Time to Discover Ireland’s Inland Courses

You’ve played the famous seaside links of the Emerald Isle. Now it’s time to discover the best of the inland courses built by Sir Nick Faldo, Pat Ruddy and other top architects during the Celtic Tiger boom years.

(Last updated May 2023.)

Compared to Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, Ballybunion, Lahinch and its many other world-renowned links, Ireland’s inland courses were long regarded as poor cousins. Even among the Irish who played them, it was almost blasphemous to suggest that truly great golf could exist away from the crash of the ocean and the smell of seaweed.

That perception finally started to change during the Celtic Tiger boom years, when inland designs by Sir Nick Faldo, Arnold Palmer, Ron Kirby and other top architects launched to considerable fanfare on the lushly wooded and manicured grounds of luxury hotels throughout the Emerald Isle.

Although their tree-lined fairways, flower beds and tranquil ponds often recall country club designs in North America, these Irish courses offer a decidedly Old World experience.

The par-three 12^th hole at Druids Glen, in Country Wicklow, for instance, is set beside an ancient Druid altar. And at Dromoland Castle, in County Clare, golfers play in the shadow of a turreted neo-Gothic castle that is the ancestral home of the O’Briens, descendants of Brian Boru, High King of Ireland.

Another selling point, especially for high-handicappers and seniors, is that weather conditions at inland courses are frequently more benign than at seaside links, where navigating through gale-force winds off the icy Atlantic can make even good players want to quit the game.

Already blessed by the golf gods with approximately 35 per cent of the world’s genuine links courses, both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland now also boast a roster of acclaimed inland layouts—including those found at the six properties described here—that do the island proud.

The K Club

The K Club secured its place in golf history when it hosted the dominating European victory in the 2006 Ryder Cup. Wrapped in their nation’s flag, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley instantly became the symbol of a resurgent Ireland.

And in 2016, ten years after staging Ireland’s first Ryder Cup, the resort hosted the European Tour’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, an event that produced another keepsake memory for Irish golf fans.

Battling Russell Knox for the final-round lead, native son and tournament host Rory McIlroy sealed his victory with an astonishing 252-yard approach shot over water that ended less than three feet from the pin on the 18^th green. Fans subsequently voted it the European Tour’s ‘Shot of the Year.’

Set on the rolling grounds of a vast estate 32 kilometres west of Dublin in County Kildare, The K Club features two excellent courses.

The older Palmer North course (formerly called the Ryder Cup Course) skirts the River Liffey and winds around Straffan House, a stately 18^th century mansion that has been turned into an extravagantly posh 92-bedroom hotel filled with paintings, statues and a winding staircase. Architect Arnold Palmer moved one million tonnes of earth in building a go-for-broke, 7,178-yard course that constantly challenges golfers with doglegs and water hazards. In addition to the 2006 Ryder Cup, Palmer North has hosted the 2016 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, and 11 European Opens

The K Club’s second track, Palmer South (formerly called the Smurfit Course) was routed by Palmer’s team through a flat and largely treeless pasture on the opposite side of the Liffey. About 22 acres of snaking water hazards have been worked into a 7,300-yard inland links-style design that dramatically concludes with a perilous approach to an island green on the par-five 18^th hole. Palmer South hosted the European Open in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

In February 2020, nursing homes investor Michael Fetherston bought the K Club from previous owner Michael Smurfit for a reported €65 million.

Druids Glen

There are Irish golfers who still argue that Druids Glen Golf Resort, not the K Club, should have been chosen to host the 2006 Ryder Cup, firm in their belief that the property’s namesake course is the finest parkland layout in Ireland.

Located 40 kilometres south of Dublin in County Wicklow, the resort includes a second course, Druids Heath, as well as a comfortable North American-style hotel complex with 148 rooms.

And sitting on high ground and dominating the landscape is one of Ireland’s most impressive clubhouses, a converted 1760 Georgian country house with classical columns and high ceilings.

Architects Pat Ruddy and Tom Craddock combined their talents on the Druids Glen course, which they masterfully carved through thousands of mature trees. Topiaries, subtle earthworks, suspension bridges and vast stands of azaleas, magnolia and rhododendron adorn a breathtakingly beautiful but constantly demanding parkland layout that hosted the Irish Open from 1996 to 1999.

At the par-three 12^th hole, an elaborately landscaped St. Brigid’s Cross near the elevated tee box marks the spot where Druids once practiced their magic.

Relaunched in spring 2023 following a major renovation, Druids Glen has been stretched almost 200 yards (to 7,222 yards). Obsolete bunkers were removed, trees thinned to restore lost fairway width, and green-side contours reshaped to toughen the challenge. The property’s Irish owners, Neville Hotel Group, are said to be determined to host another Irish Open.

Druids Heath, a combination heathlands and links-style solo design by Ruddy, affords panoramic views of mountains and the Irish Sea as it skirts old farm ponds and descends into an abandoned rock quarry. A renovation unveiled in 2021 of this once formidably difficult course was well-received, especially by golfers with higher handicaps. The number of bunkers at Druids Heath was reduced from 97 to 36, opening laneways for bump-and-run shots, and several fairways were widened.

Carton House

Another star attraction near stylish Dublin, Carton House Golf Club, located 22 kilometres west of the capital in County Kildare, offers two superior inland courses.

The first to open, in 2002, was a 7,006-yard parkland layout designed by and named for Mark O’Meara. Cleverly incorporating the River Rye into its routing, the O’Meara Course steadily builds momentum as it wends through the ancestral estate of the earls of Kildare.

The O’Meara Course’s most thrilling hole is the par-five 15^th, which twice forces golfers to hit across the fast-rushing Rye. Almost as exciting is the 16^th, a par three demanding a 180-yard carry over the river to the green.

Designed by Colin Montgomerie, the Montgomerie Course was unveiled in 2003 on the opposite side of the River Rye. The nearly treeless 7,245-yard inland links-style layout is booby-trapped with about 130 bunkers, many of them steep-faced and cavernous. The 2005, 2006 and 2013 Irish Opens were played here.

The guest rooms in the 165-bedroom Carton House, A Fairmont Managed Resort, the former abode of the Kildares, have been refurbished in a traditional style in keeping with the mansion’s elegant 1739 Palladian façade. The clubhouse, now called the Carriage House, has also been completely redone.

Dromoland Castle

Though magnificent Dromoland Castle has been a favourite of the rich and famous since opening as a luxury resort in 1963, the golf course at this otherwise idyllic estate, 13 kilometres north of Shannon Airport in Western Ireland’s County Clare, was a sadly pedestrian affair.

All that changed in 2004 with the unveiling of a major remodeling of the tired old course by acclaimed American architect Ron Kirby. The 6,845-yard Dromoland Castle Golf and Country Club now weaves seamlessly through a classic parkland landscape of lakes, streams and forest, affording little room for error on most holes. Doglegs, well-placed bunkers and fescue rough further stiffen the test.

One of the Emerald Isle’s most photographed holes is the 7^th, a 175-yard par three offering an unforgettable view across a natural lake to looming Dromoland Castle. Built in the 19th century by the O’Briens, Barons of Inchiquin, the castle is now a sumptuous 100-bedroom hotel outfitted with Georgian antiques, crystal chandeliers and oak paneling.

Adare Manor

Following its celebrated launch in 1995, the majestic parkland course at Adare Manor became a pilgrimage site for fans of legendary American golf architect Robert Trent Jones Sr.

But in late 2017 both the famous resort and The Golf Course at Adare Manor, ideally situated in the picturesque village of Adare in Western Ireland’s County Limerick, reopened following a massive 18-month remodelling. A new building—linked to the original Victorian gothic manor house by a colonnade—has increased the number of bedrooms from 62 to 104 (each with a river, garden or golf course view). And the old Trent Jones Sr. course has been given a complete redesign by no less than Tom Fazio. Lakes, historic ruins, mature woodlands and the River Maigue all come into play at a parkland design that will host the 2027 Ryder Cup. Owned by Irish billionaire J.P. McManus, the re-born luxury hotel and golf course have received rave reviews.

Lough Erne Resort

Northern Ireland’s only five-star golf property, Lough Erne Resort was thrust into the international spotlight in 2013 when it hosted Barack Obama and other world leaders during the G8 summit.

The hotel is picturesquely set on a peninsula between two loughs just outside the town of Enniskillen in County Fermanagh. Opened in 2007, it’s a modern take on a 18^th-century chateau, with 120 guest rooms, as well as an additional 25 individual lodges built in a striking turreted design reminiscent of a French royal village.

For golfers, the big draw is the Faldo Course, a strong 7,167-yard layout by Sir Nick Faldo that offers a mix of parkland and links-style holes, while bringing the waters of the loughs into play on 11 holes. Most thrilling of all are the final three holes, which challenge long hitters to fly their shots over as much water as they dare.