Ron Kirby studied at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts in the late 1940s before attending the University of Massachusetts Stockbridge School of Agriculture on a Francis Ouimet Scholarship, graduating with an Associate degree in Agronomy in 1953.

He served as a golf course superintendent with a number of clubs before becoming a design associate with 

 in 1958. During the five years he was with Dick, he worked on projects in Paradise Island in the Bahamas and several South Florida courses.

In 1963, Ron became a design associate with 

, assisting the old master with a number of assignments in the United States, Europe and the Caribbean. After eight years with the company, he decided to branch out on his own.

From 1970 to 1986, his Atlanta-based firm worked closely with 

 as a consultant and their collaborative efforts spanned the world. Ron then sold his firm (which also included Denis Griffiths) to Golden Bear Inc. and joined 

 Design Services, where he oversaw the company’s European projects for the next decade.

Ron retired from the Nicklaus organization in the mid-1990s but he’s been retained by a number of firms as a special consultant. Currently he’s attached to the design practice of his son-in-law Gene Bates.

One of Ron’s more interesting one-off projects in recent times was the co-design of a one-hole course at a luxury 4-bedroomed chalet called San Lorenzo Mountain Lodge in the Italian region of South Tyrol.

Located at an altitude of 1,200 metres above sea level and overlooking three heavily wooded valleys, this spectacular “Hole in Heaven” course features nine potential pin positions, three of which are always in play from six different tee boxes.

The on-site accommodation comprises an old 16th century hunting lodge which has been transformed into a fabulous 4-bedroomed mountain retreat and ablutions are taken care of by an external whirlpool, a spa, Finnish sauna, Turkish bath and emotional shower.

“To visit the Italian Dolomites should be on everyone’s ‘bucket list,’ said Kirby, “and for a golf designer this was a wonderful opportunity to create a golf experience for players to enjoy while viewing the mountain panorama. I’m happy and proud to have San Lorenzo Golf as part of my design history.”

In 2003, Kirby was elected a “Fellow” of the American Society of Golf Course Architects for his dedicated service to his profession and his outstanding contributions to the game of golf. He and his wife presently live in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

“The excitement comes in the mystery. If it’s an 18-hole project, where are you going to put them? And the fun part there is, you can’t use the first routing, meaning the way the holes circulate over the property. I love doing that. I love finding a place where I can say the course should start here and then go back this way.”

“Dick Wilson lit up my eyes about how you can use imagination. You don’t have to have a bunker left, a bunker right. He’d put two on the right and at different levels. I can do that? Of course, it makes for better strategy, makes a third dimension.”

“When I started there were probably 40 golf courses a year being built in America. It went from 40 to 50 to 60 and got to average about 150 golf courses a year in the 70s and by the 90s it got to 200 and went almost to 400 one year. Now you’ve got maybe four projects, it’s so bad. Four projects to share in America.

We all just overbuilt. It seemed like a good thing so everybody was going to do it and we built too many golf courses here and the reason was everybody thought they could have these property development courses. You see them now and it doesn’t work. There’s only so many players. The worse thing we did.”

“We made the golf courses too damn tough. You can’t play through all those nests of bunkers. Gary [Player] was the best of the bunch because he knows where to strategically place bunkers and that one bunker can be good enough.

Jack even agrees now that we made the golf courses too tough. I heard his last talk: ‘We’ve got to soften up and make them more friendly to play. What’s wrong with an easy golf course?’ Everybody’s getting older and the younger guys can’t afford to play because of the cost of maintaining all those bunkers.”

Ron on his association with Jack Nicklaus:

“I learned course routing from Trent Jones and strategy from Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus is the finishing school of strategy. He is so intense when he gets on the course he is designing that he has been mad at me plenty of times but he's a good buddy still.”

“Ron Kirby knew from a young age he wanted to make a career in the golf world. As a caddie, caddie master, and maintenance crew member at a local country club growing up, Ron gained all the incentives he needed to stay involved with the sport of golf. With a five-decade career under his belt, Ron has garnered the reputation as one of the most respected and appreciated golf course designers in the industry.” ASGCA

Ron Kirby

In 1963, Kirby became a design associate with Robert Trent Jones, assisting with a number of projects in the US, Europe and the Caribbean. After eight years with the company, he branched out on his own.

Cork

Ireland

The 6,790-yard golf course at the Castlemartyr Resort forms the main recreational option at a 5-star County Cork facility that also offers more sedate recreational facilities like archery, croquet and clay pigeon shooting. Guests can also wander around the spectacular formal gardens within the grounds or make use of the health club and spa.

The 18 holes are set within a 220-acre old manor estate and the lush fairways were routed in two returning loops of nine by architect Ron Kirby – of Dromoland Castle and Old Head fame – with the golfing public first given its opportunity to play here in 2008. The front nine measures exactly 500 yards less than the back nine so golfers might want to score well on the outward half then hold on to what they have after the turn.

Director of Golf, Brady Sherwood, nominates the 211-yard par three 5th as the signature hole on the Castlemartyr course. His advice at this hole is to “take three and run. The large green slopes severely from left to right with a couple of unpleasant greenside bunkers gathering the off line approach. Club selection can require anything from a wood to a mid iron depending on the wind strength and direction”.

Castlemartyr

Lee Valley

Britain & Ireland

The 6,790-yard golf course at the Castlemartyr Resort forms the main recreational option at a 5-star County Cork facility that also offers more sedate recreational facilities like archery and clay pigeon shooting.