Irish Open’s latest setting is one of golf’s little jewels

More than a quarter-century has passed since my father and I, on a family holiday in the remote northwest of Ireland, passed through one more delightful fishing village and ended up, entirely unplanned, at the front entrance of a littleknown golf club. It was run-down looking, to say the least. ‘If you want to play, just put some money in that honesty box over there,’ said a kindly voice. And so, on returning the next day, we did.

As every travelling golfer knows, it’s one of the great pleasures of playing along the coast of the British Isles that you stumble on courses that don’t score highly in the ratings charts but clearly should. This course we played might not have been in the greatest condition but it was magnificent in every other regard.

A couple of years later, I wrote about it for the Financial Times, and was pleased to get a letter from the club by return saying the article had played a small part in their monetary drive to restore lustre to the links.

This week, I’m looking forward to going back for the first time. I suspect the honesty box is no longer there and quite a few other things have changed besides. There’s a splendidlooking clubhouse, for a start, and another majestic 18 holes. The course was Ballyliffin, and this week it will welcome rory McIlroy as host for what is sure to be another fabulous Irish open. Clearly, the club’s financial drive went well.

There could be no better event, of course, to show off the new Ballyliffin. Like the venue, the Irish open was run-down and stumbling in the backwaters until rory took a considerable interest.

In 2011, the first prize was a little over £200,000. This week, with a committed sponsor in Dubai Duty free and part of the rolex Series of prestigious events, the winner will receive almost £1million.

The Irish open’s progress has been helped by moving to links courses, showing off not only those that are world-famous but others that are equally enjoyable to play. royal Portrush, royal County Down and Portstewart have already been visited, while next year it will be staged at another gem, Lahinch, in County Clare.

But first it’s the turn of Ballyliffin, in beautiful Donegal. from where they were all those years ago to hosting such a tournament, well, no wonder the bunting is reportedly hanging from every lamppost for miles around.