Carton House (Montgomerie) - Kildare - Ireland
Maynooth,
Co. Kildare,
Ireland
+353 (0) 1 505 2000
15 miles W of Dublin
Contact in advance
Martin Mangan
Colin Montgomerie and Stan Eby
Jason Totos
Located a mere 15 miles to the west of Dublin city centre, Carton House is a popular golfing destination. The 1,100-acre walled Carton Estate dates back to Norman times and it's complemented by a luxury hotel built in harmony with Carton House, the existing ancient mansion. Carton House is not only located in a beautiful setting, but it's also easily accessible.
There are two courses, the more senior O’Meara, which opened for play in 2002 and the Montgomerie, which debuted the following year. Both are contrasting in style: the O’Meara is park-like and the Montgomerie links-like. This is the second course designed by “Monty” and he was helped and guided by Stan Eby of European Golf Design. It’s an interesting sculptured layout that stretches out to a massive 7,300 yards from the championship tees.
Without huge defining sand dunes, links-type courses can be flat and featureless. The Montgomerie course gets its definition from manufactured undulations; swaying fescue grass, clear definition between the cuts of grass and the many deep pot bunkers. It clearly has a modern look and feel but it’s an honest an unpretentious driver’s course which hangs together rather well. There is no signature hole to speak of, just one good hole after another, and the par threes are especially noteworthy.
Clearly delighted with his creation, Colin Montgomerie said: “This is a unique project and I am privileged to be associated with it. You can’t call it a links course, but it plays like a links and has all the characteristics of a links. In designing this course, I attempted to go back to a more traditional course. I looked at the great courses around the world – Royal Melbourne, Troon, Turnberry – and worked out what is so good about them. One thing that springs to mind – bunkering. They are hazards and they work with the prevailing wind. Few holes are straight up and down the wind but tend to be across, which brings the bunkering into play. This is the kind of course where the best players would always come out on top”.
In May 2005, for the first time, the Irish Open was held on Monty’s new creation. Wales’s Stephen Dodd emerged victorious after beating England’s David Howell in a playoff. This was to be Howell's second shootout disappointment after losing in the previous week to Thomas Björn in a tense three-way playoff at the Forest of Arden in the Daily Telegraph Dunlop Masters. Despite six birdies in the final round, Monty couldn’t recover from a third-round 75 and he ended on his own course tied for 28th place.
The Irish Open remained at the Montgomerie course in 2006 (when Thomas Bjørn won by one shot from Paul Casey) then the event returned to Maynooth in 2013, with Paul Casey getting his hands on the trophy this time after posting a 4-round total of 274 to win by three shots from his nearest rivals.
Reviews for Carton House (Montgomerie)
It is not easy to get the call to host a World Amateur and both Courses at Carton House held that honor back in 2018. Unfortunately I was not able to play O’Meara to give a full comparison between them (I only walked some holes) but in tough windy and humid conditions we were tested by the Monty and the course proved itself to be at the level to challenge the very best golfers in the world.
Located in an open piece of land with fully colored forest in the surroundings, Monty makes this one another course to be played. It is not intimidating off the tee but this doesn’t mean tee shots are easy! It is open but there is rough in yellow color (fescue grass which was not cut this autumn due to a fantastic photo shoot done some weeks ago) which adds to the contrast and beauty of the images, there are many and huge deep crossbunkers and then the greens are immense with also demanding bunkering around them. And here I found the “but” to the course: green bunkers aren’t incorrect but they are deep and there was little sand so it is very tough to get the ball holding in this conditions and what would be suggested is if you want to keep the sand playing firm then they should be a little bit less deep or if not just add sand (or change the consistency) and that´s it.
When playing the Montgomerie you will have everything in the basket: 3 short 4s where you can get to the green but also in trouble, 4 fantastic par 3s where depending on tee box and pin position there could be 3-4 clubs difference depending on this and the par 5s will also have it all with a couple of them being reachable and a couple definitely 3 shooters for most of the human beings.
If some holes are to be highlighted I would put the following:
-2nd short 4 reachable but one of the most demanding tee shots on the course.
-7th is a fantastic par 3 with a long two tier green … don’t you dare go long!
-Short 4 9th can get you in deep trouble on the left side and then the uphill approach demands extreme precision.
-13th is the last short 4 but actually putting the ball on the green with the tee shot is very tough and even from the front of the green make it in two shots demands high skills.
-16th is a demanding par 4 where you need to carry a bunch of bunkers to get a shorter approach to one of the most difficult greens to hold the ball.
-17th is a great par 3 in the nicest spot on the course with the Natural Reserve river on the right side.
-18th is not only a very good par 5 but a nice one with the lighted bridge and the boat house built for Queen Victoria and the huge hotel on your right side.
When travelling to Great Britain and Ireland many golfers will want to play only kinks courses and this could be a huge mistake as you could bypass places like Carton House, Powerscourt and many more. I found it perfect having a blend of both type of courses to enjoy the different game needed to be played and having to adapt the shot making to two very different ways of playing.
Ireland has more than 400 courses, it is impossible to play them all but if coming more than once make sure Carton House is part of the trip. The Course hosted not only WATC in 2018 but 3 Irish Opens: 2005 won by Stephen Dodd on -9 with Argentine Hero coming second at -7, then 2006 were Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjorn beat Paul Casey by 1 shot and 2013 were Casey sunk a 40 footer for eagle on 18th to win.
And one nice final touch is on the right side of 13th were there is a Bee Apiary where they produce the honey served at The Morrison for Breakfast. Currently 20k bees producing which will be 70k next summer!
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See other reviews from Javier Pintos
An absolute brut! The best in land links I've played. 17 and 18 provide a cracking finish but the entire track is a serious challenge for any level of golfer. With the O’Meara on the same complex as good a two course venue as you will find anywhere. AVOID THE SAND, you have been warned
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See other reviews from Alan Hickey
Played this course in May 2019. The fact that the facility has played host to many notable events over the years (Irish Open, Eisenhower Trophy etc.) made my expectations reasonably high, not only for the course itself but also for the entire property.
Let’s start with the positives: The Montgomerie course has been laid out to a nicely undulating piece of land, which has provided Monty the opportunity to use the elevation changes to benefit the layout. The enormous size of the estate has enabled the holes to be placed far apart from each other, creating a feel of a spacious parkland layout with a nice, calm feel to it. The on-site facilities off the course are incredible and another cool part of the facility is the driving range, which is a massive grass field without a single target (at least when we were there) with perfect practice tees and a wonderful view of the Carton House.
However, the highlight of a world-class golf resort should be the golf course. At Carton House, I think the off-course facilities stand well above the Montgomerie course. The course is a good test of golf, as you would expect, but after leaving the course behind, even golfers like me with a good memory would forget most of the holes. Apart from holes 17 & 18, there is just nothing else that would create a permanent memory from the layout. The Montgomerie could be turned into a real monster for championship golf by narrowing the fairways, growing the rough and cutting the greens down. During my round I didn’t get penalized as I probably should have with my wild tee shots, so I actually managed to get it around. But for a recreational golfer, the course does not offer much additional enjoyment compared to similar styled courses around (except if you decided just to enjoy the off-course facilities), the brutally deep bunkering and elevated greens make the course a real fight for shorter hitters. “Inland-links” is an interesting description of the course, as I could not find anything about the course that would have brought a linksy feel to the golfing experience.
As a conclusion, the Montgomerie course is worth visiting for the rest to be experienced at the estate, but the golf course left me slightly disappointed due to my expectations. This is a ballstriker's golf course and truly separates the best from the rest, playing here often would definitely make you a better player if your career ambitions are set to play championship golf one day.
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See other reviews from Henrik Honkalehto
Here's the good news -- The Carton House is a warm and wonderful top notch resort property, fortunate in having two good and different golf courses to choose from, with The Montgomery being better of the two (with The O'Meara being more "easy going" ... parkland, but almost Monterey, CA-like, how native trees, bunkering and rough outline many of the fairways). The less than good news? The difficulty playing the course lies in redundant deep bunkering, both in the fairways and around the greens. Even Monty said, "I looked at the great courses around the world -- Royal Melbourne, Troon, Turnberry -- and worked out what is so good about them. One thing that springs to mind -- bunkering." Fine ... but does nearly every bunker need to be so deep, that when you're stuck in one, playing partners can't even see your head? Don't mind a tough round at all -- but when the course relies on the same feature, over and over, to introduce difficulty -- it actually takes away from the beauty and challenge of the rest of the course. Finishing hole more parkland-like and a bit out of character ... leaving one to wonder, "what course did I just play?" The front nines from both courses would make the better composite 18, in my humble opinion. Don D.
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