Trump International Links Doonbeg. The Irish Open has been mostly held at parkland courses recently but is back at a links course this year with a great field headlined by Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm. Trump International Links Doonbeg is the host for the first time, and is a newer links course designed by Greg Norman and opened in 2002. It is a short 6,838 par 70, with five par 3’s and three par 5’s (and a further two par 5’s that are playing as par 4’s this week). The routing

Course Introduction

Course Introduction Coming off the stunning Great Northern last week, we have another course that wowed on it’s first appearance on tour last year in the Trump International Golf Links in Scotland for the Nexo Championship. It is a very modern links course, with pushed up greens that are very undulating and feature severe fall offs. But the fairways leading up to them have been bulldozed flat compared to the natural undulation that is typical of links golf. Miss these fairway

Course Introduction After an extended 6-week summer break between stand-alone DPWT events, we are back with the Danish Golf Championship at Great Northern, which is a relatively new Jack Nicklaus design built in 2017. Great Northern is a 7,314 yard stock par 72 and is an exposed golf course with very few trees. While I couldn’t find anything confirming it, the greens appear to be Bentgrass and they have plenty of short grass surrounding them, including some steep fall offs.

With the PGA Tour now on their European swing, the alternate events back in America are co-sanctioned with the DPWT to give additional playing opportunities. The first of these is the ISCO Championship which is being held at Hurstbourne Country Club for the second time.

This week's BMW International Open is being held at longtime host Golfclub München Eichenried. Eichenried is a 7,354 yard par 72, treelined parkland course featuring numerous water hazards that come into play. Munich is at around 1,600 feet of altitude, so this yardage plays about 2% less than listed. The property is mostly flat, with the bentgrass greens featuring small ridges and gentle undulations. Over the past 5 years, the scoring average has been -0.77 with an average w

The DPWT returns with the Italian Open this week hosted by the Blue course at Circolo Golf Torino. The field is stronger than the last couple months of DPWT events, with Patrick Reed returning as well as a few of the LIV players including David Puig and Joaquin Niemann. Torino is a 7,214-yard par 71 flat parkland course with bentgrass greens that winds its way between large trees with the occasional creek coming into play at the green. It has most recently hosted the 2013 and

The KLM Open in the Netherlands returns to The International for the third year in a row, as well as also hosting back in 2019. The International is a short 6,914-yard par 71 with four par 5’s and 5 par 3’s. It is a modern course that is very open and exposed to the strong winds that have been prevalent here. The land is very undulating with mounds littered throughout the property and between each hole, while the greens tend to be elevated with significant fall offs and slope

The continental European swing continues with the Austrian Open, which this year is being held at Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith golf club (KSR). KSR had previously hosted a Hotel Planner tour event in 2003 that was won at -23 with an average score 0f -0.92. For this year's event, the nines have been swapped and a number of new tees have lengthened the course by a net 300 yards. This includes losing 100 yards by turning what was a short par 4 into a long par 3. A short par 5 has

The Soudal Open is back at Rinkven Golf Club in Belgium for the fifth year in a row. Rinkven is a very short 6,940-yard par 71 weaving through thick forest with some ponds and creeks occasionally coming into play. Despite its lack of length, it hasn’t been a complete pushover with narrow playing corridors and bentgrass greens. The last four years have seen a winning score and scoring averages of -13 and -0.04, -18 and -1.22, -17 and -0.65 and -13 and +0.28. Last year had a dr

The European swing of the DPWT begins this week with the return of the Catalunya Championship at Real Club de Golf El Prat. Since a big renovation in 2003, El Prat has twice hosted the Open de Espana in 2011 and 2015. Both of those events were won at 10 under. There are 45 holes at the El Prat complex, and while the back nine this week will be the same as in those events, this week uses a different front nine making up the Pink course. The Pink course at El Prat is a very sho

The Turkish Airlines Open finds a new home this year, at the National Golf Club -- down the road from the previous two hosts in the golf heavy Belek region. National is a 7,287-yard par 72 parkland course that winds through thick forests with water in play on 7 holes. There are Bermuda grass playing surfaces, but they have been overseeded with Poa Trivialis over the winter. Although I expect by late April the Bermuda will be coming back through. There has been an old Challeng

Course Introduction After what feels like a long break with no event either side of the Masters, the DPWT returns to continue their Asian swing with the Volvo China Open. Last year this event went to a new host course at Enhance Anting Golf Club, and we return there this year. Home hopeful Ashun Wu was a shock winner with Ashun only having 1 other top 10 (for a t9) since the start of 2023. He won by 1 shot at -14, with only 7 players reaching double digits under par and an ov

Overview If you want to see professional golfers get put in a blender at one of the most insane golf courses in the world, this is the best week of the year. The Gary Player Course at DLF Golf and Country Club will host the Indian Open on the DPWT for the fourth year in a row and has developed a reputation for ridiculous golf. DLF is a 7,416-yard par 72 that features highly contoured Bermuda greens (some holes have two greens), narrow fairway corridors lined by dense jungle,

The DPWT begins the Asian swing with the Hainan Classic at the Mission Hills Resort Haikou in China. The Blackstone Course hosted this event last year (and the 2011 world cup of golf won by Gary Woodland and Matt Kuchar), but this year there is a change to a Pro-am format. The first 36 holes are split over the Blackstone and Vintage courses at Mission Hills before staying on the Blackstone for the weekend. The Blackstone course is a very lengthy 7,637 par 72 despite being dow

We end the African swing with the Joburg Open which is held at Houghton Golf Club for the fourth season in a row. The first two times were held at the beginning of the wrap-around season in November 2022 and 2023, before last year’s move to March (with no event in 2024 as part of the date change). Houghton is a 7,241 yard par 70 that plays shorter due to being at an altitude of 5,500 feet which has an impact of around 6-7%. It is a tree-lined parkland style golf course with n

Course Introduction The South African Open tends to move around to different courses and this year’s edition is being held at Stellenbosch Golf Club on the Western Cape. Stellenbosch is a 7,213 yard par 70 parkland course with Kikuyu fairways and small flat Bentgrass greens. Most of the fairways are treelined and there are some out-of-bounds fences in play, but overall it is not a penal golf course. The last time Stellenbosch hosted the SA Open was in 1999 as a par 71 when Da

The DPWT returns after a week off with the Magical Kenya Open held at Karen Country Club. The Kenya Open was elevated to a European Tour event in 2019, with the 2019 and 2021 (2020 was cancelled due to Covid) events held at Karen before moving to Muthaiga up until last year. In addition to these two events, Karen also hosted an extra event in 2021. The Kenya Savannah Classic which was played the week after Karen hosted the Kenya Open as a part of Covid rescheduling to fill ev

At Doha Golf Club, the profile that we are primarily looking for is a combination of approach play and putting. Distance has been a help, and you need to avoid the big miss into the desert, but driving hasn’t been a primary separator at the top of the leaderboard. We have the same big four at the top of the odds board as last week, but while Patrick Reed and Daniel Hillier were contending for victory, Jayden Schaper and Angel Ayora were struggling down the field. A month into

This week we have the Qatar Masters at long-time host Doha Golf Club. There was a brief move away from Doha GC after 2019, but it returned in 2022 with the old Bermuda greens replaced by new paspalum greens. Doha is a long 7,508-yard stock par 72 that plays as an exposed desert course, often in windy conditions, with large greens. It played to a scoring average of +0.19 in 2025, +0.09 in 2024 and +0.85 in 2022 with winning scores of -16, -14 and -7 and only 9 players reaching