The K Club

A 550-acre estate on the River Liffey in County Kildare, centred on the 1832 Straffan House, with two Arnold Palmer courses, the 2006 Ryder Cup venue among them, 30 minutes from Dublin.

In 2006 Palmer North at The K Club hosted the Ryder Cup, the first played in Ireland. The European Open came to the club 13 times between 1991 and 2007, and Palmer North also hosts the Irish Open. Arnold Palmer designed both courses. Palmer South was designed as an inland links, with dune-style mounding and rock features, and the club recommends it to golfers with a good level of play, so beginners should start elsewhere. Hotel guests pay a lower green fee than visitors on both courses.

Practise on the Trackman driving range on Palmer South, or at K Golf World, an indoor simulator venue with a sports bar.

The estate covers 550 acres at Straffan in County Kildare, 30 minutes from Dublin’s city centre and airport. At its centre is Straffan House, built in 1832 for Hugh Barton of the Barton & Guestier wine firm and modelled on a château at Louveciennes, west of Paris. The house, with its mansard roof and campanile tower, forms the east wing of the hotel. The Jefferson Smurfit Group bought the estate in 1988 and named it The Kildare Hotel & Golf Club. That name later became The K Club.

The bedrooms run from standard rooms of 34 m² to the Viceroy Suite, 140 m² and inspired by the original Straffan House. Two former gate lodges are let as self-catering houses. Dinner is at the Barton Grill, under 20 original works by Jean Lowndes, or at the Palmer Restaurant, whose terrace looks over Palmer North. The Blue Martini bar pours whiskeys, gins and champagnes.

The K Spa has seven treatment rooms, two private suites, an aromatic garden and a 16.5-metre pool, with an outdoor Canadian hot tub. Off the course, the K Trails give you six kilometres of riverside and woodland walks, with free bikes, and the estate offers fishing on the Liffey, falconry and padel.