Esker Hills Golf Club

Esker Hills Golf Club sits in the bogland midlands of County Offaly, a part of Ireland that doesn't attract the same pilgrim traffic as the links coast but rewards those who seek it out. The course was designed by Christy O'Connor Jr. and opened in 1996, carved through a landscape of esker ridges — the glacially deposited gravel mounds that give the club its name and define its unusually varied terrain. For the Irish midlands, this is genuinely dramatic ground, with elevation changes that most inland courses in the country simply cannot offer.

O'Connor Jr. made full use of those ridges, routing holes through and over them so that the course plays with a rhythm of surprise — blind shots, sudden drops, and elevated tee boxes that open up long views across the Offaly countryside. It reads more like a parkland heathland hybrid than a flat inland layout.

The club sits close to Tullamore, a town with a long golf tradition of its own, and draws a loyal regional membership. Visitors are made welcome, and the course consistently ranks among the more interesting inland tests in Leinster.