Several years ago, I wrote an article for Irish Golfer about sibling rivalry at 36-hole golf clubs. The purpose was to show how the two 18-hole courses balanced against each other in terms of size, attraction, challenge, and importance. I gave them a weighting out of ten. Royal County Down received a weighting of 7:3 between the Championship course and the Annesley, while Lahinch was 8:2.
Powerscourt is a simpler balancing act. Here are two impressive parklands, both par-72, and each is as big and as important as the other. The weighting comes in at an almost predictable 5:5. The views from this County Wicklow club are, on the other hand, ten out of ten. Come and play here and then tell me views don’t make a difference. The Great Sugarloaf is on show constantly, as are other hills, mountainsides, and forests, not to mention Powerscourt House itself. And the Powerscourt Distillery, of course.
But I digress.
Those who have played the two courses will have a preference – see the side panel – and Irish Golfer certainly does, as it rates the West course at 52 in Ireland’s Top 100, while the East comes in at 79.
No doubt at this point in the conversation, and assuming you have played both courses, you will already have thought to yourself which of the courses you prefer. Allow me to change your mind – because this is where things get interesting. I reckon I could sell either course to you and make you switch your allegiance. Each has its strengths, and while I do have a favourite, I wouldn’t disagree with anyone who chose the other 18 holes. That’s part of the beauty of a place like this: choice and quality go hand in hand.
I’ll write about the greens for a week if you want me to, because whichever course you choose, you are in for a wild ride on sublime surfaces. There is more swing here than Duke Ellington, and several greens will bewitch and bemuse you. The 16th on the West continues to bamboozle me, while heaven help you if you’re on the wrong tier of East’s 8th or in the wrong spot on the 7th. The greens may be bigger on the West, but, on either course, you are in for a day of heartbreak if you’ve brought a cold putter. Bring a hot one, and you’ll be beaming from ear to ear.
The East was the first to open, in 1996. The 18 holes were laid out by the late Peter McEvoy, an early course in his design career – Fota Island (1993) was his very first, alongside Christy O’Connor Junior – but the East was a solo design which he started in 1994/95. He happily admitted during an interview with me in 2023 that he had tried to create 18 signature holes and signature greens at Fota Island, several of which had to be changed ahead of the 2001 Irish Open.
He said of his work at Powerscourt East: “I like it a lot. I was moderating my position on producing 18 feature greens, but I had probably only just emerged from the other side after Fota Island. It is a well-balanced course, and there are some really great holes. There was a very natural hole, the par-3 16th, and I know I overdid that green, which had to be changed, so I was still a bit dangerous on overdoing the greens. It is a great site with sandy soil, and I’m very proud of it.”
Dangerous, maybe, but the greens – across both courses – are some of the most exciting you will ever putt on, or play into, for that matter.
It uses the lower ground, with some wonderfully rumbling terrain. Holes 2, 3, and 4 sit amidst towering beech trees, their stout silver trunks rising skywards, dwarfing the golfers beneath. There are plenty of curves to the landscape for the rest of the front nine, but trees were planted to frame fairways. The back nine employs a deep wood – two, in fact – and deer are quite likely to appear at any time of day as you work your way over more tumbling terrain that ends with the signature stretch of three holes, 16 to 18. There are some intriguing elements to the course, not least the tiered green on the par-5 12th, which drops down towards the back of the green, nor the 18th green, which is tucked to the left, almost out of sight from the fairway.
The West came later, opening in 2003. Designed by David McLay Kidd (of Bandon Dunes fame), the course quickly rises to higher ground. If you read the side panel comments about the courses, you’ll notice a common theme regarding the West: it is more open than the East. It also bounces around all over the place, using the terrain to full advantage. Only the par-4 9th, at the course’s farthest point, could be considered level. It is clever and fun routing.
There are still plenty of big trees hanging around, but you always feel there is more space. That space gives added muscularity, instilling the misguided perception that you need to drive the ball harder. The West is actually shorter than the East (White tees: 5,891m vs 5,929m), and the greens are, overall, bigger. The bunkering also adds to the course’s openness, with only 55 bunkers versus the East’s 80. And yet some people view the West as the trickier course. Speaking my mind, I wonder if part of the reason for that comes down to the more generous width of the hole channels and the increased possibility that, after your drive, you will be out of position for approach shots. It may also be because of the greater shifts in terrain, which hide more of the putting surfaces. That par-5 16th is an obvious example, but so are holes 3, 12, and 14, where you will fret over pin positions. These are not greens where you want to leave yourself 50-foot putts, as delicious as those putts might be.
So, which is my favourite? The West. No, the East. No, wait.
If you had asked me five years ago, my answer would have been the West, but as I continue to play both, my allegiance has shifted. Part of that has to do with a video I made of the East course three years ago. I spent a lot of time on the course, looking at it in different ways and not simply as a golfer playing 18 holes. I have also photographed both courses extensively, and the East offers more interesting compositions.
I readily hold my hand up and confess to a change of heart. I started writing Hooked in 2006, and my review of Powerscourt East focused on the brilliant start and finish, while I felt the middle holes were open and lacked the same punch. It is now 2025, and the trees planted around the course have had two decades to grow. They add depth, colour, and framing. They create barriers between fairways, allowing holes – particularly 6 to 9 – to express their individuality. The same applies to the back nine, although the second half of the course has always had more shifts to the landscape, more views, and more intrigue.
Favourite holes? The par-5 2nd, par-3 3rd, the par-4 7th – what a green site – the par-4 10th and 14th, and the final three holes. But if I had to pick one, it would be the short par-4 4th. The beech trees dominate, the hole feels claustrophobic, and the green lurks tantalisingly out of sight above you. At 292 metres (White tees), it is a beautiful hole to play. On the West, holes 2, 3, 6, 10, and the stretch from 13 to 18 all stir the imagination, with the drop-dead gorgeous par-3 17th taking the plaudits, just ahead of the 16th.
My Hooked score for the East was 75; the West scored 83. Today, I don’t think my score for the West would come down, but the East’s score would definitely go up.
The easiest solution for any visitor is to play both and figure it out for yourself. There are few better clubs where you can play 36 holes in a day and have so much fun.
Upgrading for the Future
Which brings me to the clubhouse. What better way to round off a day here – whether you’re playing 18 or 36 – than with a lazy lunch or a drink and a chance to review your day’s highlights?
The two-storey, Georgian-style clubhouse opened in 1996, at the same time as the East course. It was designed to mirror some of the features of the magnificent Powerscourt House nearby. In the years since, there have, of course, been upgrades, but the changes that took place in January of this year have created a wonderfully refurbished setting for its bar and restaurant.
There has been no new construction, but the refurbishment has helped not only to freshen things up but to enhance the spaces. New carpets, new paint, new furnishings, and a new vision for how the main bar and Spike bar are laid out. It may seem obvious to say ‘move the bar’, but simply by doing so – turning it 90 degrees – it has generated considerable extra space as well as creating a single long bar that can be tended by a single server. It is much more workable, and it has produced enough extra seating for another 28 people, should the need arise. But the aesthetics and flow of the rooms have been enhanced, too, with opportunities to find quiet corners or great views over the courses. Those aesthetics also extend all the way to the entrance lobby on the ground floor.
That’s what happens when you have an interior designer amongst your members. Barry McCabe of McCabe Design Group has worked at several golf clubs (including Portmarnock, Rosslare, and Castle), and now he’s applied his touch to his home club. More is to come, as the club plans for the future, but for now, you have yet one more reason to visit this excellent club.
Which of Powerscourt’s two courses do you prefer? And why?
“I prefer the East Course. It feels like the trees frame the course, and there is a nice movement throughout. The West feels longer and is tougher; the 4th is a beast, along with some other long holes. No wonder Powerscourt play a lot of their interclub matches on the West – it has to be worth a few wins!” Ian Q
“I’d pick the West. Even though it was a brute of a windy day, the course was in very good condition. I know both courses have undulating greens, so I can’t be too critical with difficult approaches either way. I feel the West is more open, meaning driver off every tee. And elevated par-3s are always enjoyable.” Derek W
“It would be the West (in summer) for me. It’s more scenic, and the greens can be wild. The West really gives you the sense of being up in the hills of Wicklow.” OGI
“For me, it’s the West, possibly because I played it first. It’s a real “put your big boy pants on” type of course, really interesting and tough as anything. In my opinion, it seems to be the more unique of the two. Some of the greens could get a little crazy back in the day, especially that par-3 6th across the valley, but I always thoroughly enjoyed a round there.” Russman
“It’s a good question, as both are great courses and different. I would say the East is the better track with better challenges in terms of its layout. It forces you to think about your shots, as sheer strength is not enough to beat it. The West has the tougher greens, and that is its best defence, but it does not require the range of shot-making that exists on the East. Two great courses that are probably only rivalled by Headfort, in my opinion.” Dtoffee
“I also prefer the East. Many parts of the West feel less defined and more open; the East is better defined and offers better challenges.” Jarrieta
“I much prefer the East; it’s a more traditional, varied challenge. The West is wide open off the tee and long, like a lot of the new real championship courses, and the greens are tricky, so it’s much harder to go wrong off the tee but still tougher. The East is a more traditional course and a varied challenge for all levels of golfer.” Copacetic
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