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Ballina Golf Club

Ballina, Co. Mayo · Designed by Eddie Hackett (18 holes, 1995)

Ballina is the Salmon Capital of Ireland and has been since anyone can remember. The River Moy — one of the most productive salmon rivers in Europe — runs through the town, and the Ridge Pool, a short stretch of tidal water where salmon stack while waiting to run the falls, has in its best seasons landed over 1,500 fish. Tiernan Brothers on the quay has sold permits and tackle to visiting anglers for generations. Jack Charlton, who managed Ireland's national football team to the 1990 World Cup quarter-final and became one of the most beloved figures in Irish sport, first came to Ballina in the late 1980s for the Moy. He liked it enough to buy a house here and was an honorary life member of the golf club. He fished the Ridge Pool for over twenty years, and when he died in 2020, Ballina painted a mural in his honour. Joe Biden's great-great-grandfather Patrick Blewitt was born in Ballina in 1832 and emigrated in the autumn of 1850.

The golf club was founded in 1910 on a nine-hole course within walking distance of the railway station. It moved to its permanent home at Mossgrove in 1924, blessed by Bishop Naughton who was club president that year, and expanded to 18 holes in 1995 under Eddie Hackett's design. The course plays through the old Jones Estate — two landmarks from that era, the Larch Woods and the Rookery, still define sections of the layout. The setting is Ox Mountains to the east, Nephin to the west. Par 71, around 6,700 yards: gently rolling, good drainage year-round, and straightforward enough that the welcome is genuine at every level of golf.

Céide Fields, forty kilometres to the west, is one of the most remarkable prehistoric sites in the world — a 6,000-year-old Neolithic field system preserved almost perfectly under the blanket bog of north Mayo. The clifftop setting above the Atlantic is dramatic; the scale of the human effort to tame that landscape five millennia ago is difficult to comprehend. Enniscrone, Eddie Hackett's great dunes links, is eight miles north. Carne, his final masterpiece, is an hour west on the Mullet Peninsula.

Holes worth knowing

18th (par-5, 517 yards) — the longest hole on the card and the one that most rewards a solid run of three clean shots. The backdrop of Nephin and the Ox Mountains frames the approach and makes this the most photographed hole on the course.
26th (par-5, 485 yards) — the first of three par fives, playing through the older woodland section of the estate. The canopy of the Larch Woods lines the right side and the fairway narrows on the approach.

Highlights

Salmon Capital of Ireland — Ridge Pool is 500m away
Jack Charlton's honorary home club
Eddie Hackett 18-hole design (1995)
Base for Carne + Enniscrone links circuit
Biden ancestral town — Blewitt family from Ballina 1832

Good to know

→Tiernan Brothers on the quay (themoy.com) is where you book Ridge Pool permits — morning sessions available to visitors. €30–€40 for a session in peak season; worth doing even if you've never fished before.
→Crockets on the Quay is the best dinner in town: proper salmon, mussels, slow-roasted beef, and a wine list that punches above a Mayo riverside pub's weight.
→Harrisors is the traditional pub for a pint after golf — 19th-century building, local clientele, consistently cited as the best Guinness in Ballina.
→Céide Fields (40km west, ~50min) is a genuinely unmissable stop: 6,000-year-old Neolithic farm system under the bog, on a clifftop above the Atlantic. The visitor centre explains the archaeology well.
→Plan for two days: Enniscrone (8 miles north) and Carne (60km west) together with Ballina make the best three-course north Mayo circuit. Ballina is the only parkland of the three and gives the legs a day off between dune battles.

Visitor Information

Getting There

45min drive

Common questions

What is Ballina Golf Club like?

Ballina is a parkland course on the banks of the River Moy — one of Ireland's great salmon rivers — in north Mayo. It's a relaxed, welcoming club and a natural base for anyone heading to Carne or Enniscrone. The riverside setting and the wide north Mayo light give it a character that's hard to pin down but easy to enjoy.

Is Ballina useful as a base for north Mayo golf?

Yes — Ballina town sits at the natural junction for north Mayo golf: Carne is an hour west, Enniscrone forty-five minutes south, Westport an hour south. It's a more comfortable base than remote Belmullet. In the evening, Quay West on the riverbank does good food with views over the Moy, and Dillon's has a famous courtyard terrace that fills up on summer evenings.

How do I book Ballina Golf Club?

Tee times are available online through GolfNow. No need to book far ahead — availability is good most of the year.

Is the River Moy fishing worth combining with golf?

The Moy is one of the most productive salmon rivers in Europe — Ballina is the salmon capital of Ireland. The Ridge Pool in the town centre is one of the most famous salmon pools in the country. Fishing permits for the Moy are available through the local fishery offices. It is a natural combination with a golf trip to north Mayo for those who fish.