Sam Snead and Arnold Palmer sparked golf revival in Ireland

It used to be that golf in Ireland, like many European countries, was the domain of the rich, moneyed and titled.

But, in 1960, the Canada Cup came to Portmarnock, and all the Irish wanted to see Sam Snead and Arnold Palmer. The demand for courses the average Paddy could get on soared and a golf construction boom of sorts followed.

Since many of the Irish courses couldn’t afford to hire big-name, international architects, Irish architect Eddie Hackett ended up designing many of the courses. Hackett is sort of a legend in Ireland, designing links courses in Connemara, Waterville and Carne, for example.

He died in 1996, and never told anyone of his favorite designs, saying that would be an insult to all the people he worked for more than 40 years.