Adare Manor: the parkland built from scratch for the 2027 Ryder Cup

From 13 to 19 September 2027, Adare Manor in County Limerick hosts the Ryder Cup, a century after the first match in 1927 and 21 years after Ireland’s only previous edition, at the K Club in 2006. The course is a parkland, in a country better known for its Atlantic links.

A manor, a river and two architects

The house came first. The present Tudor Revival manor was begun in 1832 under the second Earl of Dunraven and finished in 1862, on the banks of the River Maigue at the edge of the village of Adare.

Golf arrived much later. Robert Trent Jones Sr. laid out an 18-hole championship course in 1995, and for two decades it was one of Ireland’s most admired inland tests. It hosted the JP McManus Pro-Am in 2005 and 2010 and the Irish Open in 2007 and 2008.

Adare Manor (2011). Photo: Michael Costa / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Those Irish Opens gave the old course its two great stories. In 2007, Pádraig Harrington beat Bradley Dredge in a play-off to become the first home winner of the event in 25 years. A year later, Richard Finch lost his footing on the bank of the Maigue while playing his third shot to the 18th and toppled into the river as the ball flew onto the green. He still made a six and won by two shots from Felipe Aguilar, at 10 under par, as Irish Golf Desk reported.

The Irish businessman and racehorse owner JP McManus bought the estate in 2015, and the resort closed for a full redevelopment. Tom Fazio was asked to redesign the golf course.

Rebuilt from the ground up

The resort says the order of the holes stayed the same and almost everything else changed: every green and tee was rebuilt from scratch, every bunker relined with Capillary Concrete, and all fairways and roughs were sand-capped. Golf Course Architecture, reporting as the work finished in early 2018, credits Fazio’s senior associate Tom Marzolf with leading the design and notes that the routing survived while the corridors inside it were reshaped.

The club’s figures for the job: 220,000 tonnes of sand, 77,000 linear metres of drainage and 41 bunkers. Every green sits on a SubAir system, which uses vacuum pumps to draw moisture out of the root zone and keep the surfaces firm, and is sown with Pure Distinction bentgrass.

From the championship tees it measures 7,509 yards, par 72, with multiple tees for other players.

No rough, raised greens

There is no real rough: the club says about 170 acres are mown wall to wall, so the defence comes mostly from around the greens. Fourteen of the 18 are elevated and surrounded by tightly mown bentgrass, which means a missed green can leave a putt, a bump-and-run, a lob or a hybrid. The club’s hole notes often suggest bouncing the ball on through the bentgrass approach, links advice on a parkland.

Off the tee, the fairways are wide but angled, with mature hardwoods, creeks and ponds (water features on 14 holes) deciding which side you want to be on. We think course management matters more here than power.

Higher handicappers get a fair go off the tee, with generous fairways and no rough to speak of, but the elevated greens and tight surrounds will expose a weak short game quickly. Links purists may find it too manicured.

Five holes, from the 9th to the 18th

The 9th. At 633 yards, the longest hole on the course. The club’s advice is to aim the second shot at the manor house, then find the middle of a green whose edges can’t be seen and whose run-offs are among the most severe on the course.

The 11th. A 224-yard par 3 with the Maigue down the right, and the only hole without a bunker.

The 15th. A 347-yard par 4 that tempts the long hitters, with the river catching anything right and a big bunker left of the green. The club describes the view of the manor and the river from here as one of the most dramatic on the course; it looks made for Ryder Cup fourballs.

The 16th. Only 157 yards, but the green is 85 yards long, which the club says makes it the second-longest green in Ireland. A front-left pin and a back-right pin are two different holes.

The 18th. The finish has the most history. A 585-yard par 5 with the river guarding the left, it asks the big question of the second shot: carry the Maigue and go for the green, or lay up and face a precise third into a green that is, in the club’s words, “very difficult to stop the ball on”. It is the same hole where Finch got his feet wet.

Donald against Furyk

Both captains are in place. Luke Donald will lead Europe for a third consecutive time, the first captain to do so since Bernard Gallacher, according to Sky Sports. Jim Furyk was named United States captain on 24 April 2026, his second turn after Le Golf National in 2018.

Booking a tee time at Adare

• Who can play: the resort says priority goes to guests staying at the hotel. Limited times may be offered to non-residents depending on the season, and an advance enquiry is essential.
• Green fee (at the time of writing): €550 per person for residents in the 2026 season.
• Caddies: compulsory for every golfer. The 2026 caddie fee is €120. There are no double-bag caddies, though a forecaddie can accompany two players sharing a cart. Carts with GPS cost €70.
• Season: the 2026 season runs from 26 May to 18 October, so only a fortnight remains this year. The course is closed on Mondays (bank holidays excepted) and shuts for the winter.
• Ryder Cup year: the resort will not take accommodation bookings from 1 to 30 September 2027. Tickets for the matches are sold only through the official Ryder Cup website.
• Getting there: about 25 minutes from Shannon Airport.

Sources

• Adare Manor: The Golf Course
• Adare Manor: Tom Fazio design
• Adare Manor: Course information
• Adare Manor: Golf course tour (hole by hole)
• Adare Manor: Green fees
• Adare Manor: Tournaments
• Adare Manor: Ryder Cup 2027
• Golf Course Architecture: Adare Manor, a project different to the norm
• Irish Golf Desk: Big splash as Finch wins Irish Open
• Ryder Cup: Jim Furyk named United States captain for 2027 Ryder Cup
• Sky Sports: Ryder Cup 2027, dates, venue and captains
• Wikipedia: Adare Manor