Druids Glen

 
The 13th, a diagonal drive from the right of the picture that invites you to flirt with the stream, but would probably tempt you a bit more if the fairway was mown closer to the water

 

The par three 8th - modelled on the 16th at Augusta National

 
The approach to the par four 7th, a hidden creek left of the green
 

Course name: Druids Glen
Location: Newtownmountkennedy, Co. Wicklow, Ireland
Four Word Course Review: Ruddy's attempt at Augusta

I keep hearing how beautiful Druids Glen is in late spring and summer, when the flowers are in bloom, but I find it hard to believe it could look more charming than it did with the leaves turning.

There's no doubt Druids Glen is a beautiful course, but it's not a dumb blonde. There's a great mix of doglegs left and right and holes uphill and down. The 4th was a really fun par four tracking right over a hill that rewarded a brave tee shot and the 7th bent sharply in the opposite direction while falling steeply from an elevated tee, followed by a fun one-shotter based on the 16th at Augusta (the first par three, the 2nd, is modelled on the second shot at The Road Hole at St Andrews).

But as good as those holes are, a brace of two-shotters on the back nine take the cake.

The 13th features a drive from an elevated tee inviting you to flirt with a flanking stream on the right to get the best angle for your long iron second shot. Not only will the approach play shorter if you are brave with your drive, but the further right you go, the more land is available in front of the green.

Two holes later, the flat 15th stakes a claim as perhaps the best hole on the course. Your options from the tee are to throttle back on your drive and play safely left, short of a large lake, or blaze away over a right-side fairway bunker to a peninsula of fairway that gives you little more than a wedge to the green, which has water lapping at its front edge.

An almost island green par three penultimate hole takes the use of water at the short holes to, or perhaps past, the limit. Three of the four involve a considerable water carry, and while they are all enjoyable enough individually, the repetition is a bit tedious.

And how about that 18th?! Not one, not two, but SIX waterfalls!

Having arrived with low expectations, I was impressed. A pleasant way to spend four hours, and perhaps one that sneaks into the GB&I Top 100 on its tournament history. It sits one place behind NZGC, which I think is streets ahead, but it calls for plenty of shots and different shapes, with some good risk/reward decisions to be made.