Courses South Dublin/Wicklow - With good practise facilities

jampotjim

Hey

My membership ain't up for a while in City West but don't think I will be going for it again simply down to the lack of practise facilities...

I was using th Academy 2 - 3 nights a week to work on the game but the drive over is just a bit too much on such a regular occurance espically with the state of traffic...

I am looking for a club where I could spend the hours on the practise ground and then also enjoy the golf...

Anyone have any good ideas and a idea of cost as this will play a major factor in my decision.

Thanks

ShriekingSheet

Shock horror, ShriekingSheet is about to big-up The South County.

In fairness, I wasn't a member of anywhere until March this year and looked around a few places. Practice facilities were high on my list of priorities.

Driving Range
240 yards long with two large fairway-style grass bays open all year round and two sheltered astro bays. Balls are usual yellow range balls. You can pay 2euro for a token but 90% of the time it's totally fine to collect up your own rather than pay.

Practice Greens
Putting Green is fine - the usual. Right by the first tee so handy for pre round. The chipping green is at the far end of the car park. A good surface, pretty much the same as on the course. Could do with being on less of a slope but it's still very useful.

Pitching Area & Practice Bunkers
50 yard pitching area with a mock green with a small bunker at the front and another at the back. The "tee" can get a bit churned up from divots in the peak season but there's alwas a patch somewhere. It's sanded and seeded a couple of times a year so it's fine. Bunkers are grand for practice. Not Dural-esque but not crap either.

Pros & ProShop
Good pro, ex European Tour player. Good assistant pros x 3. One is in the top 3 or 4 of the irish assistants. Handy to get lessons on your own course and report back immediately after your round how things are going. The assistants are well up for the odd 9 holes in the evenings which does no harm for your game either. ProShop is totally decent, especially for clothes.


Two general points I like. The practice areas are all within a pitching wedge of the clubhouse. It's a little thing but in clubs I was previously a member they were a bit far away and it was a bit of a pain. Secondly they're well used by only a handful of players so you get a decent bit of peace and quiet.

jampotjim

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

Shock horror, ShriekingSheet is about to big-up The South County.

In fairness, I wasn't a member of anywhere until March this year and looked around a few places. Practice facilities were high on my list of priorities.

Driving Range
240 yards long with two large fairway-style grass bays open all year round and two sheltered astro bays. Balls are usual yellow range balls. You can pay 2euro for a token but 90% of the time it's totally fine to collect up your own rather than pay.

Practice Greens
Putting Green is fine - the usual. Right by the first tee so handy for pre round. The chipping green is at the far end of the car park. A good surface, pretty much the same as on the course. Could do with being on less of a slope but it's still very useful.

Pitching Area & Practice Bunkers
50 yard pitching area with a mock green with a small bunker at the front and another at the back. The "tee" can get a bit churned up from divots in the peak season but there's alwas a patch somewhere. It's sanded and seeded a couple of times a year so it's fine. Bunkers are grand for practice. Not Dural-esque but not crap either.

Pros & ProShop
Good pro, ex European Tour player. Good assistant pros x 3. One is in the top 3 or 4 of the irish assistants. Handy to get lessons on your own course and report back immediately after your round how things are going. The assistants are well up for the odd 9 holes in the evenings which does no harm for your game either. ProShop is totally decent, especially for clothes.


Two general points I like. The practice areas are all within a pitching wedge of the clubhouse. It's a little thing but in clubs I was previously a member they were a bit far away and it was a bit of a pain. Secondly they're well used by only a handful of players so you get a decent bit of peace and quiet.

Are you on commision for that place


Sounds exactly what I am after... I am mainly looking for a 30 - 50 yard area where I can work on approach shots etc as is my weakest area...

I plan on putting allot of practise in from Jan/Feb onwards with a few lessons to tighten everything up as I am planning on setting tight goals for next season so want somewhere I could spend a few hours on a couple of evenings a week and not get disrupted would that suit?


Whats the cost again and whats the course itself like?
Thanks

ShriekingSheet

jampotjim wrote: »

Are you on commision for that place


Sounds exactly what I am after... I am mainly looking for a 30 - 50 yard area where I can work on approach shots etc as is my weakest area...

I plan on putting allot of practise in from Jan/Feb onwards with a few lessons to tighten everything up as I am planning on setting tight goals for next season so want somewhere I could spend a few hours on a couple of evenings a week and not get disrupted would that suit?


Whats the cost again and whats the course itself like?
Thanks

Yeah well that's what I do. I go straight after work, spend an hour or so hitting balls and then play a few holes with two or three balls myself or hook up with a few of the lads for 9.

You know yourself, the vast majority of players don't practice at all and the lower guys who do quite a bit, if they do happen to be on the practice tee with you, it's not like they'd be yapping away.

As for pitching practice I actually use the range more for 50 yard shots as it gives tighter, fairway lies on the grass bay. The markers are the usual 50, 100, 150 and 200 but I stick an upbrella at 30 or 40 yards and use that. Would also play a good few of these around the course as I go.

Cost is just under 2k for the year to lease a membership, full playing rights, 300 of that is bar levee you can spend on food and drink. That's what I do anyway. To buy a share is 6k or something, I'm not sure.

Course is 7,100 yards approx. Par 72. Modern design, not loads of trees but a good few were planted 4 or 5 years ago, coming on well. Defends itself with slopes and thick rough off the fairway as opposed to being tight with trees. SSS is par so it certainly ain't easy. Lots of driver holes, mix of reachable and fairly unreachable par 5s. Some tricky shorter par 4s but none drivable. Par 3s are spoken of very highly by visitors. Especially the 16th. 15th par 5 is a bit nuts - great hole, and 17 is index 1 so it's a strong finish.

All in all a solid, well designed golf course that isn't gonna set the world on fire but is definitely an interesting track to play week in week out.

Clubhouse, bar and food etc is all quite nice so it's a good atmosphere. Sure check it out for yourself. Would be interested to see what you think, even though it's less than an ideal time of year.