Co. Kerry

Waterville is a true links course. Situated in the Ring of Kerry, almost at the bottom of southwestern Ireland, Waterville is constructed upon the high sand dunes bordering the Atlantic Ocean coast and warmed by the Gulf Stream. The links at Waterville were founded at the end of the nineteenth century but were redeveloped by the Irish-American John A Mulcahy in conjunction with leading Irish course designer Eddie Hackett in the 1970s. Their new course was immediately showered with praise; Ray Floyd describing it as ‘the finest links I have ever played’.

At 7184 yards, the par 72 Championship course is one of the longest in Europe and is often described as being for ‘the Big Man’, although some of the course’s length is due to the enormously large tees, which can be as long as fairways on other courses. In particular the back nine holes are seen as Waterville’s glory, and the 12th, known as ‘The Mass Hole’, is one of the greatest in Ireland. A longish short hole, the 12th is a 200-yard par 3, on which the tee shot from the striking vantage point provided by the elevated position must carry across a sea of dunes and a gully to the beautiful green below.