Ireland Golf Course Reviews
K Club (North) Golf Course ReviewStraffan, Ireland
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K Club (North) Golf Course Overview: Home of the 2006 Ryder Cup where team Europe thumped team USA, this golf course is one of two golf courses residing at the opulent K Club resort (for those history buffs, you will note the nines have been flipped since the days of the Ryder Cup). Characterized by lush conditions, plenty of trees and water hazards, this golf course puts an absolute premium on accuracy. To be fair, the pro tees aren't even included here because they are absurdly long, but even from the "regular person" tees, the struggle to find fairways and hit the well-guarded greens is a real one for any golfer. The best golf holes are reviewed below:
K Club (North) Golf Hole 2: This dogleg left plays uphill to a fairway with bunkers to the right. The aggressive play is to cover some of the trees at the corner of the dogleg to leave a shorter approach, but, of course, finding the trees or rough left of the fairway will leave a nearly impossible approach to the green. The approach is a little downhill to a green nestled next to the first of many lakes the golfer will face. The green is also narrow, missing right will leave a ticklish chip to most pins, with the water always lurking.
K Club (North) Golf Hole 2: This dogleg left plays uphill to a fairway with bunkers to the right. The aggressive play is to cover some of the trees at the corner of the dogleg to leave a shorter approach, but, of course, finding the trees or rough left of the fairway will leave a nearly impossible approach to the green. The approach is a little downhill to a green nestled next to the first of many lakes the golfer will face. The green is also narrow, missing right will leave a ticklish chip to most pins, with the water always lurking.
K Club (North) Golf Hole 3: The day's first par three isn't overwhelmingly long, but there is water left and bunkers short-right and long-left as well. Thus, accuracy and distance most both be handled well here.
K Club (North) Golf Hole 4: Another strong dogleg left par four on the front, this one has heavy trees to avoid on the left, but the further the drive can go, and hug the trees to the left, the better the approach. The green is elevated above bunkers left and a pond short and to the right. Any shot not finding the flat spot of the putting surface is in trouble.
K Club (North) Golf Hole 6: Long and fairly straight, this golf hole requires a big drive to be hit between the thick trees to the left and the pond that sits to the right of the fairway. From there, the approach has to avoid one main greenside bunker to find one of the larger and flatter greens on the golf course.
K Club (North) Golf Hole 7: This hole is pretty unique as the driving area is pretty wide even though there is a river to the left. The player can also try to cover the trees to the right side of the fairway that snakes right behind them, but it takes a big hit. From there, the layup is played pretty much anywhere right of the river. The green is located on an "island" over the creek and is small and well guarded by bunkers left. Only the best golfers can go for the UGIR here.
K Club (North) Golf Hole 8: Not much on paper, this short par four sweeps left right along the river. Thus, angle and distance from the tee have to be well calculated. Of course, the green also hangs out right by the river and there are thick trees right of the fairway so, again, precision is needed from tee to green.
K Club (North) Golf Hole 10: The start of the back nine has a quirky tee shot downhill that has to find its way as far down as possible, but also avoid the water, bridge, trees, bunkers and depressions. From there, the shot is slightly uphill to yet another well guarded green with a "bump" to its left that can send shots in various directions.
K Club (North) Golf Hole 13: This par five features a partially blind tee shot as the ideal drive will cover edge of the hill on the left side and find the fairway that moves slightly left behind it; however, going too far left will leave a shot from the side of the hill. There is also water to the right and then a lot of bunkers plaguing the golfer for the second and third shots. The green is fairly wide but does have a couple more bunkers guarding it.
K Club (North) Golf Hole 15: Another tough golf hole, this one plays up to a hill about 200 yards from the green, but a big drive can carry that and bound down closer to the hole. This is helpful as the second shot is pretty scary with a creek crossing in front of and then to the left of the green.
K Club (North) Golf Hole 16: Not the longest par four on the golf course, but certainly one of the hardest, this has the tightest fairway with thick trees left and water to the right. The approach is then all carry over another lake with a hidden water hazard also back-right of the green. Thus, a shorter approach is strongly preferred, but that requires a strong and accurate drive, so the golfer has to pick their poison to succeed here.
K Club (North) Golf Hole 17: The final par three has the river just right of the green and a bunker guarding the front and left half of the green, so yet another precise shot is required.
K Club (North) Golf Hole 18: For the aggressive golfer who needs birdie or somebody who has already been defeated by the golf course, the great thing about the final par five is that a drive that cuts the corner will allow for an attempt to hit the green in two. Of course, there is a massive lake left and short of the green that still has to be negotiated, but the green is huge as well. The standard play will allow for an easier drive to a wide fairway.
