Kearney Hill Golf Links

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.

This isn't the longest course. However brainpower is required if you want to score well. Course is in excellent condition. Challenging from tips but not impossible to score well.

Great place to play and enjoy the links style of golf. Keep an eye on the ball if you miss the fairways because they usually keep the rough up. Tough course on windy days!

Not the same course that hosted the Bank One Senior Classic for years or USGA events but that was a different era in Lexington golf. Kearney today is a well maintained munnie. The Dyes course will challenge all levels of golfers. Play can be very slow at times, so play ready golf at all times.

If you like a link's style course this one has it all. When the Dye's created it they even got the wind direction correct. A SW is really challenging. The staff is a cut above any of the local courses I play and often will meet you in the parking area with a cart!

We played this course in mid August. The course and the greens were perfect. If you are in this area do your self a favor and play this course. I was not disappointed..

Course was in great shape. This was the first time I have played it and was very, very pleased

Kearney Hills is a Lexington city owned public course, as with all golf courses the bad economy hit Kearney pretty hard. As the economy continues to strengthen the golf course is coming back in to pristine condition. Kearney used to be "THE" course to want to play in Ky and even held some nice Senior PGA Professional tournaments at their location. I do recommend the course to anyone, it is wide open and a very playable course for the straight hitter. If you spray them left or right you are gonna have long day. The course only starts to get harder when you start backing up to the longer tee boxes and adding distance to approach shots.
Course personnel was very friendly and the golf cart snack gal was really cute. Lol. Overall I really enjoy playing Kearney, from the back tees it lets me know just how good professional and zero handicap players are.

The conditions are holding up. I just wish they would speed the greens up they were running around a 7 at best. I remember when they used to push mow the greens and keep them closer to 11 that was the only defense this course had.

Course in great shape though fairways uneven due to in ability to mow because of excessive rains.

The course has an amazing layout and holes that never get old! Shot an 84 for the first time playing and the only thing negative about the course is it could use some TLC. Rangers meet you at your car to give you the cart. Would golf there again!

Via Golf Now we were able to play a great course for a great price. The staff were very hospitable and helpful. For early January, the course was in very good shape. Overall I would highly recommend this facility to anyone.

Because of the rain, the greens became much more manageable & the pins could be attacked with more confidence. This is a very fair course, which has been very well designed, so that all pin positions give the golfer a chance to play his/her best.

good course to play if you like links golf. well maintained!

This is a great course and I really enjoyed playing. That being said the greens were in poor shape. In some areas on the greens there were huge sand spots. On another green leaves covered the entire thing. I couldn't find my ball. It is a really fun course and I am sure that this is not the standard, it has been a rough summer weather wise for gold courses.

Fun links style course with wide fairways. Bring your GPS course yardage markers are hard to locate. Can play very windy.