K-Club South is an absolute gem

1.3 million cubic metres of earth have been moved to turn a bland site into a truly spectacular golf course, writes Charlie Mulqueen

THE COURSE doesn’t open officially until July 1 but already professional John McHenry and project director Paul Crowe are in no doubt as to the signature hole on the new South lay-out at The K-Club.

As we drew ever closer to this remarkable 600 yards par five, their excitement was becoming more and more apparent. And when we finally got there, it wasn’t difficult to see why!

Money was not an object when it came to building the 7th on a course that is planned to complement the existing venue for the Smurfit European Open since 1995 and which, of course, is set to stage the 2006 Ryder Cup matches. However, I won’t be at all surprised if the new surpasses the old in most peoples minds in the very near future. Significantly, the European Open will be played there from 2004 and interestingly it is difficult to find anybody at The K-Club prepared to completely dismiss the possibility of switching the Ryder Cup to the other side of the Liffey.

In any event, the South Course will open for play on schedule on July 1 with an exclusive pro-am costing 25,000 per team and Paul Crowe confirms that in excess of 6,000 rounds are booked for this year in advance of any marketing programme. What has been achieved here at Straffan by Arnold Palmer’s team of architects led by Ed Seay, Harrison Minchew and Erik Larsen is nothing short of remarkable given the extremely mundane piece of pastureland they were presented with.

One of its most visible and apparent characteristics is the challenge presented by the water hazards. Nearly a tenth of the 180 acreage is accounted for by water while the architects have also tried to apply as much of an “inland links” feel to the course as possible with high, undulating fairways, large greens and heavy rough while a visit to the deep bunkers is a guarantee of dropping at least a half shot each time.

And so let us return to the 7th, that monster 600 yard par five which is not alone a formidable test of golf in its own right but is also so aesthetically pleasing on the eye.

Interestingly, the hole owes its existence to the vision of Dr Michael Smurfit, owner of The K-Club and an enthusiastic advocate of the South Course, rather than that of the design team. We stood on the tee and Paul Crowe explained what it’s all about.

“The carry from here to the fairway bunker is 300 yards and is usually wind assisted”, he pointed out. “From the bunker to the green is another 300 yards while the green itself is sixty yards long so clubbing will be all important.” However, that’s only a small part of the story as far as the 7th is concerned. It will be known as Swallow Quarry because of the man-made rock face that has been created rising sixty feet out of the lake that borders the right hand side of the fairway. Within this rock face, a series of waterfalls and cascades have been constructed to further enhance the beauty of a hole that will surely be regarded as one the most imaginative in Europe.

“The vast majority of the rock face has been built on site”, enthused Crowe to the satisfied acknowledgment of course superintendent Gerry Byrne and his deputy Eugene Hennessy.

“We tried to create a quarry effect. The way the rock is manufactured, you take metal bars, bend them, cover with chicken wire, shoot concrete on them and coat with paint. It takes in the region of ten coats of paint to create the effect of the rock. The guys who did the work went up to the Wicklow mountains, saw what the rock looked like and then came back and replicated it here.

“Within the rock, we will have in the region of 5,000 plants, bracken, gorse, primrose, bluebell, all natural wild flowers. Within that there are six waterfalls going from small trickles to wild water coming down the rock face. So it’s a very dramatic golf hole. We’ve got the feature in the rock face but from a playability standpoint, it’s a bloody good golf hole in its own right. We’ve had to excavate down deep as we were worried about drainage so Gerry Byrne and his team went in and sand-plated the entire fairway. It will drain perfectly and we haven’t had a problem with it.

“To build this hole alone cost in excess of €1.7 million and for the full 18, we’re talking €12 million. But bear in mind, in that figure we put in the best irrigation, the best drainage, the best materials, the best designer in the world, so our construction costs would have a lot of elements that other courses wouldn’t have.”

1.3 million cubic metres of earth were moved to turn the bland site into a spectacular golf course. It has been planned very much on the same lines as the stadium courses in the United States and is certain to be the ideal location for the European Open from 2004 to 2006 and other tournaments sure to come here over the years. The pros are going to love what they find here and the likelihood is that will exert at least some pressure for a switch of courses for the Ryder Cup.

“There has already been a lot of speculation about that“, Paul Crowe concedes. “Arnold Palmer himself has indicated he believes this would be the better course for the Ryder Cup. But the contract is for the North Course and it would take agreement between Ryder Cup Ltd and the Smurfit Group to actually change the venue. It’s not under discussion at the moment but I believe the arguments will begin when people start playing the new lay-out.”

John McHenry points out that “every hole has a different concept, a different idea but they all marry together beautifully.”

The former European Tour player who is set to accept invitations to compete in both the European and Irish Opens next month, is especially enthusiastic about the clever use of water hazards and points to the closing six holes which all cross the dreaded water at some point, culminating in the magnificent 578 yards 18th with its island green located in the shadow of the enormous new clubhouse now in the early stages of construction.

With a maximum length of 7,277 yards, the course will be a real championship test which, however, will accommodate most standards with four or five tees on each hole so that it can be played to as little as 6,344 yards.