Britain & Ireland

Ireland

Carlow

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.

Carlow (Deerpark)

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.

The Mount Wolseley course is located within a 2,500-acre estate in County Carlow. The property has been developed to include, in addition to the 18-hole championship course designed by Christy O’Connor Jnr in 1995, holiday lodges, private residences and a hotel with sauna, steam rooms, swimming pool and gym. Mount Wolseley House was constructed in 1864 and is the centerpiece of the estate.

With a par of 72 and a total length of 7,106 yards, Mount Wolseley is a very demanding parkland course where only the really big hitters will be teeing up from the championship markers. Water features on more than half the holes, including five of the first six on the course. Many greens are multi tiered and difficult to read. Eight of the ten par fours are in excess of 400 yards long so that in itself tells you how tough this course is.

Three holes are worthy of review. Firstly, the 345-yard 4th is the shortest par four on the course but one of the toughest and an accurate tee shot is required followed by a short iron across a lake to a green that slopes away towards the water. Secondly, the par three 11th, measuring 207 yards from the championship tees, demands a precise long iron or wood across water to a two tier green that is very tricky. Lastly, the 413-yard, par four, 18th is a great closing hole where an approach from the oak tree lined fairway must be played up hill across a water hazard to a putting surface overlooked by the hotel gallery.

There are three practice holes behind the clubhouse maintained to the same standard as the regular holes on the course so there is no excuse for not being warmed up before starting out on a round at Mount Wolseley.

Mount Wolseley

The parkland golf course at the Mount Wolseley Resort is very demanding, where only the really big hitters will be teeing up from the championship markers.

One of twelve counties in the province of Leinster, Carlow is a land locked county – bordered by Laois, Kildare, Wicklow, Wexford and Kilkenny – in the sunny south east of the country where it occupies the second smallest area of any county in all of Ireland.

County Carlow has only a handful of golf clubs affiliated to the GUI through its Leinster Branch and two of those, Borris and Killerig, are new clubs that were formed since 1999. 

, the oldest in the county, boasts a 27-hole golf complex and its Deerpark course held the Irish Amateur Close Championships in 2002, the third time that the club has hosted the event. The Lancome Irish Women’s Close Championship was also played at Carlow in 2011 when home player Karen Delaney, the 2007 winner, was 2 up with two holes to play in the Final but ended up losing at the 19th hole to Dannielle McVeigh from Royal County Down Ladies.
