Padraig Harrington picks his favorite golf hole in the world

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Padraig Harrington is probably the most thoughtful golfer in the world. When he speaks, people listen.

Whether it’s tournaments, courses, or technique, Harrington is never afraid to share his opinion on the sport’s biggest talking points.

Well, he recently made an interesting point about the golf course at the Irish Open this week.

Harrington named the hole at The K Club that is so good, it determines how he feels about the state of his game.

• READ MORE: Rory McIlroy rates the state of his own game at the Irish Open just weeks before the Ryder Cup

Padraig Harrington loves the seventh hole at The K Club

The K Club is an excellent golf course that is hosting the Irish Open for the third time in 2025.

That’s likely to be one of the reasons why both Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry have decided to play this week in preparation for the Ryder Cup.

Harrington is also a big fan of the Palmer North golf course at The K Club, which boasts his favorite hole in the world.

“Seven this week, by a long way. Seven is the best hole you’ve ever seen in golf. Oh yeah,” he said.

“I could come down here to play 18 holes of golf, and the only shot I would remember when I go home is the seventh. It’s the 16th for the regular members, but the seventh this week.

“If I hit that fairway off the tee, I go home and go, ‘I’m swinging the club well.’ It’s just such a good hole.”

Padraig Harrington thinks The K Club is like a PGA Tour golf course

Harrington explained that The K Club is the most similar Irish golf course to those you see on the PGA Tour.

He thinks it’s the perfect “mental test” for professional golfers with bailout areas on almost every hole.

“This has the best golf shots,” Harrington added. “This and Adare are the best for simulating what you get in professional golf. A professional golf course has water on one side of the hole, the green, and then the bailout area.

“You don’t want to be in the bailout area; you want to hit it on the green, but you definitely don’t want to hit it in the water. It’s a mental thing of, ‘I want to do this, but I don’t want to do that.’

“In professional golf, we rarely get a hole that has out-of-bounds left and right. It’s always tempting you to bail out, and this golf course has 16 of those shots.”