Clones Golf Club

Overview: Clones Golf Club is an 18-hole parkland course at Hilton Park, about two and a half miles from Clones in County Monaghan. The current routing occupies roughly 155 acres of rolling parkland and woodland, with water features on five of the eighteen holes. The official white-tee card totals 6,180 yards and par 71. Dr Arthur Spring designed the additional nine holes that completed the modern layout, while the surrounding drumlin landscape gives the course its changing elevation and open border-country character. The club describes the course as an all-weather venue that is generally playable through the year, subject to frost and essential maintenance.

History: Clones Golf Club was founded in 1913 on an earlier nine-hole site. The club moved to Hilton Park in 1928, where the old nine became the foundation of the present course. In the late 1980s members began the expansion project, purchasing the existing land in 1989 and later acquiring ground for a second nine. Dr Arthur Spring designed the new holes, and the modern eighteen was officially opened by Barry McGuigan. The club’s history page gives 2002 for that ceremony, while the current course page gives 2001, so the opening-year field is left blank rather than presenting one disputed date as settled fact. Two extra holes were added later.

Did You Know? Clones can play as twenty holes even though the directory routing is an eighteen-hole course. The two additional holes were brought into play after the modern course opened, giving the club flexibility to rest fairways during winter conditions. The original course history also records an unusually practical beginning: the first Hilton Park layout was built over several years, with the greens laid by the greenkeeper while the club worked within its early financial limits.