Killarney Golf Club, Killeen Course: Lakeside Championship Golf Beneath Kerry’s Mountains
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Most of the famous golf in Kerry is links golf, played on the dunes above the Atlantic. Killarney is the exception that every serious Kerry itinerary should make room for. The Killeen Course is parkland, not links, and it is laid out along the shore of Lough Leane with the Kerry mountains rising behind the far greens. It is the inland championship round on a coast defined by links, and it has the tournament record to justify its place.
Killarney Golf & Fishing Club dates to 1893, but the Killeen Course as golfers know it today is a more modern creation, developed in the early 1970s and refined repeatedly since. It has hosted the Irish Open four times, and on a still morning, with the lake flat and the mountains mirrored in it, there are few more beautiful places to play in Ireland.
At a Glance
Course: Killarney Golf & Fishing Club (Killeen Course), Co. Kerry
Type: Parkland (championship)
Founded / opened: Club founded 1893; Killeen Course developed in the early 1970s
Main architects: Dr Billy O’Sullivan and Eddie Hackett (original); David Jones (early 1990s); Donald Steel (mid-2000s redesign)
Par / back tee yardage: Par 72; plays to around 7,000 yards from the championship tees, depending on setup
Best paired with: Ballybunion, Waterville, Dooks and Tralee, as the parkland day on a Kerry week
Practical note: Lakeside parkland on Lough Leane; host of the Irish Open in 1991, 1992, 2010 and 2011; buggies available.
The Course: O’Sullivan, Hackett, and Donald Steel
The Killeen Course was built in the early 1970s, when the club expanded onto new ground along Lough Leane. The routing was led by Dr Billy O’Sullivan, a celebrated local figure, with Eddie Hackett, and it involved reworking the older Mahony’s Point course and building new holes on the lakeside land.
Ahead of the Irish Opens of the early 1990s, the architect David Jones refined the routing and the green complexes, drawing more of the lake and the internal water features into play. A more substantial redesign followed in the mid-2000s under Donald Steel, who lengthened and modernised the layout, moved several greens closer to the water, and rebuilt the bunkering and putting surfaces. The course now plays to par 72 in the low-7,000-yard range from the championship markers, a genuine test for low handicaps and professional fields alike.
The Signature Holes
The lakeside holes: The stretch that runs along Lough Leane is what golfers remember. Water down one side, the mountains behind, and approach shots that have to flirt with the lake to find the right line into the green.
The closing run: Steel’s redesign sharpened the finish, with greens set near the water and decisions to make on every approach. It is a finish built to hold a professional field, and it has done so more than once.
The setting: The mountains of Kerry frame the round throughout. On a calm day the reflection of the peaks in the lake is the photograph the group sends home.
The Killarney Experience
Killarney is a comfortable, well-run club used to visitors and to tournament golf. Buggies are available, the practice facilities are good, and the town of Killarney, one of the busiest tourism centres in Ireland, is minutes away with its hotels, restaurants and traditional-music pubs. For a group basing itself in Killarney for a Kerry week, the Killeen Course is the round on the doorstep.
Getting There and What’s Nearby
The course is a few minutes from Killarney town and roughly 20–30 minutes from Kerry Airport, traffic dependent. It is an ideal base for the wider Kerry circuit: Dooks, Waterville and the Ring of Kerry to the west, Tralee and Ballybunion to the north. Killarney National Park, the Gap of Dunloe and the lakes themselves give a non-golfing partner a full programme without leaving the area.
Why Killeen Belongs on Your List
For a Kerry itinerary built around links, Killeen is the parkland change of pace that keeps the week from becoming a single note. It is a four-time Irish Open venue in one of the most scenic settings in Irish golf, and because Killarney is such a natural base for the region, it is the easiest marquee round to fit into the schedule. For groups travelling with non-golfers, the town and the national park make it the most comfortable hub on a Kerry trip.
The Killeen Course features in Argyle Links’ Kerry and Southwest Ireland itineraries, often as the parkland day on a links-led week. We arrange tee-time requests and build itineraries around confirmed access, coordinate accommodation in Killarney, and arrange chauffeured transfers. See our itineraries at argylelinks.com.