REVIEWS

 

Founded: 1992
Designer: Arnold Plamer
Championship Length: 7,200 yds.
PAR: 72
SSS (Course Rating): 76

Type: Parkland

Set amongst 550 acres of lush Kildare countryside, the K Club is arguably the finest parkland golf course in Ireland. Designed by Arnold Palmer, the K Club has hosted the prestigious European Open since 1995 and will host the Ryder Cup in 2006, the first time the event will be staged in Ireland. And though there are many who insist that the Ryder Cup should have been played on one of the great Irish links courses, anyone who has played the K Club will know that the course is a worthy venue for an event of the magnitude of the Ryder Cup.

The last nine holes begin with a drive from an elevated tee down a fairway lined with towering pines on the right and a lake on the left. Measuring 170 yards, the par three 12th is a stunning hole that resembles the 12th at Augusta, in that it's played over water to a shallow, angled green. The closing stretch is one of the finest around with the 16th and 18th standing out. Rated as the hardest on the course, the 16th is the quintessential all or nothing two shotter, where an accurate drive must be followed by an even more precise approach over water to an island green. It's the 18th however that's the crowning glory of the K Club.