The K-Club is a GREAT Match Play course

[ForkaB]

Even though in our exalted hierarchy, it might be better referred to as the K-9 Club, let's call a spade a spade.  Just like the Belfry, this golf course gives great Match Play.

So much for this "golf courses built by old dead guys are better match play courses" bullshit.

Let's enjoy!

[Dan Kelly]

Rich --

Haven't been able to see much, yet. The Bandwidth Gendarmes are watching me!

Why is the K Club a great match play course?

Also: What courses we might have heard of aren't great match play courses?

[JESII]

I think any course could be great to watch match play on when it's the top players in the world doing the playing. Match play is so much more fun to watch than medal play it matters very little the matchplay-ableness[/b] of the golf course. When a course is set with high rough, fast greens and the like there are going to be bogies. When you also have the best players in the world playing with partners there will also be bogies. Isn't the possibility of both the excitement of match play. Wins and losses happen all the time and they have significance.

P.S. I cannot (and am not) comment on the quality, match play or not, of the K club, I have never been there. It looks good, just not authentic Ireland, which is fine by me.

[Ulrich Mayring]

The course is great for matchplay, because it offers many risk/reward situations with reachable Par 5s and lots of water. As could be seen in the morning session, once a team was down and only a few holes were to go, they started risking more and found a course that gave them chances. Especially the closing holes are great matchplay holes, Woods and diMarco both tried to carry the fairway bunker and both came up short. Monti was successful with an ultra-high risk tee shot over water, leaving him only 100 yards in, where even Tiger had 150.

It may not be an Irish or even European course, but it creates high drama.

Ulrich

[George Pazin]

Because I can never - or at least rarely - agree with Rich, I'll offer the following: I'd rather see green complexes and contour, as opposed to water, be the reason scoring is disparate - thus, the old guys are still better (generally).

 

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Rihc, the whisky and excitement must be getting too you. Match play is great anywhere at this level, but how much better would it be at Dornoch or on one of a hundred great courses in the UK designed by the alive and/or dead.

[Jay Flemma]

its too bad watery splashes are sexy on TV...give me sandy blowouts and shaggy dunes.

Bury me in a pot bunker.

Oh well, K clubs still not scarier than Luke Donald's fiance's hat...pic here:

http://jayflemma.blogspot.com/2006/09/things-i-dont-like-about-ryder-cup-vol.html

[Dan Herrmann]

Here's my gripe. (and, yes, I've been there).

The course is no better (or worse) than any number of Palmer courses you can find anywhere in the SE USA.  The crime is that it looks EXACTLY like one of those courses.

Believe me, County Kildare has some wonderful land for golf - the K club just isn't on any of that land.

[Robert Thompson]

It might have made for good TV, but the course isn't good for spectators or good in general.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Rich,
I'm playing the K Klub tomorrow.

The Palm Desert Klassic Klub, and I'll report back my findings to you, as well as see if there are any holes similar to what our Euro-boys are playing this weekend. I'm sure your right though, it will be GREAT.

[Paul Richards]

>The K-Club is a GREAT Match Play course


So far, that's true.

Still wish it were being played on one of the great Irish links courses though.............

[David Lott]

Unless you've played there, which I have not, it's hard to tell whether it's a good match play course, since the lame TV coverage is telling us so little about the nature and quality of the holes, or the strategy needed to play them.

[Paul Richards]

David

I've played there.  And I've played 100 other parkland golf courses just like it all over the US.

I doubt I could tell you what distinguishes one from another, however........

 

[Willie_Dow]

'Sort of like the thought, Rich; and Pine Valley is like that.  Trouble that you don't expect - when you go for "it"!

[rboyce]

i only watched on the internet, but the course did not capture my interest. the splashdown scenario is anticlimactic to me. my feeling is that Palmer designs tend to be Augusta wannabes. but, that generates a question for me - why do i enjoy watching the Masters so much more than a tournament on a Palmer designed course? i'm not sure there is an easy anwer to that one, although some obvious answers come to mind.

[Paul Richards]

As far as the golf course architecture is concerned, I kept switching back from the Ryder Cup to the Texas Open.

Having played both golf courses, frankly I prefer the one with the roller coaster as being more fun.



Also, it was more exciting to me to watch fellow Illini D.A. Points take the 36-hole lead in his quest for his first PGA Tour victory!!!

Go Illini!!!

[Phil Benedict]

7 of 8 matches reached the 18th hole, which is a great match play hole.  DiMarco bailing out right on 18 to avoid the water was the key moment of the day - the 144th hole played today in 8 matches.  The results speak for themselves in terms of compelling match play.  BTW, I hate water hazards!

[David Stamm]

hey, rboyce. It's because it was originally designed by a old dead guy!

[Dan Herrmann]

Hey - can you imagine what those trees will look like in 10-15 years?  As you can guess, things grow well in Ireland, and the trees will probably get quite large.

It's been 7 years since I was there, and the trees were wee saplings at that time.

Dr. Smurfit is headed for a tree-choked US-style Palmer course.

Oh boy.