The 2026 Walker Cup will be contested this weekend at Lahinch Golf Club in County Clare, Ireland, with 10-player teams from the United States and Great Britain and Ireland meeting Saturday and Sunday on the club’s Old Course. The event is being staged in consecutive years for the first time since 2009 before returning to its traditional biennial schedule.
Lahinch, which first welcomed play in 1892, has deep ties to the history of Irish amateur golf. Old Tom Morris reshaped the original layout in 1894, calling it “the finest natural course he had ever seen,” while Alister MacKenzie added strategic bunkering and multi-tiered greens in 1927. Martin Hawtree later modernized the course for contemporary competition, rebuilding greens and tees, moving four holes closer to the coast and adding two par-3s while preserving the character of the historic design.
The Old Course’s defining challenge is its combination of rugged Atlantic dunes, blind shots and shifting winds. The par-3 third hole, known as the Dell, and the par-5 fourth, the Klondyke, both feature greens hidden behind dunes. The Dell measures only 154 yards, but players may have no view of the putting surface and must aim at a white stone atop the dune unless the flag is positioned on the far-right side of the green.
Lahinch has also introduced special measures to manage competition play. Because the Klondyke and the closing 18th hole cross through the same dunes, a staff member known as the “Hillman” uses colored flags from an elevated position to signal when shots can safely be played. The course hosted the 2019 Irish Open, won by Jon Rahm, and received upgrades including a short-game area, an indoor training facility and a screen behind the Dell to help players and spectators track shots during the tournament.