Ballyneety Golf Club’s transformation from liquidation to global showcase will be complete in 2027, as the Limerick venue prepares to host the Junior Ryder Cup.
The club will hold the first two days of the event, including foursomes and fourballs between male and female juniors from Europe and the United States, marking a major milestone for the club.
From liquidation in 2011 to being crowned Great Britain and Ireland’s Golf Course of the Year in 2025, this club’s journey has been nothing short of remarkable.
John Leamy, General Manager of Ballyneety Golf Club, reflected on what the event means to him personally.
“For me, it is like Santa coming when you are a child. I’ve been living here for 20 years. I was here when the place crashed, when it was boarded up and abandoned.”
Speaking about the golf club’s revival, Leamy credits a hardworking team who transformed Ballyneety into an esteemed venue now chosen to host a global event: “There was a sheer lot of bloody-mindedness and hard work.
“It’s been an incredible journey over a short period of time. To get it off the ground was one of the most remarkable things you could ever see.”
Leamy revealed that the secret behind the club’s success is its unique community design model. The General Manager praised the community engagement of Ballyneety locals: “It’s all down to the people who are here. If I need a bit of help, I only have to pick up the phone and make a call.”
“It’s not just golf here. We are a community club with a golf course attached”.
In November 2024, Leamy received a phone call from Edward Kitson, Director of the Ryder Cup confirming that Ballyneety had been chosen to host the 2027 Junior Ryder Cup.
The announcement was an incredible honour that left him and his team full of pride: “We will just say we were very, very happy.”
The preparations for the 2027 Junior Ryder Cup are well underway at Ballyneety.
Leamy outlined several course enhancements already underway including redesign and relocation, 50 bunkers alongside extended lakes on several holes, and additional drainage works completed last year to improve playability. The club has also taken delivery of 20 copper beech trees, which will be strategically planted to realign fairways.
Attendance for the event is projected at approximately 5,000 spectators, though that figure may change as planning continues. Leamy expects strong local support, noting that Irish people, and Limerick people in particular, are “great sporting fanatics.”
Leamy noted that access to the Ryder Cup can often be cost-prohibitive for families , but stressed that Ballyneety aims to be different. All under-18s will receive free entry with a ticket, while club members will also be provided with a complimentary ticket.
Plans are already underway to bring schoolchildren to the course on both days, with organisers keen to turn spectators into future participants. “There’s no question that among the kids who come to watch the Junior Ryder Cup, some will have a natural gift to be good at golf,” said Leamy. “The inspiration they see here will become apparent.”
He believes the ripple effect will stretch far beyond the fairways of the Ballyneety course. Golf, he insists, is on the cusp of a cultural shift with young people. “It will become the cool thing to do.”
And when the Ryder Cup arrives, subtlety will be in short supply. “It will consume the country,” Leamy exclaims. “It will be the only thing people are talking about.”