The 18th green

is tightly guarded by water on the left. It is a great finishing hole. The club house facilities offer a coffee shop and reataurant to survivors of the course! Thanks guys! We had a great day.

Not a hole for drowning naughty ladies ...

A 'hook' is a golfing term for allowing the ball to fly from right to left in the air.

Nesting swan

Liffey flowing ...

The river Liffey flows through the course. Here it is in front of Straffan House. Those blue flowers on the left are those in front of the house in the previous photo.

Straffan House ...

from the front. You eventually begin to run out of superlatives for this course. It is simply awesome in all aspects.

The 17th green ...

was the scene of great celebrations when Darren Clarke holed an important putt for the Europenas.

Any Millionaire would do!

Waterfall

They even have a waterfall and picture-perfect stone bridges.

Straffan House

As you wander around the course, you catch glimpses of Straffan House which is the hotel on the course.

My choice ...

How does one get to meet a millionaire????

County living K Club style ....

There are several countyr mansions around the perimeter of the course for Michale Smurfits friends. This one is on the 10th green.

Tough par 3

All of the par 3's are guarded by water and bunkers. You have to be very brave and extremely accurate to get on the green with the drive.

The club house ...

is low rise and sits into the landscape unobtrusively - apart from the flags!

Fishing ....

for drowned balls.

Some mums ...

have lots of little ones. Unlike France, there were no frogs in these lakes.

Head down ....

eye on the ball, maintain the spine angle, right arm follow through .... all those things you must do to stay out of the water!

Meandering streams ...

are everywhere. I got safely across this one.

Trouble in Paradise!

These two guys were having a huge fight in a pond - woman trouble as usual!

Bunker-lake

We wondered if this was a lake with a bunker or a bunker with a lake? George said it was a sea with a beach!

Ducklings

Birdie!

Natural beauty ...

It is a fabulous course to play. There are hundreds of specimen trees and shrubs, water fowl and rich vegetation af all kinds.

Water hazard .....

The course is situated in Straffan, Co. Kildare. It is in mature parkland with lots of testing water features - including the river Liffey!

The K Club ...

The Palmer Course at the K CLub was the venue for the 2006 Ryder Cup. Margaret engineered for us to have a game there recently. It was our Christmas pressie from Mags and Hugh and Charlie and Jane. Thanks guys! We had a brilliant day .... lots of photos to come. We were very lucky to have had a dry day ..... it is April in Ireland ....