Kilkea Castle

Location: Near Castledermot, Co Kildare. Contact: Golf Club manager - Adeline Molloy. Tel. (0503) 45555; fax (0503) 45505.

Course: 18-hole parkland. Back tees - 6,707 yds, par 70; Medal - 6,480 par 70; Women - 5,584 par 72.

Design: Jack McDaid, Jim Cassidy and Andy Gilbert. Green-fees: £25 including weekends.

Accommodation: Castle contains 36 rooms at £120 per room. Other amenities include a leisure centre and floodlit tennis courts.

Away from the country's leading championship courses, it seemed an unlikely place to make such a discovery. But in the delightfully pastoral setting of Kilkea Castle near Castledermot, Co Kildare, I recently played three holes that have arguably the greatest card-wrecking potential of any finishing stretch in Irish golf.

Could it be that the piper was attempting to convey such a warning, as his plaintive note from the castle courtyard carried on the breeze? In truth he was delivering a cheery welcome to the day's wedding party though, where my golfing fortunes were concerned, a dirge would have been far more appropriate.

With the tricolour flying from the castle battlements and clouds sweeping briskly overhead, our three-ball set off to survey the handiwork of two Dun Laoghaire GC members. Jack McDaid, normally an architect of buildings rather than golf courses, collaborated with engineer Jim Cassidy in laying out this parkland stretch, with help from Carlow professional, Andy Gilbert.

That was about five years ago but the course wasn't officially opened until last year. And I learned from golf club manager, Adeline Molloy, that it has recently become affiliated to the Golfing Union of Ireland and the Irish Ladies' Golf Union.

These were clearly important steps in an overall plan for the project, conceived by the owner, Dave Conway. A resident of Hong Kong, he is obviously proud of being born in Brooklyn of Irish parents who actually met and married in the US.

In 1987, he bought the castle and an adjoining 22 acres for about £350,000 and has since spent £8 million on upgrading his investment to its present state. And his plans for further expansion include a block of 39 suites to be built on a vacant site behind the clubhouse.

It hardly seems right to mention the clubhouse without acknowledging the quality of its design and structure. Through the use of local stone quarried in an area called The Rushes on the Athy/Castlecomer road in Co Laois, it has been given a traditional look which beautifully complements the castle and its subsidiary buildings.

Meanwhile, with the distinction of being the oldest inhabited structure of its kind in Ireland, Kilkea Castle was built and first occupied in 1181 by Sir Walter de Riddleford, a young knight who was with the first group of invading Anglo/Normans 11 years previously.

In recent times, the house was occupied after World War II by the Marquess of Kildare until he went to live permanently in England in 1960. So it was that a once magnificent estate, which consisted of 73,000 acres in 1883 when it had a valuation of £56,000, was taken over by the Land Commission and divided up into the holdings.

So, one is talking in relatively modest terms with the expansion of the 22 acres to its current 200 acres through Conway's purchase of these parcels of land of various dimensions, from local residents. "At first sight, I felt the place was ideal for tourism and I can't think of a better way of exploiting its potential than through golf," said Conway. "My long-term plans include considerable further investment."

Some of that money, no doubt, will be spent on upgrading the course, which could use greater definition at certain holes on the front nine, possibly through mounding or modifications in the routing. But for the most part, splendid use has been made of the ubiquitous River Griese, which seems to be an ever-present hazard, even if there are actually 10 holes where it is not in play.

Its tortuous route brings it into play at both the first and second holes, despite the fact that they are laid out at an angle of about 60 degrees to each other. It is particularly effective at the par-five second, where the player has to gamble on carrying it off the tee, and at the 442-yard eighth (off medal tee), where it dominates the approach shot.

Progressing to the homeward journey, on the other side of the castle, involves a lengthy walk from the ninth green to the 10th tee. But the effort is immediately recompensed by the sight of the charming, 146yard 10th, nestling among delightfully mature trees.

Yet on reflection, nothing really prepares the player for the sudden rush of adrenalin on seeing the short 16th. Quite simply, this is one of the finest par threes one is likely to see anywhere in the golfing world, a hole that would almost certainly decide whether the front-runner in a tournament had the nerve and skill to see the challenge through to a satisfactory conclusion.

Anyway, evening was drawing in as I stood there on the medal tee and surveyed the green 177 yards away. Initial fear at the sight of trees to the left of the green, heightened to panic as my eyes settled on the river which took a diagonal route across the front of the green before, heading straight down the right side.

Then I noticed the lone bunker on the right, between the putting surface and the river. Here was a sandtrap to gladden the heart, especially if one's tee-shot happened to be slightly pushed. Indeed I could imagine competitors, with this very target in mind, managing to sound uncannily like the immortal Baldrick: "Fear not, Blackadder, for I have a cunning plan."

One suspected that the cunning plan would need to be augmented by not a little skill, if the 16th were to be survived with one's score intact. And the same could be said of the 17th, a dog-leg right, where the dreaded river beckons once more off the tee. Lay up short of the river and trees block the route to the green. Take on the river and one would need to be in the whole of one's health, barring a strong, helping wind.

There was no respite down the last. This time the dog-leg was to the left, where a large pond eating into the fairway, awaited the over-ambitious power-hitter. A much more prudent approach would be to play its 422 yards as a three-shotter and hope for a pitch and putt par, as I did on a tiered green where, with evening closing in, the castle cast a giant shadow.

Membership at Kilkea is currently open and according to Ms Molloy, the plan is to set a limit of 350 to 400. "At the moment, we cater for between 150 and 200 societies each year and there is clearly a limit to what the course can take, if we are to ensure comfort for all," she said.

Quality appears to be the byword in this fine facility. In terms of construction and materials, the owner was clearly attempting to match the standards applied in the building of the castle 800 years ago. Totally appropriate, one might conclude, for a Royal and Ancient game.