11. Waterville – Top 100 UK and Ireland golf courses 2012

Architect: Tom Fazio, Eddie Hackett, John A Mulcahy Stats: 7,355 yds, par 72, SSS 75 GF: €144 weekdays, €163 weekends - a daily second round available at an additional charge of €48 subject to availability. Winter (Nov-March), €58 all week Visitor information: No restrictions W: watervillegolflinks.ie 2010 Ranking: 8 (down 3) Improvements since 2010 Rankings: Course: A significant number of changes have been made to the links since the end of 2010. These changes have subtly, yet significantly, improved the playing quality and aesthetics of the links.

Michael Murphy - Course Superintendent:

Tees - all the main tees on the four par 3s (4, 6, 12, 17) were re-built to further enhance shot value and improve wear and recovery. A new championship tee was also built on the 4th to dramatically enhance the look and feel of hitting the golf shot through, as opposed to over, the dunes. Padraig Harrington, who played the golf course for the first time in 22 years in July 2011, commented that the 4th hole "was as good a par 3 as any he had played on the Open rota."

Bunkers - all 93 bunkers were renovated/re-built during the winter of 2011/2012. This was done for various reasons - to repair wear and tear, enhance visibility, and most importantly, to have the playing consistency from bunker to bunker. Pathways - one of the longest pathways, from the 4th green to start of the 5th fairway, was completely lowered and re-routed to be hidden from view from everywhere on the golf course. One of Tom Fazio's trademarks is that paths should be functional yet always hidden from view. This was the last, and most significant, pathway to be done.

Short-game area - in response to player feedback, we constructed a new short-game area a short distance away from the clubhouse, where players can practise pitching, chipping and bunker play in privacy (and safety).

Fescue enhancement - one of the biggest improvements we feel have made to the golf course is the significant movement we have made towards fescue-dominated surfaces on greens tees and fairways. To further fast-track this process, we invested in a Vredo overseeder - an expensive but most effective way to get fescue into our playing surfaces. We have extensively used this machine to overseed throughout the links, and results are tremendous. A piece of equipment every links course should have. Panellists' Comments: "Surrounded by mountains and the wild scenery of the Ring of Kerry, and also the River Inny this is a spectacular course"; "A traditional links with a great variety of design, the constant changes of direction call for real variety of shot making that will have you concentrating at all times in the inevitable breeze"; "A stunning links golf course which plays firm and fast, and has some of the truest fescue blend playing surfaces I have seen anywhere."

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