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THE K-CLUB
COUNTY KILDARE, IRELAND
The Kildare Hotel & Country Club is a 5-star resort on a former Georgian estate set on 300 rural acres along the River Liffey in County Kildare 30 minutes west of Dublin and 60 miles east of Nenagh, County Tipperary, in Central Ireland.
The estate's origins can be traced to the year 550 AD. After the twelfth century Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, the estate became a prize of the overlord Anglo-Irish gentry until being purchased by the Smurfit Group in 1988 and opened as a hotel in July 1991.
The two courses at the K Club are of Arnold Palmer design: The Palmer Course and the Smurfit Course. The K Club (first opened in 1994) is home to the Smurfit European Open since 1995, and was site of The Ryder Cup in 2005. Facilities include a practice area and driving range and lessons are available. Unusual for Ireland but now common with many exclusive golf resorts, the K Club comes with a pro shop for equipment rental and shopping, a helicopter pad, limousine transfers, 24-hour concierge service, and a personal secretarial service.
Accommodations are also available at the resort, beginning at $350 per night. There is a 2-person, 2-night inclusive golf package with 2 rounds of golf, accommodation plus Irish breakfast daily, at just over $500 per person.
The resort features fine dining in three themed restaurants, The Byerly Turk (French), Legends Restaurant (European), and the Island Inish Mor (barbecues and picnics). Jacket and tie is required after 7PM in all dining areas.
Beside golf, the resort has a sports center featuring indoor and outdoor tennis courts, squash courts and a gymnasium. There is a health and leisure club with indoor swimming pool, saunas, Jacuzzi, exercise room, massage, professional health and beauty treatments, hairdressing and solarium. There's fishing, too, river and lake game fishing on a private mile stretch of the River Liffey and on three lakes in the resort. All equipment can be provided including rods, clothing, bait and flies. Ghillies (fishing guides) are available all year round and tuition can be arranged. And, for those wanting to shoot a high score, there's clay target shooting. Horse riding is available nearby, as is horse racing, at Ireland number one racetrack, the Curragh. Not tired yet? Walks are available throughout the resort, and bicycles are also available.
The K Club is one of Ireland's several recent entries into the international golf resort sweepstakes. Guests get to play a fine inland course and experience exclusive pampering for a considerable sum. However, golfers looking to get a feel for the rich history of golf in Ireland should overlook the K Club. Yes, the courses are challenging, but its international resort status eliminates it as a representative Irish course. Golfers should be very pleased that great public courses remain so accessible in Ireland. The likes of Ballybunion, Lahinch, Enniscrone, Donegal Murvagh, Portmarnock, Tralee, Portstewart, and Royal Portrush keep the faith, and keep Ireland golf in a category by itself.
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