Ballyliffin Golf Club in County Donegal opened Pollan Links, a new nine-hole par-three course designed by Pat Ruddy in the Spring of 2020. 

The Pollan Links is just that – a true links – as it sits into the calm end of the great Ballyliffin dunes and was designed to provide the club player with an opportunity to sharpen 70 per cent – perhaps more for high handicappers – of their entire golf game.

With hole range from 90 to 146 yards, the course accounts for all but the drives and some second shots out on the main links, and getting around Pollan in 27 strokes would mean you are having the round of your life! Care has been taken to vary the directions of the holes to bring into play all the variations of wind and light as well as presenting a rapidly changing and entrancing kaleidoscopic view of the mountains and of the main links, beckoning the player onwards.

The routing is designed to make the most of the 14-acre site and incorporate much of the natural features of the terrain’s dunescape whilst, at the same time, considering safety implications with the proximity to the clubhouse and eighteenth fairway of the Old Links. Avoiding low lying areas susceptible to standing water in winter has also been considered.

The greens are all of a scale which would sit comfortably on a full-size golf links and fine fescue greens turf was brought in by Emerald Lawns, while all other construction material and turf was sourced on site.