As always, huge thank you to Golf Course Trades for making my Ballyhack article shine. What a course! (And that’s by my standards!) There are elements of National Golf Links of America, St. Andrews (Old Course), and many other epic American and UK links. Click here for the piece. From the article:
While fairways are wide off the tee, greens are treacherously guarded and fiendishly contoured. Better still (for links authenticity) the treeless landscape is ruthlessly swept by the fickle winds.
“Ballyhack is as difficult as it looks if not more for the average golfer. The secret to playing it well is to learn where you can and can’t miss and keep it below the holes,” Ball confided. “The greens have sections and quadrants, and each hole can play as much as a half a shot harder depending on hole locations. And even though it’s wide open, the severity of the wind can also dramatically affect scores.”
Getting off to as good a start as possible is also key, but easier said than done. In truth, Ballyhack’s first four holes rank among the hardest opening stretches in American golf. Triples are in play, from the false front at the par-4 first which can send balls scurrying sixty yards back down the fairway to the pot bunkers in the middle of the long par-5 second fairway, to the flummoxing Hog’s Back dividing the par4 fourth fairway that can send balls caroming into a watery grave in Saul Run.
