Lahinch Golf Club located on the western coast of Ireland is one of the finest links golf courses in all the world. It’s a golf club with a rich history dating back to 1892 with some of the legends in golf course design touching and sculpting the land. In 1894, Old Tom Morris was brought in to make full use of the land including routing the course up and over the giant sand dunes. Old Tom Morris said that the land was among the finest he had ever seen for a links course with two of his original holes remaining a part of the design even today.
The course was later re-developed by Dr. Alister MacKenzie himself in 1927. The re-design took a year and when MacKenzie was done he said “Lahinch will make the finest course that I or anyone else has ever constructed.” The course was updated in 1999 as part of a modernization process keeping up with technology in the game but also restoring the integrity of the MacKenzie design.
So, now knowing the specialness of the grounds of Lahinch Golf Club did you also know that goats have roamed the property for over 120 years? Well, they have ,and do roam the property to this day. Indeed, the play a role in the rich history of the club. As the story goes the original goats were owned by an old Lahinch caddie by the name of Tommy Walsh. Tommy lived close to the 3rd tee and would let the goats wander and graze on the course. Even after Tommy passed away, the goats remained.
Over the years, it was noticed that when the goats seemed to stay close to the clubhouse, the weather would be rainy that day. Alternatively, if the goats would make their way to the outer regions of the course, the players were surely in for a fine day of weather.
The goats certainly gained a fine reputation over the years. So much so, that back in the 1960’s, Club Manager Slattery hand wrote a note of the broken club barometer “See Goats.” Later the club adopted the goats as the official mascot of the course and took their emblem as their logo. Today, a beautiful bronze statue of the Rampant Goat stands majestically to meet all who step onto the grounds.
Lahinch Golf Club is one of the world’s finest links golf clubs. It beauty and history is only eclipsed by the charm and kindness of the Irish people. The goats are predicting the weather and letting the players know what to expect even today. As a local club member is quoted “Well when you come in here, and you’re ready to hit off from the first tee, it’s not the barometer you’re looking at, tis the goats.”
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