No flagging for design king Kirby

Robert Trent Jones Sr, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus; Sun City, Gleneagles and the Old Head.

It sounds like a who’s who and where’s where of golf but these are all names and places that figure significantly on Ron Kirby’s 52-year working resumé since he became consumed with golf design in 1960.

This autumn, Kirby celebrated his 80th birthday and one of golf’s most respected and experienced course architects chose to mark the milestone here in Ireland, not just on the renowned Old Head of Kinsale, the signature course he co-designed a little over 15 years ago, but at a more recent creation, the Castlemartyr Golf Resort’s 18 holes in East Cork.