100 Years in the Short Grass – Naas County Kildare Golf Club 1896-1996

Naas Golf Club was originally a nine-hole course founded in 1896 but was known as the County Kildare Golf Club until 1966. The original course was located in Halverstown and then moved to Decoy just outside Naas. It moved several times including a time at Monread before settling at its current location in Kerdiffstown, Naas, Co. Kildare in 1940. The club is privately owned and operated by its members.

The nine-hole course at Decoy was designed by George Coburn, the Portmarnock professional in 1903 and considered, at the time, one of the longest in Ireland and was receiving many compliments for the condition of the course and was given the name “The Decoy”. By 1911 the lease at The Decoy had expired and the club moved to Oldtown in Naas where a new course was laid out by W.C. Pickeman. In 1922 they secured a 21 year lease of the lands at the “Knocks”, owned by Valentine Monread, and Cecil Barcroft was engaged to design the course and particular praise was lavished on his bunkering at the new course. By 1939 they had prepared themselves for the expiry of the lease and had secured a 67 acre site at Kerdiffstown from the Land Commission and John Rorke, the county surveyor, was asked to lay-out and construct the new course. Further alterations were made by Tom Travers, the Dun Laoghaire professional, in 1946 and Eddie Hackett was involved in the reciting of holes for reasons of safety and trespass.

The club acquired additional land in 1989 from the Frederick Ozanam Trust Inc., allowing the extension to 18 holes by 1992. The eighteen-hole course was designed by Arthur Spring (although the club reached out to Ruddy/Craddock and Donald Steel for proposals), with Patrick Merrigan, an agronomist, and partner on the project. In 2002 Jeff Howes carried out redesign work on holes 1 and 11 through to 18. Naas Golf Club is a traditional parkland course with a par of 71 with tree-lined fairways and strategically placed bunkers. The club will host the 2025 Irish Senior Men’s Amateur Open Championship. Notable players include Joe Gorry, Paul McGinley, Eddie Dunne, Arnold O’Connor, Padraig O’Rourke, Jack Hume, Robert Brazill, Jonathan Yates, Conor O’Rourke and Gavin Lunny.