Cashen Course at Ballybunion Golf Club

Everyone knows about The Old Course at Ballybunion and the great improvements which have been accomplished over the past 2-3 years, but next door neighbor The Cashen is equally splendid. Robert Trent Jones, Sr. really showed his finest design abilities on this challenging course. Every hole is special. We've been coming to Ballybunion since the late 90's almost annually and have been impressed with the condition and fun you can have with both courses. This May/June we had perfect weather for all 8 days.

First twosome out in the morning with a forecast for rain and wind. Steady 40 mph onshore wind and occasional showers with one drenching squall on the 10th hole. Stainless steel Trolly (pull cart) with clubs on it blew over 12 different times!
Great holes along the ocean and dunes. Walking was strenuous due to the hills and wind. If you cannot get on the Old Course, try the new Cashen - will not be disappointed!

Along the north west coast of Ireland you will find two of the best traditional links style golf courses. Overshadowed by the Old Course, the Cashen is a world class test of golf. Visitors can expect an eventful round, with testing crosswinds, formidable bunkers & hollows, thick grassy dunes, rolling greens & stunning views of the Atlantic. If you can appreciate the game of yesteryear then the Cashen Course is a place you will embrace with passion.

All of our party agreed this course was better than The Old. But it seems there is little attention paid to this course. The greens were probably 7 on the stimpmeter.
This is as hard as golf gets. Some truly breathtaking holes but if the greens are poor.....
I always carry my clubs but on this course a buggy is almost an essential.
Get the feeling they are happy to let club owning non players loose on The Cashen which is a great pity.
would like to play the Cashen again but not in this condition. To put this in context we paid just shy of 1000 Euros to play 2 courses with Scratchy tees (OLD and Cashen) lovely greens (Old not Cashen ))and lots of bare areas with hundreds of divots (Old). The Old's ranking is laughable.

This is a great course to play, especially if you cant get out on the Old Course. It does not have the history of the old course, but the setting is great and the course is in great condition.