A new green complex has been built for the par-three seventh hole at Tralee, which now plays closer to the water Photo: Ian Cronin 63 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.” Holes eleven to seventeen have a different character, a rollercoaster ride among some of the most extreme
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