Rossmore

One of only a handful of golf courses located in County Monaghan, Rossmore Golf Club is as close to a hidden gem as you could care to imagine. The original 9-hole layout was set within a 65-acre site that was leased to the club by Baron Rossmore in 1916. This course was subsequently doubled in size by Des Smyth and architect Declan Branigan at the beginning of the 1990s and several holes have since been altered to incorporate further water features.

Rossmore is a hilly course with many of the holes routed up, over and around drumlin landforms that were created by glacial action thousands of years ago. It’s a little flatter just after the turn with streams crossed at holes 9, 10 and 14, and a couple of ponds featuring down the left hand side of the 364-yard 11th.

Almost half the holes are doglegged and these offer golfers a more cerebral game because tee shots have to be neither too short nor too long in order to set up the right approach to the green. The par fours at holes 5 and 6 are perfect examples of where these right-angled kinks in the fairway must be handled astutely.