If you want to walk in the footsteps of the great and mighty, at least in a golfing sense, then it will cost more in 2006. The K Club, which plays host to the Ryder Cup next September, intends to cash in on its ever-greater prestige by next year imposing a 40 per cent price hike on its top green fee for the Palmer Course, up from its current level of €250 to a new rate of €350. The increase will make it one of the most expensive rounds of golf on the planet.

Although it is impossible to pay a green fee at some of the exclusive clubs in the United States, such as Pine Valley, Cypress Point or Augusta National where visitors are only permitted to play as guests of members, the increase at The K Club's Palmer Course - where the 36th edition of the Ryder Cup between Europe and the US will be staged - almost takes it on to a par with the famed Pebble Beach links, where rounds have recently increased from $395 (€330) to a new green fee rate of $425 (€355).

The increase in the rate to play the Palmer Course is intended to reflect its status as the only Ryder Cup course in Ireland. Still, the rise in the green fee is a significant one when compared to what it costs to play the Brabazon course at The Belfry, where the 2002 Ryder Cup match was played. A premium green fee there costs €205 (£140) to play a round of golf.

Indeed, the comparison with future Ryder Cup venues on this side of the Atlantic is an interesting one. As things stand, a round of golf at the Celtic Manor resort in Wales (although the championship course is currently being upgraded and renovated) where the 2010 match takes place costs €88 (£60). In Scotland, a round of golf on the PGA Centenary course at Gleneagles, the venue for the match in 2014, currently costs €162 (£110). However, it can be expected that their respective green fees will also increase closer to the time of those respective courses staging the match.

The K Club and the Old Head have vied for the position of topping the green fee rate in Ireland in recent years, with both charging a premium rate of €250 this year. The next most expensive rates are charged at Doonbeg links in Co Clare - which has a premium rate of €195 while the traditional courses at Portmarnock, Royal County Down and Royal Portrush are in a similar price bracket.

The K Club is comfortably ahead of other parkland courses in the green fee stakes, and set to jump even farther ahead in the exclusive price table with next year's intended rise. For instance, the current rate of Mount Juliet - which has staged two AmEx world golf championships and three Irish Opens - is €155, while Druids Glen (venue for the Irish Open on four occasions and one Seve Trophy match) has a top rate of €160. Interestingly, the newly opened PGA National at Palmerstown House has immediately come in at the top end of the market, with a premium green fee of €175.

In Britain, the most expensive round of golf is on the West Course at Wentworth, which currently costs €288 (£195).

However, The K Club's scheduled increase for the Palmer Course to €350 is set to make it the most expensive round of golf in either Britain or Ireland.

While the increase is perceived as a necessary business one for The K Club, it still lags some way behind the most expensive round of golf which turns out to the little known Shadow Creek course in Las Vegas. This desert course in Nevada charges €418 ($500) but throws in a champagne lunch and a limousine transfer with the green fee.

At least you can still buy a round of golf at The K Club, Wentworth or Shadow Creek with the financial wherewithal. On courses like Augusta National, you can't.