The European Club

The European Club is Pat Ruddy's pride and joy - and rightly so. Ruddy, a journalist turned golf course architect, designed the course at Brittas Bay, which is about 30 miles south of Dublin in County Wicklow, and is the sole owner of the fabulous facility. It is the course Ruddy had dreamt of designing and he has created a cracker. Indeed, this relative newcomer to the scene - it only opened in 1993 - is already being ranked alongside the likes of Portmarnock, Ballybunion and Royal County Down. It's a traditional links course and from start to finish the holes are truly spectacular, the ones that are not by the sea by equally as good as those that are.