: Ian Cronin)
In the time Tralee has been working on the renovation, the economics of demand-pull inflation have led to a consistent increase in green fee revenue. As a result, the club’s members are able to enjoy an ever improving product for an incredibly reasonable annual membership cost. Some balancing acts remain – members will not want too much of the tee sheet to be given up to visitors, and there may be a point at which the club has significantly less need to invest in its facilities. Does it then reduce the amount of guest play, thereby limiting the opportunity for visitors to experience the course? This is the golf equivalent of a first-world problem – an issue many clubs would long for.
One thing is for sure: the custodians of Tralee have invested wisely in their most precious asset. Rubbing shoulders with Lahinch, Ballybunion and Waterville, Tralee was already a fixture for those seeking out the best golf in the region. Thanks to the work of the club’s project team, long will that remain.
It is apt that shortly after completion of its masterplan, Tralee hosted the Arnold Palmer Cup, the annual match between US and International teams of college golfers. The result of the contest might not be what Palmer would have wanted, but surely he would approve of how his design has evolved.
‘Simple, uncomplicated, but effective’
Julian Mooney of consultancy firm Turfgrass provides detail on agronomic and construction considerations at Tralee
Looking down the tenth hole and out towards the Atlantic Ocean (Photo: Ian Cronin)
One of the key priorities at Tralee was to maximise physical performance in areas where natural sand veins were limited. To achieve this, we used an extended-depth rootzone profile construction. The aim was to improve the physical properties of the growing medium, particularly drainage, firmness and consistency. This approach also supports the promotion of the preferred grass species across the site.
There is a clear ambition from Colm Lawlor and club stakeholders to promote fine fescue throughout the course. Many links courses are managed with a mixture of bent and fescue, or in some cases mainly browntop bent. At Tralee, the mindset is more focused on embracing fine fescue and creating the conditions for it to perform strongly over time.
During the renovation phases, existing turf was carefully conditioned and prepared so that it could be lifted from the original greens and re-laid onto the new greens. Where there was any shortfall, additional turf was developed on site using native material. This helped maintain consistency and continuity across the putting surfaces.
Dwarf perennial ryegrass has been overseeded into existing grass pathways that were not renovated. Where teeing grounds and pathways were renovated, these areas were sodded using a dwarf ryegrass and fescue blend to provide improved wear and traffic tolerance in these high-use areas.
A significant amount of soil engineering has also gone into the development of the pathways. Pathways around three to five metres wide have been implemented across the golf course. These areas are irrigated, which helps control growth and manage traffic. In many cases, the sand depth in these areas is in excess of half a metre, and the pathways have also been extensively drained where there are no natural sand veins beneath them.
Outside the primary playing corridors, the architect embraced more aggressive shaping, taking inspiration from the natural dune structures, particularly on the back nine. These areas have been supported and enhanced through the planting of marram grasses among fine fescue. The marram grasses are helping to provide greater definition around tee complexes, walkways and other areas throughout the course.
Tralee Golf Club has embraced what we would describe as a simple, uncomplicated, but effective links agronomy programme. Over time, that approach is paying dividends. It is helping the club meet the increasing demand from both members and visiting golfers, while preserving and enhancing the unique character of this exceptional links.
This article first appeared in the October 2026 issue of Golf Course Architecture. For a printed subscription or free digital edition, please visit our subscriptions page.