Eddie Hackett
Eddie Hackett (1910–1996) was an Irish golf course architect. Eddie Hackett was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1910. As a boy he suffered from tuberculosis, the effects of which left him without the strength or stamina to play active sports. He began playing golf with his father, and as a teenager got a job at his home club Royal Dublin Golf Club. By the 1930s he had worked his way up as a golf professional, making clubs and competing in tournaments. In 1939 became the head golf professional at Portmarnock Golf Club.
Design Philosophy
Unlike the better-known of Hackett's contemporary golf course architects like Pete Dye and Robert Trent Jones, who commonly move tons of soil to create their courses, Hackett worked like the architects of a bygone era, laying out a course on the land as he found it. As Hackett himself said, "I find that nature is the best architect . . . I try to dress up what the Good Lord provides."[1]
While his designs show his appreciation of the classic Scottish links where he refined his game, his own designs rarely include the forced carries or the blind shots sometimes found on older links such as Carnoustie or Royal Troon.
The majority of Hackett's courses are true links courses, defined by having been built on rolling, sandy ground adjacent to the sea, with native fescue grasses and few if any trees. This linksland (the word comes from the Old English 'hlinc' = rising ground) is ill-suited for farming or commercial use, and it was on linksland that the game of golf was developed over 500 years. Hackett also designed or revised a handful of parkland courses (inland, built on soil and frequently wooded.)
Courses
Below is a partial list of courses which Eddie Hackett designed or modified.
Ashford Castle
Ardee
Athenry*
Ballinrobe Golf Club
Ballyliffin Golf Club
Bantry Bay Golf Club
Beaverstown Golf Club
Beech Park Golf Club
Blacklion Golf Club
Belmullet
Carne
Ceann Sibeal Golf Links
Charlesland Golf Club
Clonmel
Connemara
Donegal
Dooks
Dunmore Demesne
Elmgreen
Enniscorthy
Enniscrone
Hollystown Golf Club
Letterkenny Golf Club
Magheramagorgan links
Mahon Golf Course
Malahide
Murvagh
Old Conna Golf Club
Oughterard Golf Club
Nenagh Golf Club*
Rosapenna*
Ring of Kerry
Stepaside Public Golf Course
Tuam Golf Club
Waterville
West Waterford
* Modified existing design
References
- Phinney, Richard and Whitely, Scott (1996). Links of Heaven: Baltray Books. p. 79.
Bibliography
Armstrong, Robert (2007). Golfing in Ireland, 3rd Edition: Pelican Publishing Company
Phinney, Richard and Whitely, Scott (1996). Links of Heaven: Baltray Books.