Kearney Hill Golf Links

After working the Kentucky Open as a volunteer I received two free rounds on any municipal course in Lexington, KY. It's understandable why Kearny Links was chosen for the open - beautiful and welcoming clubhouse and staff, spacious fairways, and just enough water, trees and rough to make it a challenge for everyone.

It's a bit lengthy for the average golfer so you might consider the "up" tees the first time you play.

The scenery and layout are perfect for the "out in the country" setting of the course.

My 4 star ratings for Place Of Play and Course Conditions were because we chose a presumably slow weekday and time and still had 10 minutes waits for groups ahead. Meanwhile, several fairways were water-logged and thus blocked by management so you had to do a lot of walking from the cart path.

Overall, we will play here again for the challenge, esthestics, friendliness and layout.

For a public course, whether you are mid or play from the tips, Kearney is laid out well, and in the wind, it's a test. Pace of play on the weekends is very slow, but midweek, under 4 hours is the norm

Enjoyed my first trip to Kearney Hill and can see why it has hosted many tournaments. Don't wander away from the fairways though, as the rough and grass bunkers can be a beast, especially when wet. Greens were very well kept, but then again so was the entire course. Would recommend.

We booked a weekend trip to the Lexington/Richmond KY area for a "guys" weekend getaway. Kearney Hill was one of the courses in the package from mygolfvacation.com. They tell you on the website that is windy. It is. It's not too windy, but enough to consider clubbing up or down depending on the wind direction. The front nine is is tight and you may hear "fore" a few times. The back nine is more wide open. This is my first time playing a links-style course. I loved it. The bunkers were well kept. The greens are... well Pete Dye Rollercoaster Central. They're still fun to put on. If you walk away with a two-putt from 15 feet out, consider yourself good. The rough was easy to hit out of considering the amount of rain the area had before we got there. The staff was great and the carts were newer. We will be back!

Great course... good layout and good conditions. Greens were good and the staff is very friendly. Must play if in the Lexington/ Georgetown area!!

Top notch public course; the quality is what I would expect to find at a high end private club. Only negative were the sand traps, which were the usual dark clay consistency that you usually find at public courses and are unplayable, hence the 4 stars instead of 5.

Course is in excellent condition with smooth quick greens manicured fairways and minimum rough.

Great for beginners .

You can hit it anywhere you want and not lose a ball. 5 sets of tees allows players of all levels to have an enjoyable round.

Super friendly staff. Great driving range and practice areas.

My only issue is this is another Kentucky grazing pasture turned into a golf course with some greens plopped down at various points. Except for the last 3 holes it is boring. Up the hill down the hill. Hey didn't we just play this hole 10 minutes ago?

Dig up Old Silo bring it to Lexington and place it under the care of Kearny and you would have Nirvana.

Like a painting! A well-manicured, gorgeous course...particularly on the back nine, where you can stand on almost every tee box and/or green, do a 360-degree circle, and admire the beauty all around.

We have played Kearney Hill every year on our annual Kentucky golf trip and have never been disappointed before. There was no sense in even attempting to put due to recent aeration and no sand in the aerated holes. As well, the bunkers were also unplayable. The bunkers that didn't have standing water were as hard as rock. There must have been rain in the past week but the bunkers at Griffith Gate were in excellent shape the day before I do understand it is necessary to aerate greens and excessive rain does interfere with sand traps. It is the duty of the golf course staff to inform golfers when booking that the course is in poor playing condition.

To charge peak summer rates in the first part of April for a course with unplayable greens and bunkers is criminal.

I doubt my group will return next year

Links style course. You will find almost all shots are from uneven lies. There was no tree trouble.

Very well maintained.

Nice layout with some features not seen at other local courses.

There are very flat, links style bunkers, and very deep grass bunkers. I love that feature.

Huge greens. Plenty of break.

As far as your score is concerned, if you're in mid-season form, you'll enjoy this course and score pretty well.

For some reason, I was missing fairways, greens, AND not putting well... I found this course difficult and did not score well.

I would definitely go again, but I would suggest going if you're playing well.

I love this course. Ive played it many times in the past. The staff is always friendly and nice. Course is tough especially when the wind is in play, which it always is. Greens run great. I recommend this course to anyone that travels to Lexington and the surrounding areas.

Spent my bachelor party playing this fine track. It was our second 18 of the day, the first being at Greenbrier. Weather conditions were rough, borderline miserable, raining, blowing rain, temp dropped 30 degrees throughout the round and yet the course was/is one of my favorite I've ever played. Really fun track. Course conditions were just fantastic. You can't beat the price for what you get! Can't wait to get a chance to play it again.

Not very busy, beautiful weather, superb playing conditions.
Definitely would play again.

Very nice course. Noise of freeway takes away from the experience.

I've never found Kearney Hill to be visually attractive, but it is different than most courses in Kentucky. Pete Dye's design style is apparent here, borrowing from European links design while adding unique aspects such as wooden bulkheads around water hazards.

Interesting Holes:

Hole 3, Par 5--water and reeds down the right side of the fairway, with second shot slightly downhill to a green with water guarding the front and right side of the green and bunkers to the left. A good drive will set you up to go for the green, which features a large "muffin" in the middle, pushing putts to either side of the green

Hole 5, Par 4--Short hole with a tee shot playing over a large depression to a fairway that narrows as you near the green. The green is shaped like an upside down L, bending almost 90 degrees to the left around a 10 foot deep grass bunker which guards the left back portion of the green.

Hole 12--Par 3--About 180 from the middle tees, over water with a bail out area to the left. A long sand bunker wraps around the front and right side of the shallow green.

Hole 15--Par 3--All or nothing shot over water and bulkhead to a green that angles to the left.

My friends and I played this course after it had received 3 inches of rain. Although, it was cart path only, the course was not sloppy and played extremely great surprisingly enough. Everyone had a great time.

the rough was horrible to get out of (1st.. or 2nd. cut ). need some kind of ranger ( divots on greens-horrible ) ; is there a level tee box on the course ?

Fun day on a good test of golf. Greens are great. Good value

This course was designed to take advantage of the rolling bluegrass terrain of central Kentucky. The ability to shape your shots in both directions is a definite advantage, but not an absolute necessity. The greens are large, were well maintained, and with a poorly executed approach, could leave the player with a putt of up to 100 feet depending on the pin placement. Fairways are lush, but did show the wear (divots) of a public course. Some of the bunkers are hidden from view on approach, which can be upsetting to some. On the date which I played, the bunker sand was wetted by rain, but still quite playable. Sand quality was good (no stones). Experienced light to moderate rain during the entire round, which gave the round the feel of playing in Ireland on their lush courses.
Staff was extremely courteous, and waited for us to finish. We were the last twosome on the course, so I guess the other golfers gave up due to the weather. I found the experience wonderful.