Knock - Down - Northern Ireland

In the 1920s, the top firm of English golf architects, Colt, MacKenzie and Alison, designed the original course at Knock Golf Club. Harry Colt had already laid out Swinley Forest (1910) and St Andrews Eden (1913) whilst Alister MacKenzie would go on to create Royal Melbourne (1931) and Augusta National (1933). Charles H. Alison later designed Hirono in 1932 so Knock contains features relating to not one, but three great golf architects. However, we understand that Alison did much of the detailed design.

It is no real surprise therefore that Knock is regarded as one of the best inland courses in Ireland with a par of 70 that is reputed to be one of the hardest to match in the country – eight of the fourteen par fours on the card measure in excess of 400 yards – and the stretch of par fours from the 5th to the 9th are very demanding.

The signature hole is the testing 6th, measuring 453 yards, which is a particularly attractive hole in the spring when the cherry blossom trees are in full bloom. A good tee shot will finish short of the stream crossing the fairway then the hole follows a slight dogleg left to a well protected green sloping from right to left. The 6th hole also features a monkey puzzle tree which is more than 70 feet tall and believed to be older than the club.

Tree-lined fairways, well positioned bunkers and pristine putting surfaces result in an exceptional golfing challenge at Knock.

Knock Golf Club hosted the Ladies' British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship in August 2016 won by England's Sophie Lamb. The 18-year-old finished with a one-under-par total, two strokes ahead of Great Britain and Ireland international Chloe Williams.