The K Club's Ryder Cup course tops Ireland's Top 50 Parkland list for 2014

The K Club's Ryder Cup course tops Ireland's Top 50 Parkland list for 2014
The Palmer Course at The K Club.

The Palmer Course at The K Club.

The Palmer Course at The K Club. Just three courses from Northern Ireland made Golfing Weekly’s list of Ireland’s Top 50 Parkland Courses for 2014.

It’s not a figure that will sit well with fans of Belvoir Park or Shandon Park but no-one can accuse the magazine of bias after 4,165 golfers cast 96,125 online votes.

As Golfing Weekly points out: “… fingers cannot be pointed at a small coterie of experts, whether they be professional golfers, writers, top amateurs, golf course designers or tourism boffins. Nor can there be accusations that there was a concerted internet campaign to skew the results one way or another through mass voting.”

The list is, according to Golfing Weekly, “the compilation of opinions from ordinary golfers around Ireland…We only allowed one vote per IP address and of the 96,125 ranking votes cast, 98.7% of the 4,165 readers played every course they ranked.”

Whatever about the order, few will disagree that the Palmer Course at the K Club, Mount Juliet, Adare Manor, Druids Glen or Lough Erne should be ranked near the top of any parkland list.

With the venue for the 2014 Irish Open yet to be announced, it’s interesting to see the O’Meara Course ranked ninth, seven spots ahead of the Montgomerie.

Ireland’s Top 50 Parkland Courses 2014

  1. The K Club (Palmer Course)
  2. Mount Juliet
  3. Adare Manor
  4. Druids Glen
  5. Lough Erne
  6. Killeen Castle
  7. The Heritage
  8. Killarney Golf & Fishing Club (Killeen Course)
  9. Carton House (O’Meara)
  10. Slieve Russell
  11. Cork Golf Club
  12. Dun Laoghaire Golf Club
  13. Carlow Golf Club
  14. Headfort (New Course)
  15. The K Club (Smurfit Course)
  16. Carton House (Montgomerie Course)
  17. Concra Wood
  18. Hermitage Golf Club
  19. Palmerstown Stud Golf Club
  20. Fota Island
  21. Galgorm Castle
  22. Castle Golf Club
  23. Powerscourt Golf Club (West Course)
  24. Mount Wolseley
  25. Woodenbridge Golf Club
  26. Luttrellstown Castle Golf Club
  27. Bunclody Golf Club
  28. Naas Golf Club
  29. Malone Golf Club
  30. Dromoland Castle Golf Club
  31. Tullamore Golf Club
  32. Mullingar Golf Club
  33. Woodbrook Golf Club
  34. Knightsbrook Golf Club
  35. Esker Hills Golf Club
  36. Grange Golf Club
  37. Tulfarris Golf Club
  38. Glasson Golf Club
  39. Portumna Golf Club
  40. Castlemartyr Golf Club
  41. Rathsallagh Golf Club
  42. Westport Golf Club
  43. New Forest Golf Club
  44. Dunmurry Springs Golf Club
  45. Ballinrobe Golf Club
  46. Bantry Bay Golf Club
  47. Faithlegg Golf Club
  48. Castleknock Golf Club
  49. Beech Park Golf Club
  50. Glen Of The Downs Golf Club

You can view the full article, which explains the stats and  how we used the ranking scale equation to collate the final list  http://digital.golfingweekly.ie/i/220185/64