Shillelagh · County Wicklow · 4 minutes spoken · GPS triggers at the clubhouse car park
How this works: press Play below to hear the tour read aloud by your device's voice. In the production app this will be a professionally recorded Irish narrator, with the audio triggering automatically when you arrive at the location.
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You are parking the car on what was once one of the great private estates of Ireland — and you're about to play golf on it.
Coollattin Golf Club sits inside Coollattin Park, the former seat of the Fitzwilliam family, who at the height of their power owned over ninety thousand acres of County Wicklow — one fifth of the entire county. The estate was formally established in 1796, when the fourth Earl Fitzwilliam laid out the parkland you're about to walk. Those mature trees lining the fairways — oaks, chestnuts, beeches — most of them were planted then. They are older than the Act of Union.
The Fitzwilliams had good taste in sporting land. In 1637 — long before they owned the place — Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, wrote to King Charles the First that he had found at Coollattin something he did not believe existed in Ireland: a place that offered sport in as great a measure as anything in England. That is a strong recommendation. It is still true.
The golf course itself was first laid out in 1922 by William Wentworth, the seventh Earl Fitzwilliam — known to everyone as Billy. By the 1950s, as the great estates slowly declined across Ireland, the club members quietly took over the maintenance themselves. They registered with the Golfing Union of Ireland in 1962. In 1996 the course was extended to the full eighteen holes you're about to play, redesigned by Peter McEvoy — one of the most respected course architects in these islands. McEvoy stretched it to 6,686 yards, par 72, and kept it honest: this is a course for golfers of all abilities, and the green fee reflects that.
One hole you will not forget: the par three inside the walled garden of the manor house. The walls are eighteenth century. The garden was designed for growing fruit and vegetables for the big house. The shot required is rather different.
The estate village of Shillelagh is a mile down the road — you may have passed through it on the way here. If you didn't, it's worth the detour after the round. The courthouse clock has been keeping time since the Fitzwilliams built it.
For now — enjoy the round. The course is in front of you, and the Wicklow hills are all around.
Sources verified: coollattingolfclub.com · visitwicklow.ie · discoverireland.ie · top100golfcourses.com · trips.ie (Coollattin Estate)
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