Adare GC set up?

fearruanua

was in adare today for a few hours. thought the place looked unreal. i absolutely love the place and have played it on many occasions. i hate hearing many of the pros saying the course is unfair and far too difficult. who decides how the course is set up? is it the tour or adare gc themselves. is it too difficult???

steelbar

The pro's don't like looking bad, so when a course is playing hard and making them look average they will start complaining.

I think they should leave it the way it is, and the cream will come to the top.

These boys are earning a ridiculous amount of money these days, its no harm to knock them down a peg or two every so often.

WHIP IT!

steelbar wrote: »

The pro's don't like looking bad, so when a course is playing hard and making them look average they will start complaining.

I think they should leave it the way it is, and the cream will come to the top.

These boys are earning a ridiculous amount of money these days, its no harm to knock them down a peg or two every so often.

I agree. Very disappointing to hear the comments from Clarke and McGinley. Particularly McGinley who you would think would benefit from a tough course as he's a shot-maker and a "grinder".

Trampas

Another one is when the move the tee boxes forward.

Crazy idea that they might have to hit a long iron or wood into a few par 4's like most players do.

Mister Sifter

I can see there point. There's been alot of talk of falling crowds at Irish tournaments lately.

As Clarke says, people want to see the top players making birdies and hitting it close. Watching them trying to hit 3-4 irons for their second shot on a par four to a pin tucked away behind a bunker isn't much fun for a large percentage of the crowd.

There's no need for the to move the tee boxes back in the way that they're doing on a lot of golf courses. After all, in the last decade the average drive has only increased by around 9 yards or so.

OilBeefHooked2

fearruanua wrote: »

was in adare today for a few hours. thought the place looked unreal. i absolutely love the place and have played it on many occasions. i hate hearing many of the pros saying the course is unfair and far too difficult. who decides how the course is set up? is it the tour or adare gc themselves. is it too difficult???

No I dont think it's too difficult, imo it makes for far more interesting veiwing when you see players ginding out decent rounds as opposed to shooting the lights out.
Afaik it's the tour that decide the setup of the course.

WHIP IT!

Graeme1982 wrote: »

I can see there point. There's been alot of talk of falling crowds at Irish tournaments lately.

As Clarke says, people want to see the top players making birdies and hitting it close. Watching them trying to hit 3-4 irons for their second shot on a par four to a pin tucked away behind a bunker isn't much fun for a large percentage of the crowd.

There's no need for the to move the tee boxes back in the way that they're doing on a lot of golf courses. After all, in the last decade the average drive has only increased by around 9 yards or so.

I just think the fact that two people led after one round on six-under makes their point rather moot.

I know Green and Singh got the better conditions but the fact of the matter remains: It's the same golf course for everyone.

Mister Sifter

WHIP IT! wrote: »

I just think the fact that two people led after one round on six-under makes their point rather moot.

I know Green and Singh got the better conditions but the fact of the matter remains: It's the same golf course for everyone.

It is, but at a time when people are moaning about the lack of a strong field in the Irish open they're hardly making it more appealling by making the course a long bore.

Trampas

having it down adare doesn't help either. If the moved to it the midlands might make it easier for people

WHIP IT!

Mind you, the two boys must be in a better mood today - McGinley's five-under today and tied for fourth and Clarke's three-under for his round...

Mister Sifter

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Mind you, the two boys must be in a better mood today - McGinley's five-under today and tied for fourth and Clarke's three-under for his round...

Got Clarke in my fantasy golf team so go on!!!

WHIP IT!

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Mind you, the two boys must be in a better mood today - McGinley's five-under today and tied for fourth and Clarke's three-under for his round...

Talk about bein a Jonah: They both dropped a shot each shortly after I posted that :rolleyes:

MisterAnarchy

Its not a very good viewing course as well.
Very hard to get up close to the players on alot of the holes.
Each year I go to an event the public seem to be kept further and further away from the players .

rigal

I was down there today for the first time and will definitely be going back. Both for a game and to see the Irish Open there.

The course looked amazing and the whole event seemed to be very well run. Mount Juliet is my favourite inland course in Ireland but this could replace it soon!

On the set up issue I have to say given the course's length and the difficulty of the greens some of the pin positions were seriously tough :eek:...

fearruanua

i went for the full day on saturday and i must say it was an excellent day. the event was very well run. got in in no time parked and on the course within 20 mins of limerick city. getting home took an extra 15 mins or so but nothing major traffic wise. i have to disagree with with some previous posts that adare is a poor course for spectators. i got so close to some players i could have patted them on the back. got a great spot by the 13th green. pin was on the left side right beside the ropes. nearly got hit by clarkes drive on the 18th. right beside him for his second. a hook between two trees over the posh folk in the hospitality tent and into a bunker. very unlucky. his caddy wanted him to take wedge but he went with nine. that shot had a huge bearing on his tournament. my only complaint about saturday was the size of the ice cream cones that your man beside the ninth green was serving. they were tiny and they were 3 euro. a great day. looking forward to 2009 already

f22

Bring it back to Portmarnock and close to the British Open.

It's the only way it will attract a stronger field.

(CH3)2CHOH

Adare is a fantastic venue and one of the best inland course's in Ireland.

The reason for the poor showing is more to do with it getting moved to the week after the Players Championship in the States. Lets face it the Players is a bigger tourney and the big names will play it every time.

It would be great if it was moved back to just before the Open but that ain't going to happen.

golfbgud

Great Course, Great Venue and a good track for the spectators!

Travelled down for Thurs / Fri. Long walk around and plenty of good viewing points.

This is a great test for the Tour Pro's.

No use playing courses and having them shoot -20 or better.....

rigal

golfbgud wrote: »

Great Course, Great Venue and a good track for the spectators!

Travelled down for Thurs / Fri. Long walk around and plenty of good viewing points.

This is a great test for the Tour Pro's.

No use playing courses and having them shoot -20 or better.....

+1

scout353

The Irish Open has suffered in recent years from a number of factors...

When it was the last week in June it was followed by three of the biggest money events in Europe......Smurfit European Open, Loch Lomond and The Open. Top players were never going to play four in a row and the money was so small as to not make it worthwhile.

The change to the May date was seen as a good move considering it was the week before the BMW at Wentworth and the first big tournament in Europe after the Asian swing.

Then we had the disastrous weather which destroyed the tournament, particularly at Carton House and then the PGA moved the Players championship from March to the week before!

So we are back where we started - a tournament struggling to attract major sponsors and a terrible date (there looks like being a switch again next year)

That said, Adare has been a superb venue and the weather this year really portrayed the tournament in an excellent light!

As for the difficulty of the course - it shouldn't be easy for the players but I can see the point where a Robert Trent Jones course is designed for shorter iron approaches to the very undulating greens. I have no doubt if we saw some of this golf over the past few says we would have been singing their praises.

Major championships should have extremely difficult set ups. An Irish Open that is struggling to attract a quality field shouldn't throw another spanner in the works! And it is the Tour that determines the setup.

rigal

Maybe if more people attended the Irish Open and supported Irish players in their home event we'd see better sponsorship. Then there'd be higher prize money, a better class of field and they might even give it a better date in the tour calendar.

WHIP IT!

rigal wrote: »

Maybe if more people attended the Irish Open and supported Irish players in their home event we'd see better sponsorship. Then there'd be higher prize money, a better class of field and they might even give it a better date in the tour calendar.

As far as I know, the owner refused sponsorship for the event - just wanting it to be known as The Irish Open, on it's own too feet. Thought that was cool.

scout353

WHIP IT! wrote: »

As far as I know, the owner refused sponsorship for the event - just wanting it to be known as The Irish Open, on it's own too feet. Thought that was cool.

Don't think that is quite true - when Nissan pulled out there was nobody willing to offer the huge sum required for title sponsorship so Adare came up with the associated sponsors concept.

As for more people coming to support it - I don't think the income from attendance by the public is a great issue in the overall scheme - I would say that a large percentage of the public come in on free tickets so the income from gate receipts wouldn't be huge - if even 20,000 paid €20 that is just €400k - still less than first prize!!

rigal

scout353 wrote: »

As for more people coming to support it - I don't think the income from attendance by the public is a great issue in the overall scheme - I would say that a large percentage of the public come in on free tickets so the income from gate receipts wouldn't be huge - if even 20,000 paid €20 that is just €400k - still less than first prize!!

I wasn't referring really to boosting gate receipts but attendance does have a big effect on the income. Think about it - if more people attend it is gaining popularity. If it gains popularity you would expect more people to watch it on TV as well.

This is all good for a Sponsor who at the end of the day wants to be associated with a popular event and gain more brand awareness. Therefore more people attending & supporting the Irish Open = A more attractive opportunity for Sponsors. Which in turn means more money being pumped into the event which strengthens the field.

scout353

rigal wrote: »

I wasn't referring really to boosting gate receipts but attendance does have a big effect on the income. Think about it - if more people attend it is gaining popularity. If it gains popularity you would expect more people to watch it on TV as well.

This is all good for a Sponsor who at the end of the day wants to be associated with a popular event and gain more brand awareness. Therefore more people attending & supporting the Irish Open = A more attractive opportunity for Sponsors. Which in turn means more money being pumped into the event which strengthens the field.

Point taken.

One of the major pluses for an Irish event is that it is generally very well supported. How many times have you watched golf on Sky and seen poor crowds at what are considered big events!

And the players acknowledge that the Irish crowds are the most knowledgeable in Europe so they appreciate the support.

The quality of the field certainly has an impact and I think that the Irish Open's steadfast refusal to offer appearance money in recent years has impacted on its attractiveness.

That said there were 80,000 at the event when it was at Fota a few years ago and the field was weak enough!