A ring-ditch, the circular trench that typically surrounded a low burial mound or marked a ceremonial space in the Bronze Age landscape, was partially excavated at Ballynamuddagh in 2000, just ahead of construction work on the course. It is a modest feature in physical terms, with an external diameter of five metres and a ditch no deeper than forty centimetres, but what the excavation suggested about its original purpose is considerably more arresting.

The dig, carried out under Excavation Licence 00E0691 and later reported by Deevy in 2002, left the central area of the ring-ditch untouched. That central area was noted as being slightly domed in profile, and five small pits were visible within it, at least one positioned just off centre. The excavators considered these to be funerary pits, the kind of small, deliberately placed deposits associated with cremation burial in prehistoric Ireland. Further evidence for activity around the site came from four small pits found in the vicinity, each filled with burnt bone, and a possible structure was identified roughly four metres to the north-east of the ring-ditch. Taken together, the picture is of a small but purposeful funerary landscape, now largely sealed beneath turf designed for an entirely different kind of use.