Headfort Old
Palmerstown Stud
The site of a former stud this is a muscular course built with
championship ambitions. It has that glamorous feel, it has
space and length, it has a magnificent clubhouse (Palmerstown
House dates to the 1860s) and no expense was spared in
its creation. From the back tees it measures 7,419 yards, but
from the regular tees it is a manageable 6,468 yards… Christy
O’Connor Jr was kind enough to provide four men’s tees.
Gentle mounding steers you past pampas grasses, flowerbeds
and tall trees, over generous fairways, around water features
towards big swinging greens. Ponds, lakes and streams appear
on 13 holes, including the four double dogleg par fives… the
hardest holes here.
Portarlington
As gentle and peaceful a parkland as you could hope to find,
Portarlington sits a couple of miles outside town alongside the River
Barrow. The course weaves through mature trees and demands
strong driving and an impressive ability to draw or fade the ball on
six holes. It tests you plenty without ever losing the joy of playing
here. Index 1 is a prime example: it is a par four of over 400 metres,
sliding through a tight corridor of Beech and Oak, but two more
wonderful shots you will not hit… and you might well encounter
red squirrels en route to the hole. Behind the green lies the river
which makes a dramatic appearance late in the round. This is a well
maintained, lovely country course, which punches way above its
weight. In holes 7, 8, 14 and 15, Portarlington has some of the best
holes in the country.
44
Dun Laoghaire
The Curtis Cup will be held at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in June,
2016, reflecting the club’s size, quality and facilities. Certainly the
clubhouse is one of the plushest you will find. Set on a gentle
hillside, facing the Great Sugarloaf, there are three distinctive
nine hole loops. They combine different shapes and challenges.
The Lower nine drop away from the clubhouse onto mostly level
terra in with big water features; the Middle nine are the most
colourful and shapely with a combination of trees and water; and
the Upper nine offer the biggest changes in elevation and more
exposure to the wind.
Headfort (Old)
Headfort’s Old course opened in 1928, stretching elegantly across
the bucolic Headfort Estate. It impressed golfers for years. When
the exceptional New course arrived in 2000, the shorter Old took
a back seat… yet this is pure parkland golf with swathes of mature
trees providing tremendous character to holes. Many tower over
tee boxes and form intimidating backdrops. It is a charming par 72,
with the gentle undulations promising nice views of the hole and
tempting targets off the tee. There are no climbs and, combined
with the rhythm of the trees, golf here is peaceful and easy. That’s
not to say the course itself is easy. Even though there is no water
there are subtle doglegs everywhere and that means trees will prove
a nightmare if you stray offline. Then there are the small greens
which can only be attacked if you are on the fairways.