Almost all of the famous Irish courses from the late 19th and early 20th centuries were designed by visiting English or Scottish designers. The reasons for this are varied, with by far the most important being the considerable expertise on the part of British designers such as Old Tom Morris, Alister MacKenzie, and H.S. Colt.

During the period between 1885 and 1900 over 100 golf courses were built in Ireland. They were not, however, built for the common Irish people. In fact, Irish courses were played by the privileged, usually "wealthy Protestant merchants, aristocrats and Scottish officers sent to Ireland to enforce British rule."

Eddie Hackett

To the right is a photo of the celebrated Eddie Hackett, the famous Irish golf course architect. He was born in a Dublin pub in 1910 and died recently in the late 1990's. The sum total of his work is amazing. During his career Hackett designed or remodeled all or part of 85 courses. All were in Ireland.

He began his early career in golf working as a golf clubmaker, rising to the level of head professional at the Portmarnock Club in Dublin when he was 29 years old. His first opportunities to design golf courses began later in his life starting in the 1960's, at the time of growing economic development within Ireland. The significance of Eddie Hackett to Irish golf cannot be understated, here was a native Irishman creating courses for Irish people and visitors in Ireland.

Eddie Hackett was a deeply religious Catholic. The act of creating a golf course was for him a spiritual task. His design philosophy was minimalist. What this means is that he felt that his job as an architect was to find the best natural routing for a golf course over the parcel of land he had available, with very limited moving of earth or other disturbance of the natural surroundings. As Hackett put it: "Mother nature is the best architect. I just try to work with what the Good Lord provides."

Perhaps Hackett's most famous course in Ireland is Waterville in southwestern County Kerry.

The two photos, to the left and below, are of Hackett's Enniscrone, located on the west coast in County Sligo. Notice the entirely natural flow of the golf holes, and the locations of the putting greens within the dune swales.

9th Hole, Enniscrone