Milltown Golf Club

Mister Sifter

Anyone played it before?

I'm playing it on Monday and was looking for some hints as to what its like... very little about it on the club website.

thanks.

slumped

it's got like 18 holes and tee boxes and grass and sand and stuff.

tight course, not a lot of room for error. You might end up taking 3-wood off tee in some cases.

AndyP

Only hit driver off the tee when you can see the green, with the exception of 17 and 18. It might sound odd but you can hit yourself into trouble easily, a long iron or fairway wood will leave you with a full shot. The longest second shots I have there are 6/7 iron on the last 2 holes, even the 5's are reachable from good tee shots. It is short and tight but always in good nick. Clubhouse can be a bit snobby though.

Mister Sifter

I played it yesterday in one of these O2 / Irish Independent qualifiers.

Enjoyed my day, although some of my play was pretty poor!

Pretty short course, but it is protected very well with the placing of bunkers and trees etc. Had the driver out a few times, but mainly just stuck to the 4-iron off the tee. Even with that i was still only hitting 7 iron - wedge for my 2nd shots at most.

Its a course you can definitely make a lot of birdies on, but if you stray from the fairway off the tee its also easy to run up a few bogies.

Only drawback for me was the greens. Thought they were pretty poor. Lost count of the number of holes my ball bobbled off line.

The best thing about it all though is that myself and my partner didn't pay a penny! Got a late entry on Friday and she said we could pay on the day. They never asked for any money though, so we got it for free.:)

Par72

Graeme1982 wrote:

The best thing about it all though is that myself and my partner didn't pay a penny! Got a late entry on Friday and she said we could pay on the day. They never asked for any money though, so we got it for free.:)

Nice one, I'd hate to pay money to play there. It's not far off being a pitch 'n' putt course yet the members seem to think it's Augusta National.

Mister Sifter

Par72 wrote:

Nice one, I'd hate to pay money to play there. It's not far off being a pitch 'n' putt course yet the members seem to think it's Augusta National.

hmmm... yeh, they do seem to have illusions of grandeur about them. I certainly wouldn't pay E85 to play it.

AndyP

Know a member so get invited a bit, I feel so honoured!;)

ShriekingSheet

The members do rate it all right.

That said, for all the talk of it being short and full of birdies, it's VERY rare someone rips it apart. The course record has stood for years (Jody Fannigan I think) and that's with Pro-Ams and members off 1 and 2 handicaps as well as the odd GUI junior thing there which would have a few scratch guys. No one ACTUALLY does what everyone says they will.

Also, Milltown aren't too bad in the likes of Junior and Barton cup which means it's members aren't artificially low handicaps nor do they struggle on longer away courses.

Snobby - yes!

I like the course though.
And I hit it miiiiiiiiles i kid i kid!

Mister Sifter

Although it is a short course it is protected very well by bunkers and trees and doglegs in the right places. The slopes and tiers on some of the greens also protect it very well too.

Shot placement is key alot of the time. It was my first time playing it, but i'd say when i play it again i'll do alot different because i now know where i should hit the ball.

Keeping it straight is the key.

In saying that, if the greens hadn't been so poor, i'm confident i'd have been at least a couple under par. Millions of flying ants on the greens didn't help too much either!!

ShriekingSheet

Best thing about the course actually is the shape of the last two holes.

you MUST hit the ball high and right to left down 17. Anything long and straight (keeping right of the tree) will run out of fairway and from the rough, it's a poxy green to get into and tough up and downs no matter where you miss.

Then down 18 you really have to cut it left to right - the complete opposite shot to the 17th.

It's a great challenge and catches out those who rely solely on one shape of shot.

Mister Sifter

The par 5 fifth was my favourite hole. Not that long, but shot placement a must. Superbly shaped by the bunkers. The 7th was also a favourite.

ShriekingSheet

Yeah the tree about 230 yards up the right of the 5th sees a lot of action but you can't aim away from it as there's trouble up the left too.

Lower guys are often found mucking about under the tree on the right of the green too. Anyone going for it in two that leaks it right - that tree can send the ball anywhere!