Gearhart Golf Links on Oregon’s north Pacific coast is the oldest course in the western United States. Carne Golf Links in County Mayo is the newest of the great links courses scattered along Ireland’s west coast, having opened its first nine for play in 1992, one hundred years after the first shots flew and bounced across Gearhart’s dunes. Now, these two celebrated courses—one with a rich history, the other with a robust future–have linked hands to form a unique sister course relationship, recognizing their shared affinity for golf as a conduit to friendship and community.
No place in the USA resembles the green charm of Ireland more than the Pacific Northwest, which moved to the center of the golf universe in 2015 when for the very first time the US Open was held on a Northwest course—Washington state’s Chambers Bay. The long axis of Pacific coast links golf stretching from Chambers Bay to Bandon Dunes goes through Gearhart, which is both a cornerstone in the founding of Northwest golf and a strong pillar in sustaining its future. Beginning in 2015, members of Gearhart Golf Links have been honorary members of Carne, and Carne members have enjoyed honorary privileges at Gearhart. Gearhart’s unique sister-course relationship with Carne Golf Links has fostered an enduring union between golfers in Oregon and Ireland.
Built on slightly more than 100 acres and playing at just over 6550 yards, Gearhart Golf Links was established in 1892, and thus predates the USGA, which was founded in 1896. Gearhart’s current routing was laid out in the 1920s by the great early American golf champion Chandler Egan, who moved to Oregon from Chicago right before WWI. In addition to winning two US Amateurs and a team gold medal at the 1904 Olympics, Egan established himself as a leading west coast golf course designer. Egan’s design portfolio included almost twenty new courses and numerous re-designs, such as his reworking of Gearhart. Collaborating with Alister MacKenzie and Robert Hunter, who was also Egan’s teammate on the winning US Olympic team, he helped re-design of Pebble Beach Golf Course in advance of the 1929 US Amateur Tournament.
Carne Golf Course was the last links golf course designed by the late Eddie Hackett, the long-time professional at Portmarnock whose role in Irish golf design echoes Egan’s work in the Pacific Northwest. A portrait of Hackett hangs in Carne’s clubhouse, honoring the man who was able to envision Carne’s arresting green sites and winding fairways tucked into the formidable dunes overlooking Blacksod Bay. In 2013, a third nine was opened at Carne, weaving among the original holes and facilitating a combination course, adding to the pleasure and complexity of Carne Links. Visitors to Carne are surprised to discover that a course almost unknown outside of Ireland is among the greatest links courses in the world. Gearhart is meticulously maintained by Forrest Goodling’s staff of professional groundskeepers, and the entire operation is managed by Jason Bangild, PGA professional.