DG IRELAND 2021 – Carlow Golf Club
By Editor Kevin Markham
They don’t come much older or more distinguished than Carlow Golf Club.
The club dates back to 1899, although the current site wasn’t employed until 1922. Tom Simpson revised the layout in the early 1940s and the course has remained unchanged since then.
Given the current trend of modernising older parklands, Carlow is a perfect example of why clubs should embrace their roots.
A big rolling landscape provides some elegant and natural settings for small, devilish greens. The terrain is well wooded but despite chaperoning holes so beautifully the trees rarely cause problems.
The acclaimed 8th is a perfect exception as the hole descends sharply through a dark corridor of beech and oak. It may not have the dramatic shapes of big modern parklands but Carlow fiercely embodies the art of subtlety and old-school quality.
Favourite Hole: The par four 16th is an idyllic and natural par four rising between rolling shoulders of fern and deep grasses to a small, perched green. It is Index 2.
What’s in the Bag? Strong driving and a positive putting stroke.