Hogs Head Golf Club

A departure from other great European courses that are accessible to the public, Hogs Head Golf Club has successfully implemented an American-style of private-club exclusivity in one of the most golf rich parts of the world. Not far from Waterville, Hogs Head is owned by highly successful American corporate restructurers Tony Alvarez II and Bryan Marsal, who also own and operate Paako Ridge in New Mexico. Hogs Head boasts a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design that gets its name from its location on the magnificent Hogs Head peninsula (a marine bearing point marking the opening to the Ballinskelligs Bay from the North Atlantic). It’s a unique routing with five par 3s and five par 5s, including a Biarritz green on the sixth hole, believed to be the only par-5 Biarritz green in Europe. After a few years of allowing outside play like other European courses, Hogs Head now only allows four unaccompanied rounds a day—which must be sponsored by one of their members, known as Hogs.