Irelands Top 100 Ranked Courses

ThunderCat

I know this was touched upon last week when there was a dispute over the order the Top 10 should be in etc. but when I got this months Irelands Golf Digest yesterday the rankings are all over the place. The top 10 is more or less fine, its the rest of the rankings thats the eye opener. Courses are jumping and dropping as much as 30+ places in the space of a year. Ill give you a few examples:

Tramore - up 37 places on last year
Bantry Bay - up 20 places on last year
Mullingar - down 23 places on last year
Glasson - down 14 places
Murvagh - down 10 places
Portsalon - up 25 places
Dun Laoghaire - up 17 places
Seapoint - up 23 places
Rosapenna - up 27 places

The above is just a few of the big movers, there are plenty more.

There is no way that these courses should have risen and dropped so dramatically in the space of a year. Seapoint for example is a course I played last year and this year and its the exact same. No work has been done to it in that space of time so why does it merit and increase of 23 places?? I actually like the course by the way but im just trying to get the point across. I understand that some courses have undergone changes but certainly not them all and in a lot of cases the changes would have been minimal.

Another good one for ya - Kilkenny has jumped straight in the rankings to number 57 yet it wasnt even in the top 100 last year. Thats a jump of 43+ places.
Also under each course there is a little bit of commentary. The one for Mullingar is the one I like the best:

"Although some 'cosmetic' changes have been made since its creation in 1935, Mullingar is as essentially as its desinger intended"

So why the drop of 23 places since last year??

Im coming to the conclusion that these rankings are heavily biased towards the courses who take out advertisments in Irelands Golf Digest.

Ill be taking them with a pinch of salt from now on anyway.

Woosie1959

I agree totally with you and quoted Kilkenny in another post. As for seapoint culd it be the introduction of Declan Brannigan to the judging panel. or am i being too cynical

ThunderCat wrote: »

I know this was touched upon last week when there was a dispute over the order the Top 10 should be in etc. but when I got this months Irelands Golf Digest yesterday the rankings are all over the place. The top 10 is more or less fine, its the rest of the rankings thats the eye opener. Courses are jumping and dropping as much as 30+ places in the space of a year. Ill give you a few examples:

Tramore - up 37 places on last year
Bantry Bay - up 20 places on last year
Mullingar - down 23 places on last year
Glasson - down 14 places
Murvagh - down 10 places
Portsalon - up 25 places
Dun Laoghaire - up 17 places
Seapoint - up 23 places
Rosapenna - up 27 places

The above is just a few of the big movers, there are plenty more.

There is no way that these courses should have risen and dropped so dramatically in the space of a year. Seapoint for example is a course I played last year and this year and its the exact same. No work has been done to it in that space of time so why does it merit and increase of 23 places?? I actually like the course by the way but im just trying to get the point across. I understand that some courses have undergone changes but certainly not them all and in a lot of cases the changes would have been minimal.

Another good one for ya - Kilkenny has jumped straight in the rankings to number 57 yet it wasnt even in the top 100 last year. Thats a jump of 43+ places.
Also under each course there is a little bit of commentary. The one for Mullingar is the one I like the best:

"Although some 'cosmetic' changes have been made since its creation in 1935, Mullingar is as essentially as its desinger intended"

So why the drop of 23 places since last year??

Im coming to the conclusion that these rankings are heavily biased towards the courses who take out advertisments in Irelands Golf Digest.

Ill be taking them with a pinch of salt from now on anyway.

Screed

I have also read the piece and was shocked at some of the jumps but I believe this year the main criteria are to do with length. Technology is reducing some of the older courses to drives and wedges (how many play a 5 iron from a tee and a 7 iron too a green any more?). Main thing here is to remember they are opinions and change every year. In the last 3 years they have been doing this there have been a total of 118 different courses mentioned at least once. 11 new course added 2008, 6 new in 2009 with one course getting back on list from 2007, Castletroy have lengthened the course and put in new greens made it more difficult. Courses like Concra wood and Lough Erne are sure to be added soon.

scout353

I know Tramore has been undergoing a huge redevelopment that is not going to be complete until next year yet this work wasn't even mentioned in the commentary!

Given that the new nine holes and the upgrade to the existing 18 seems to be fantastic could this mean that they'll be in the top ten next year? Assuming that they take out a few pages of advertising in GD of course!! :rolleyes: