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. Carlow Golf Club, 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.