Kilkenny Golf Club is located at Glendine Co Kilkenny, Ireland. The club has an 18-hole course, which is of championship standard. It is ranked in the Golf Digest Ireland Top 100. The Club celebrated its centenary year in 1996.
Kilkenny Golf Club is one of the oldest golf clubs in Ireland. It was one of 97 clubs established in Ireland (today there are over 400) between 1892 and 1900. The club’s first location was at Barrett’s Hill (later known as Bishop’s Demesne) on the eastern side of Kilkenny City. After five years it moved to Richview on the Castlecomer Road in 1902. Two years later in 1905 the course was changed to Garranacreen, Hebron Road, a nine-hole course with stone walls and hedges, near the present day Nowlan Park.
In 1908 Kilkenny Golf Club moved to Kilcreene. The course, which was described as ‘splendid’, was opened by the Marchioness of Ormond on November 14th 1908. The Golfing Union of Ireland had been established in 1891 and Kilkenny Golf Club became affiliated to the Golfing Union in June 1910.
Since golf could only be played at Kilcreene in favourable weather the club moved to its present location at Newtown. The nine-hole course was officially opened in May 1924 by the Bishop of Ossory. The course was extended to eighteen holes in 1938. A clubhouse on the present location was built in 1962.
Today Kilkenny Golf Course, set on almost 50 hectares of parkland, is of championship standard. It measures 5,850m with a par of 71. Christy O’Connor Jnr. won the Carroll’s Irish Matchplay Professional Championship when it was hosted by Kilkenny Golf Club in 1973. The course is a popular venue for various regional play-offs and finals in the Leinster area.
Kilkenny Golf Club was formally opened by Mr E Smithwick, J.P in the year 1896 On This Day.
Kilkenny by brianfagan on 2014-08-08 14:06:31