Castleknock Hotel & Country Club is located five miles to the west of Dublin city centre on land that was once part of the Somerton estate. Property developer, Paul Monahan, purchased Somerton House and associated grounds in the early 1980s with a view to living there and developing the site later on.

And so it came to pass that a 140-bed hotel, part of the Tower Hotel Group chain, was constructed in 2003 and a 160-acre, 18-hole parkland golf course – designed by Jonathan Gaunt – was opened two years later at a cost of over €4m.

The course has had ten acres of man-made water features and a state-of-the-art drainage and irrigation system installed. It is hard to believe now that large parts of the course were leased out in the 1990s to potato farmers!

Water features at seven holes at Castleknock, with every par three hole guarded by lakes which, as the club says, have recirculation systems “to ensure that the water is always fresh and inviting to the player but hopefully not to the golf ball.”

Castleknock is set in mature woodland, with the 3^rd to 6^th holes, in particular, enjoying the dramatic wooded backdrop of the Liffey Valley. Greens have been constructed to USGA specification and are well proportioned – average areas are 700 square metres – with subtle undulations to permit a large variety of pin positions.

With planning permission for a number of luxury houses on the property now granted, developer Paul Monahan is selling shares in the golf course and these are limited to 200 members of the golf club. Shares are not cheap at over €20,000 each but, thankfully, casual visiting golfers do not have to invest such a hefty sum of money to play at Castleknock, paying a fraction of that amount instead for a green fee.