Carton House Golf Club ****

Maynooth, County Kildare

Nearest main town: Maynooth

 

Carton House is just a short drive away from the prestigious K Club, the venue for the 2006 Ryder Cup, and it makes a very worthy neighbour indeed. In fact, the biggest compliment you can pay this outstanding new golfing venue is that in no way is Carton House overshadowed by the special K Club.

The new star attraction at Carton is Colin Montgomerie's superb 7300-yard inland links-style layout, which opened in summer 2003. Monty has produced a real cracker of a course that is surely destined for great things and big tournaments.

It's so links-like that you expect to see and hear the waves lashing the walls of the 1100-acre estate of Carton Demesne, formerly the ancestral home of the Earls of Kildare. With strategically placed penal pot bunkers and rough, as well as run-offs into cavernous swales, you need to plot your way around this one carefully. Precision all-round play is the name of the game on the Montgomerie, with the emphasis firmly on deadly accurate approach shots to the giant rolling greens, which demand red-hot putting.

In comparison, the O'Meara layout - which was of course designed by 1998 Open and US Masters champion Mark O'Meara - is literally a stroll in the park, though that too needs to be treated with the utmost respect if you're to register a decent score. The 7006-yard, par-72 course really bursts into life on the back nine, the superb par-5 15th, with its green lying tantalisingly on the other side of the River Rye, being sandwiched in between a couple of cracking par-3s. Definitely two rounds to remember.

 

Secretary: Mr J. Lawler (Golf operations)             

Tel: 062 86271  Fax: 062 86555

Professional: Mr D. Fleming          

Tel: 062 86271

Playing: Midweek: round €70 (winter), €125 (summer); day n/a. Weekend: round n/a; day n/a.

Facilities: Bar: 8am-8pm (winter), 7am-l1.30pm (summer). Food: 9am-7pm (winter), 10am-9pm (summer).

Comments: I much prefer the Montgomerie, it's a real class act. The O'Meara course has some fantastic holes and some fairly ordinary ones too... It's as good as if not better than the K Club... It's just a top place to play golf...When Monty eventually hangs up his clubs he should take up course design full-time... A brand new club­house is due to open May 2004 while also set to open in the summer of 2004 is a National Golf Academy featuring a floodlit driving range...There's also a large practice area and practice putting green.

 

County Louth Golf Club *****

Baltray, Drogheda, County Louth

Nearest main town: Drogheda

 

One of the beauties about books such as this is that attention can be drawn to some of those courses which, for some inexplicable reason, continue to be overlooked by many a discerning traveler. Here we can shout the name from the rooftops, or at least from the top of the page, and persuade golfers to dig out their maps and discover some unsung gems.

Like the little fishing port of Baltray, for example, which can be found roughly an hour's drive north of Dublin and is home to the invigorating links of County Louth. Tom Simpson, one of the great course architects of his time, redesigned much of the layout in 1938, giving it a subtlety and charm that is still evident today.

A couple of tough opening holes, a long par-4 followed by a none­too-easy par-5, get you off to a brisk start, but it is the coastal holes on the back nine, the 12th and 13th, that will be the most memorable.

Baltray's short holes are also exceptionally good and there are really only two areas that may not be up to scratch. The fields on the inland side of the property detract a little from the overall feel and the two finishing holes do not have quite the character of the 16 that went before. Those can be the only reasons that County Louth is not up there with the Portmarnocks and European Clubs, also found on the east coast.

 

Secretary: Mr M. Delany

Tel: 041 988 1530 Fax: 041 988 1531

Professional: Mr P. McGuirk

Tel: 041 988 1530

Playing: Midweek: round €95; day n/a. Weekend: round €120; day n/a.

Facilities: Bar: 10.30am-11 pm. Food: Lunch and dinner from 10am-9pm. Bar snacks.

Comments: One of the best in Ireland.. . Classic and very enjoyable. Food always good... A refined course, not as wild as some other renowned courses... Difficult to get on due to competitions.