The natural drumlin valley landscape of West Cavan provided the course architect, Paddy Merrigan, with a blank canvas on which to create a masterpiece. The course has been designed with a certain boldness and sureness of instinct, which has resulted in the development of a truly fine parkland course. The crucial quality of the course lies in the fact that its design is strategic rather than punitive. The intention is not to penalise the golfer who strays off the straight and narrow but to encourage attacking shots by rewarding their success and punishing failure.