Palmerstown House

The conditioning and manicuring at Palmerstown House cannot be faulted – the course is out of the top drawer in those aspects. Some may criticize the design influences that owe little to the game of golf as it has been perceived for decades in Ireland but everything to golf as it is played in other parts of the world. Water hazards abound here and there are acres of bunkers – some shamrock shaped – which may not be everyone’s idea of golf in the Emerald Isle but there are plenty of traditional parkland and links courses elsewhere to keep the purists content as Palmerstown House is one of a new breed that caters for not just the national golfing community but the international golfer too.

The most photogenic hole here is one that is said to have taken more than a year to construct and refine the green and bunkering complex. The 178-yard par three 10th has an island green unlike any other isolated putting surface on other courses. Water is not the dominating feature but sand. The undulating green is almost entirely surrounded by two enormous bunkers that must have more sand in them than all the sand traps combined on many courses. Now, from the tee box, that’s what you call target golf!