The 36th Ryder Cup Matches in September 2006 will be played on the Arnold Palmer designed North course at the K Club. The course was finished in 1991 on what was then a 330 acre estate with mature woodlands and the river Liffey flowing through it. Arnold Palmer and his right hand man Ed Seay designed and delivered an immaculate parkland course which utilises the river and mature woodlands to specatular effect. The course is unmistakably American in design ethos (which you will either love of hate!). In the early days the course suffered from waterlogging (a function of the relentless Irish rain), spurred on by media sniping the owner Dr. Michael Smurfit wheeled into action and installed a state of the art drainage system and re-built many of the greens. This resulted in a course which is playable in all weathers – bear in mind that doesn’t mean it’s fun for specators in the driving Irish rain – so we better all pray for an Indian summer for Kildare!
The best on-line guide to The K Club can be seen at http://www.virtualcaddy.com/kclub
This is the free sample link from the AIBRyder Cup website, but provides a fantastic narrated guide to 4 of te best holes. The full guide is available to subscribers at http://www.virtualcaddy.com
[…] The competition is being held at the K Club in Ireland this year. This is a first for Ireland and a crowd of approx 40,000 people a day are expected to attend the event. There are stringent security measures in place and access to the village of Straffan is restricted. Fans are advised to use the Park and Ride facilities to get to the event or to use the Rail Shuttle service. For a zoomable map of the area click here. […]