The Blue Shamrock Golf Club, formerly Blue Ridge Country Club in Palmerton, is getting ready to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the facility this weekend.

The public course offers its rich history along with a plethora of new changes for golfers of the area.The course was founded on April 16, 1915, as BRCC.That year, the nine-hole course was laid out and opened for play in the third week of July.Blue Ridge continued to provide its members with quality golf for decades, delivering a host of male and female club champions, including Tom Levendusky who was men's champion 14 times from 1948 to 1964, and Mary Mooney who was women's champion 18 times from 1936 to 1956.In 1965, the country club's then-president, Joe Musso, marked the club's 50-year anniversary with a statement of optimism regarding its future."It is my sincere belief that our approach to the years ahead will be one of confidence and enthusiasm, both stemming from the twin wellsprings of clear understanding of our needs and proven ability to translate planning into the actualities of a continuously improving country club," Musso said.The course itself remained largely unchanged until 1989, when nine more holes were added to form a complete 18-hole course.Change would once again strike in a major way when the country club closed in November 2013 due to low membership.In early 2014, it was purchased by Blue Ridge LLC and renamed the Blue Shamrock Golf Club. For the first time in its history, the course was now open to the public. A restaurant, pub, and outer deck were also renovated.The club's head golf professional, Ray Silnik, finds Blue Shamrock to have a bit of everything for those looking to spend a day on the golf course.I think it's one of the best public courses in the Lehigh or Pocono area as far as layout and condition," Silnik said, noting the course's notorious difficulty. "The course is certainly challenging for anyone who plays it. It plays long pretty consistently."Arguably the hardest hole is number six, a 410-yard par 4 that carries over water and has a narrow fairway.If the course has a signature hole, it would have to be number 10. A converted par 3 starting 201 yards out from the green, the tee box is cut in the shape of a shamrock. The hole will also soon have a shamrock-shaped bunker sitting on the front right side of the green.The holes themselves have not seen much change through the years, but a few have been rerouted from their original Blue Ridge order. For instance, what was hole two was changed to hole one, and the old hole one is now hole 18. The new finishing hole now brings golfers closer to the clubhouse when their round is over.A big change to the Blue Shamrock came this spring when the driving range was built just outside the clubhouse. The 213-foot-long range opened for use in the middle of summer 2014.The club gets an average of 100 golfers playing each day.Mike Paulas of Jim Thorpe has frequented the course for years, and says that it has always been an enjoyable experience."I keep coming back every year," he said. "They take good care of this course. It's beautiful and it's fun to play."