Tour the famous Old Course at Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland

COUNTY CLARE, Ireland -- The Old Course at Lahinch Golf Club is southwest Ireland's answer to Scotland's North Berwick Golf Club. Both are historic links with quirky charms and beautiful surroundings.

While North Berwick is famous for oddities like shots over stone walls and the original Redan green, Lahinch takes blind shots to a whole new level.

When Lahinch was modernized in 2003, architect Martin Hawtree made numerous changes by rerouting four holes, adding two new par 3s (the 166-yard eighth and the 170-yard 11th), rebuilding 16 tees and altering 14 greens (restoring them to the look left by Dr. Alister MacKenzie in 1927).

What he didn't dare mess with were the Klondyke and Dell holes. These holes, the par-5 fourth and par-3 fifth, date back to the original work done by Old Tom Morris in 1894.

Once the fifth hole, now the fourth, the 475-yard, par-5 Klondyke requires a blind second shot over a hairy dune called Klondyke Hill. A flag man stands atop the dune to direct traffic, signaling groups on the fourth hole when it's safe to hit, so golfers walking up the 18th fairway aren't in harm's way. Only on a links like Lahinch could something so awkward still be accepted.

The Dell hole, the 154-yard fifth, is golf's version of hide-and-seek. Golfers hit to a sunken green surrounded by dunes. A white aiming rock on the front dune provides the only hint to finding the flag.

Lahinch -- ranked 35th in the world by www.top100golfcourses.co.uk and 41st by Golf Magazine in 2015 -- is hardly a two-hole wonder. The par-4 third, sixth and seventh holes all dogleg left through the dunes, revealing stunning views of the Liscannor Bay. The par-5 12th hole heads inland toward the ruins of Castle Dough before bending left along a river estuary. Rain or shine, it doesn't get much better than a day at Lahinch.