Lahinch has two 18 hole golf courses, and the Old Course is world famous. It was founded on Good Friday , the 15th of April 1892 by Sir Aleaxander Shaw and other members of Limerick G.C. and laid out by some officers of the Black Watch Regiment who were stationed in Limerick at that time. My grandfather Daniel Thynne signed over the lease of his land, known as the Corcass, which is now the Castle Course, for £5 a year and Major Parkinson, the local landlord, allowed them the same on the sandhills side. Daniel Thynne had dinner with them at Sharry's Hotel that day, and rumour has it that he was not going to have a day's luck from that day on because he ate meat on Good Friday.
In 1894, they invited the famous Scottish golfer Old Tom Morris to have a look at the course and he said they should concentrate on the sandhills side of the road, which he said was the finest natural course he had seen. .Lahinch is sometimed referred to as the St Andrews of Ireland, but it is much more egalitarian. The locals really do play and everybody talks golf, especially during The South of Ireland Championship in July.. The Old Course was extensively redesigned recently, moving holes, adding a new 11th hole, getting rid the short 3rd which had been designed by John Burke, widening fairways and making the greens more contoured and challenging.. The aim was to restore some of the McKenzie features that had been lost throughout the years.. You can read more about the redesign here. at their new and amazing web site. Lahinch Golf Club

Of the holes that Tom Morris laid out, the 6th, also known as the Dell, is the only one left, though it is now the 5th.. It is also the quirkiest, a par three with a completely blind approach. You aim for the white boulder on the hill, which gives you a line on the hole. This is a great place to sit and watch The South, as long as you keep an eye peeled for balls. Lahinch was redesigned 1926-1928 by Sir Alistair McKenzie, who also designed Cypress Point and Augusta National. The new course was developed at a cost of $2,000, less than it costs to join the club now. As Tip O' Neill remarked on a visit to Lahinch, "this is no course for old men". He was misquoting Yeats I think. "This is no country for old men". They let Tip use a golf cart too, a rare event at Lahinch. The caddies have to make a living you know, and a good one at that. I remember the great John Burke being allowed to drive his car on to the course to follow The South of Ireland Championship, at the end of his life, when he couldn't walk the course. I wouldn't advise you to try it though.The newer Castle Course started as 9 holes in 1963 and has been an 18 hole course since 1991.
One of the most quoted stories about Lahinch is that of the goats. My uncle, Brud Slattery, was a local schoolteacher and Secretary (1954-1984), Captain and President of Lahinch at various times. He got tired of fixing the barometer at the Clubhouse and one day he taped a note to it saying "See goats!". The theory being that if the weather was going to turn bad the goats would be hanging around the Clubhouse and if it was good they would be out the course.The Club's emblem now consists of a thistle in honour of The Black Watch Regiment and a goat in honour of their services to weather forecasting. I saw a book of great golf quotes recently and knew that there would be at least one from Mick O'Loughlin, a famous Lahinch golfer and character. There was a quote from Mick but they had cleaned it up a bit. During a particularly important game Mick was heard to say "I was so tense I could hear the bees fart." The book has him saying he could hear the bees burp. Maybe they liked the alliteration. John Redmond tells another Mick O'Loughlin story in The Book of Irish Golf. "I make no apologies for the re-telling of my favourite story about Irish golf. It recalls a fine summer's day at the holiday resort of Lahinch, that famous village in County Clare, often referred to as the St. Andrews of Irish Golf. A couple of American visitors were enquiring about the chance of a game with some of the local members. 'Certainly', assured the club secretary, Brud Slattery. 'I'll play with you and I'll send one of the caddies up to the village to fetch the butcher". In due course, another renowned Lahinch character, Mick O'Loughlin, arrived and after he had nonchalantly wiped clean his blood-stained hands on his apron and teed off, one of the bemused visitors turned to Slattery and whispered: 'Say, if the local butcher is so readily available to play golf, he sure can't make much money.' To which 'Brud' replied: 'No, but he sure makes a lot of friends.'" Below are some sources that will tell you more about the course at Lahinch.