The original architecture of rosapenna's old course is attributed to old tom morris, who visited lord leitrim on his estate in 1891. The original 18-hole old tom morris course was built between the clubhouse and the hotel on some elevated grounds. The remaining fairways then raced away from the shore, across the lane, up and around a nearby hill, before tumbling back to the starting point.

Rosapenna is the spot to be seen playing in a short period, as shown by a picture from 1896 of george duncan, sandy herd, tom player, and harry vardon relaxing on the hotel lawns. Vardon returned a decade later to strengthen the course, and james braid is said to have recommended changes, but little documentation exists to support this.

âĢľit was not long until rosapenna was the target of more far-reaching architectural developments as the great harry colt was renamed in about 1911 and was strongly engaged up to about 1916, and his works were so drastic that they included the construction of a narrow railway line to transport loam and other materials up the old tom v

Pat ruddy of the european club designed nine new holes that opened for play in june 2005. The "strand nine" was cut out of the low-lying dunes next to the sandy hills course. The strand nine was closed at the end of 2006 for comprehensive greensite renovation and bunker extensions, as the club strived for excellence. This thesis was completed by tom doak's renaissance golf design company shaper eric iverson, and the nine holes reopened in september 2009 with the order of holes rearranged.