Carlow Golf Club is located close to the bustling market town of Carlow in a delightful wooded deer park that once formed part of the estate of Henry Bruen. The site is wonderfully undulating and the ground feels pleasantly sandy and springy underfoot. Carlow looks like a parkland course but plays as though it’s a moorland course and there’s no doubt, it’s a pearler.
The club was originally founded in 1899 as the Leinster Golf Club, where the men of Carlow played on a simple nine-hole course at Gotham. In 1922, a more suitable, larger piece of land became available, and Cecil Barcroft (a well-known player of his period) laid out an 18-hole course on the former deer park. Shortly before the Second World War, Tom Simpson and his assistant Molly Gourlay revised the layout and nothing much has changed since.
Measuring around 6,500 yards from the back tees, Carlow is not excessively long, but the lowly par of 70 makes playing to handicap a tough challenge. They are rightly proud of their putting surfaces and although the greens are fairly small in size, they are extraordinarily true and very slick. The elevated tees provide that wonderful feeling of expectation and a real desire to get the driver out and open the shoulders. But take care, the course is tightly bunkered and there are enough trees around, especially on the back nine, to cause real problems for the wayward drive.
There are many fine and memorable holes at Carlow. It’s tough to pick a favourite, but the 16th is considered to be an exacting signature hole. It’s a 440-yard par four with another of those supremely inviting shots from an elevated tee. A stout drive will leave an uphill approach, which must carry a valley in order to find the elevated sloping green. The 17th, a short, but uphill par three, requires an accurate iron shot across a valley to a heavily bunkered two-tiered green. A par here will feel like a birdie.
In 1978, Carlow played host to the Irish Amateur Close Championship, which saw M.Morris beat T.Cleary by one hole. The Midland Scratch Cup is also an annual event at Carlow. Gene Sarazen once played an exhibition match here in 1935 so it’s surprising to us that this excellent golf course isn’t better known. No doubt John Brophy’s amazing feat at Carlow Golf Club will help to raise the club’s profile. The 11 handicapper double aced the 6th and 13th in the same round, completing all four par 3s in only seven shots. For more details, click here.
