Ballinascorney Golf Club was founded in the Orwell Lodge Hotel in Rathgar in 1971. A small but intrepid group gathered there one spring evening and took the decision to form a golf club. A fairly unremarkable event in itself save that none of those present were golfers.

Indeed, such was their playing prowess that all the original male members had to be given temporary handicaps of 30 for their first year in the game so that they wouldn’t get too discouraged! This lenient regime didn’t last too long and they all found their handicaps cut quite savagely to 18 after that first honeymoon year.

The Club’s first home in Bohernabreena was originally a 9-hole layout which was subsequently extended to 18 holes in the 1980s. The hilly terrain helped hone the skills of many of the club’s finest players over the years and the club hit a purple patch in the mid to late 1980s when we started to pick up trophies with almost monotonous regularity.

The big breakthrough came in 1984 when the gents brought home the Bloom Cup for the first time, this was followed by victory in the Best Cup the following year and a memorable double in 1987 when both the Best Cup and Bloom Cup were won. 1986 might have been a disappointingly fallow year were it not for the ladies who won the Third Team championship that year.

But even greater achievements were to come. 1988 saw Ballinascorney join that small and highly select group of clubs to have won the Metropolitan Cup and two years later the club, which had yet to celebrate its 20th birthday, shocked the golfing community by reaching the final of the Barton Cup.

The 1990s saw more success with the ladies scoring a hard fought win in the Fifth Team Championship in 1992, the gents won the Dublin Team Championship for the second time in 1993, and we celebrated the turn of the millennium by winning the Best Cup for a third time in 2000.

But change was afoot and circumstances meant that Ballinascorney Golf Club had to seek new accommodation. The move to our new home in Rathfarnham was completed without a hitch in 2002. Work began almost immediately on the construction of the new clubhouse – designed by club member Tony O’Herlihy – with the official opening taking place in 2003.

Ownership of the course changed in 2007 but this did not affect the running of the club in any way. Indeed, it brought with it an unforeseen benefit as the club was able to secure the use of additional land from the new owner. This was used to extend the course and upgrade it significantly through the creation of two new par 5 holes whilst preserving all the best aspects of the existing 9-hole layout.

Our most recent history saw us celebrate our 50th Anniversary in style, reaching multiple finals in 2022 with our ladies and our Mens Bloom Cup team taking home the Bloom Cup for the first time in over 30 years.

Through all of these changes one thing has remained constant at Ballinascorney Golf Club – our well-earned reputation as the friendliest golf club you’ll find anywhere in the country. Visiting golfers and opposing teams from other clubs invariably comment on the warm welcome they receive from our staff and members.

We are particularly proud of the way in which we welcome new members and involve them in the life of the club. Our hugely successful “Thursday Mixed” fun golf events, which run from spring to autumn each year, regularly attract more than 70 players to compete and to socialise in the clubhouse afterwards and offer an ideal opportunity for new members to make new friends in Ballinascorney Golf Club.