Major €1.5m overhaul approved for Ballybunion Old's greens

Major €1.5m overhaul approved for Ballybunion Old's greens
A view of the marram grasses on the first at Old Course, Ballybunion

A view of the marram grasses on the first at Old Course, Ballybunion

Ballybunion's members have overwhelmingly voted to re-lay all 18 greens on the Old Course in a move designed to put the course back on the map and restore it to the world's Top 10.

According to our friends in the Kingdom, a "very well attended EGM" was fully supportive of the move, which will add to recent planting work carried out by superintendent John Banbury, formerly of Trump Aberdeen, to increase the proliferation of fescue grasses at the great links.

A view of the first from the graveyard. Pictures via Twitter.com/BallybunionGN

The greens will be mapped using new technology and resodded with grass grown in local nurseries using what was described as "an innovative slab process."

There would be minimal disruption over the winter and the course would be in play spring 2016 with the entire project costing around €1.5 million.

As for the planting of fescues that has already taken place, the results promise to be spectacular.