John O'Sullivan is greatly impressed by the changes made to bring to fruition Palmer's original plans

Curiosity fuelled the short drive from Barrow House, the shimmer of the sunset playing out across the Atlantic, a tranquil scene but one of breathtaking splendour. The next day Tralee Golf Club was swathed in brilliant, early-morning sunshine, with the bustle of minibuses ferrying American golfers and the sporadic arrival of a car barely a distraction.

The Arnold Palmer-designed links, eight miles from Tralee at Barrow, may lack the golfing cachet of Ballybunion, Waterville and Killarney, but this aberration will be redressed. The late Payne Stewart (Waterville) and Tom Watson (Ballybunion) were excellent ambassadors, advocating the merits of the respective Irish courses. Tralee now requires just a visit rather than a champion.

Four years ago the club decided to tweak the existing layout, with Palmer's blessing, and invited Tom Mackenzie, an English course architect who works with Donald Steele, to head the project.

Ten days ago, with the re-opening of the second green, Mackenzie's brush strokes were no longer an abstract image but given life on this gorgeous links. At the time of the Palmer creation the American legend was working to a tight budget for a club that was far from cash-rich. Many of the current alterations are what he wished to do in the first place.

During that time Tralee has spent €2.5 million on the alterations, €600,000 in the last year alone. Virtually every hole has undergone some surgery; the end result is impressive.

To road-test the development, I enjoyed the company of Kerry footballing icon Eoin "Bomber" Liston (off 11); former Kerry county football selector Séamus MacGearailt (12); and the secretary manager, former Dalkey native and tidy seven handicap golfer Anthony Byrne.

Liston and The Irish Times would square up to the other two gentlemen in a fourball whose outcome was distilled into a single putt on the home green: more of that later. If the company and weather was exceptional, then so too was the initial impressions of the course.

It is possible to see the Atlantic Ocean from all 18 holes, but it is the ancillary scenery, the Sliabh Mish mountains, Barrow beach and harbour, Banna Strand, the Magharees peninsula, Ballyheigue and Castlegregory that offer such a lavish backdrop to the golf. The area is also swathed in historical nuggets.

The location at West Barrow is the fourth incarnation of Tralee Golf Club. The Palmer designed layout opened for play in October 1984, moving from a nine-hole track at Mounthawk near Tralee. The club was founded in 1896, the nine-hole setting believed to be where the sports field is now located.

A year later (1897), the club moved to a nine-hole course in Fenit on the south-western side of Barrow Harbour. A membership of 120 - they paid a subscription of 10 shillings a year - initially traversed the tract of land, but while the location changed on three occasions the historical lore of the club was spawned by several colourful chapters.

During the Troubles in the 1920s, a Capt Lionel Hewson was hired to design a new course in Oakpark, Tralee. He was suspicious of the men who sat around on the demesne walls watching him while he measured and made notes.

He wrote later that "bullets used to fly in those days on little provocation".

His instincts were proved correct as a Major McKinnon in the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary was shot dead on the course in March, 1921, while playing golf. He was not the only one to meet an unfortunate end in close proximity to the course.

The beach across the narrow channel of water beside the 15th tee is where Roger Casement landed from a German submarine on Good Friday, 1916. He was arrested and subsequently hanged. For those movie buffs, the beach which runs parallel to the second hole was employed in 1968 for David Lean's Oscar-winning movie Ryan's Daughter (1970).

The first hole, a gentle par four, boasts a generous fairway with the green now elevated to offer a more taxing second shot. The second, a par five that meanders along the rugged coastline, extols the virtues of the land, giving greater definition by mounding on the left. Bomber cuts loose to win the hole, but our joy is to be short lived.

The third, known as The Castle, is the signature hole, a par three that can measure 210 yards from the back tee, and it's from that location that the true splendour is realised. The challenge is to carry from the rocky promontory of the teeing ground over a chasm of rock and sea to a small green protected by pot bunkers. The tower at the back of the green, often used as the line, has its origins in the 13th century.

It sets the tone and theme for all the par threes at Tralee, a collection that would bear favourable comparison to any in this country. Playing from the medal tee, Séamus MacGearailt knocks his tee-shot to 18 inches for the conceded birdie as the battle lines of the fourball are well and truly drawn.

The club almost lost the back tee box to storms during the winter. Byrne explained: "It was at the end of December and probably reflected the back end of the tsunami. We would normally put up fencing, with bales of straw wedged in to protect the third tee and the second green. When the tide comes in the straw absorbs the salt water.

"The tide came all around the inlet and ended up coming from a southerly direction for the first time. It caught us out. The eighth hole was pretty badly damaged, as was the third, and the second green was very bad. It only opened again last week. Those north easterly storms were especially fierce."

There are new bunkers on the fourth that stiffen the challenge. But any memories of the fifth hole were quickly eradicated when Séamus chipped in brilliantly, having missed the upturned bowl of a green on the left.

One down, conversation briefly drifts to the previous day's football. The consensus is that this year's All-Ireland champions will come from the triumvirate of Kerry, Tyrone and Armagh; that if it comes down to football, then the Kingdom are set to retain their crown.

The seventh is another sumptuous par three, with the tee framed by Tralee Bay while the step in the green and the three pot bunkers on the right render a pin position back right very difficult.

The eighth hole is a hooker's nightmare. The camber of the landing area has been softened to accommodate the tee-shots so that the ball no longer sweeps from right to left and over the cliff face. The green is cut into the coastline.

New mounding defines the ninth, a par five where taking on the bunkers on the right makes the green reachable in two.

Speaking of figures, the Byrne/MacGearailt axis is two under at the turn and two up. The front nine has always been considered the weaker of the two loops, a fact that can be gleaned from Palmer's observation that "I designed the front nine, but surely God designed the back nine." The disparity is no longer so glaring, although the terrain becomes more quintessentially links.

The introduction of mounding that borders the 10th and 18th fairways enhances the challenge presented by both holes, while the acquisition of land near the clubhouse means that a new back tee has been constructed on the far side of the pathway.

The 11th, Palmer's Peak, used to be a climb that would only have been embraced by Sherpas, but the gradient has been softened. The second shot to this par five must be played blind, between mounds, to leave a wedge approach to a large green. At this point the Liston/O'Sullivan partnership have stormed back to be level overall and are two to the good on the backside.

The 12th, the index one, is a brute of a par four, where length and accuracy are required off the tee and precision with a mid to long iron required to straddle the valley that protects the green. It's a superb test of golf.

Another gem of a part three follows, with the green framed by dunes and guarded by a chasm of marram.

Three new bunkers on the 14thmake the tee-shot a tougher proposition, while the 15th is a short par four.

There is an inescapable equation in golf: handicap golfers + driveable par fours = trouble. For reference see Liston/O'Sullivan partnership, now one down overall but one up on the back nine.

The 16th is known colloquially as Shipwreck, a reference to the many rocks that helped to destroy ships in this stretch of ocean. Along with the cargo vessels Port Stanley, Catherine Richards and Wild Trader, a vessel of the Spanish Armada (1588) ran aground here. Edward Denny, who owned Tralee Town and its castle (demolished 1826), hanged the entire crew.

This par three is a card-wrecker. Again the golfer faces a carry (184 yards) where anything that comes up short will perish.

The new tee box on the 17th offers a glorious vista to an elevated green.

The final hole, a par five, poses the classic risk/reward conundrum where the addition of 13 new bunkers necessitates more than a grip it and rip it philosophy.

The alterations have provided several holes with greater definition, offering up a better test of golf while remaining faithful to the original layout. The club boasts 1,000 members (€350 per annum, €5,000 entrance fee if you get in) and about 220 international members ($10,000 once-off fee).

Green fees provide revenue for all their capital projects, and the club manages 12,000-13,000 rounds per annum, of which about 87 per cent of the business comes from the North American market. That could and should change.

Tralee offers the golfer everything: a friendliness and warmth, epitomised by course ranger and chief character Chuckie O'Connell, and a superbly challenging journey over the Barrow peninsula where the scenery is as distracting as any pot bunker.

It deserves to be an integral constituent of any golfing expedition to the Kingdom.

PS: Congratulations to Anthony Byrne and Séamus MacGearailt, the latter's birdie on the home green (it was matched by the Bomber) was good enough for a one-hole victory. The re-match in July is all-ticket.