In 1993, a month into the construction of the Glashedy Links next door, a helicopter landed at Ballyliffin. Nick Faldo got out, played the Old Links, and called it the most natural links he had ever seen. He liked it enough that he stayed the night to finish all eighteen holes. Three years later, after Glashedy opened, he made an offer to buy the club outright. The members voted it down.

The club was founded at a meeting in Ballyliffin Hall in April 1947, and for years the members cut the course themselves, bringing their own lawnmowers, mowing, then playing. They still call it the Spirit of Ballyliffin, and they are refreshingly unembarrassed about having got where they are with no money at all.