Three holes on a golf course belonging to one of Co Kerry's best-known hotels, the Parknasilla Great Southern, have been closed because they do not have planning permission.
The problem arose because the Parknasilla Golf Club, part of the hotel complex near Sneem on the Ring of Kerry, did not realise it needed planning permission to extend its original nine-hole course to 12.
Players will now have to bypass the 6th, 9th and 10th holes on the 12-hole card.
The club was warned by Kerry County Council in March to stop using the holes after a member of the public noticed the planning anomaly.
Under a 1992 master plan for the Parknasilla Golf Club, an extension to 18 holes was planned. Nine were rebuilt two years ago, and three new ones added. But in 1994 planning laws were introduced which require golf clubs to apply for planning permission.
The closed holes are leading to problems on the course.
"We have guests who don't know what to think. They go out on the course and they see the taped off holes and the signs. They are totally confused," said Mr Maurice Walsh, secretary of the 180-member club.
To add to the confusion, the score cards are printed for 12 holes. "These holes are not affecting anybody. They are in the middle of hundreds of acres of parkland," Mr Walsh added.
In May the Parknasilla Great Southern Hotel applied for retention of the holes. It was hoping permission would come through before the height of the summer season.
But the bad news, according to a spokesman for Kerry County Council yesterday, is that no decision is due until September.