PGA National to close until april 2010

golfirl

PGA National to close until april 2010 , sad news lets hope all will be well come 2010 .

irishtoffee

Played it in august and it was in a terrible state.

callaway92

source?

callaway92

irishtoffee wrote: »

Played it in august and it was in a terrible state.

I played it last month in the absolute pissing rain and it was class

golfirl

I am currently a member of PGA National , all the members recieved a call today and we were told that it was closing from the end of this month until 1 st of april 2010 , members are being moved to Citywest , big work going to be carried out over the winter to the back 9 noles as they can be very wet .

callaway92

golfirl wrote: »

I am currently a member of PGA National , all the members recieved a call today and we were told that it was closing from the end of this month until 1 st of april 2010 , members are being moved to Citywest , big work going to be carried out over the winter to the back 9 noles as they can be very wet .

ok

Trampas

I only got a text of them this week about green fees and opens

jimjo

golfirl wrote: »

I am currently a member of PGA National , all the members recieved a call today and we were told that it was closing from the end of this month until 1 st of april 2010 , members are being moved to Citywest , big work going to be carried out over the winter to the back 9 noles as they can be very wet .

Thanks for that input, played there with another member of boards, we had a great sunny day and the course was in great shape. €60 opens on Monday which I wont say is great value as I feel thats a lot for a green fee but its such a cracking course. Loved the 9th hole, hitting up to the elevated green surrounded by bunkers, class hole.

PhilipMarlowe

Played it once and it's a very fine track... love the par 5's
I played it on a charity day and it was too short off the forward tees but would like a go off the middle/back ones... 2 putt birdie on 9
I was back to collect my car on the next (Saturday) morning and thought it a shame that it was so quiet. Hopefully it will be even better next spring.

stumpypeeps

golfirl wrote: »

I am currently a member of PGA National , all the members recieved a call today and we were told that it was closing from the end of this month until 1 st of april 2010 , members are being moved to Citywest , big work going to be carried out over the winter to the back 9 noles as they can be very wet .

To be perfectly honest, the front nine need a certain amount of work also. But in the grand scheme of things its a fantastic course with vast potential.
I feel the real issue is closing the club house which must be very costly to run through the winter.

Brockagh

I hope I don't offend anyone, but I think it's a pretty crappy gimicky course. Does not have a natural feel at all to it. Good condition when I played it. A bit like the new Dun laoghaire course. No subtilty at all.

stumpypeeps

Brockagh wrote: »

I hope I don't offend anyone, but I think it's a pretty crappy gimicky course. Does not have a natural feel at all to it. Good condition when I played it. A bit like the new Dun laoghaire course. No subtilty at all.

Its a pretty typical christy o connor jnr effort. A bit of reshaping and it'd be cracking. the terrain is pretty flat which doesn't help. play it from the back though and you have your work cut out.

Brockagh

I just didn't take to it, but I love Headfort New and Esker Hills. They seem much more natural. As does Mt Wolselely. Conkra Wood is also supposed to be excellent.

I play a bit in Citywest, as I live beside it. Short course is fun, but was never a big fan of the long one. No hole really stands out. It had two of the worst doglegs, but built extra hotel rooms on one of them.

I believe Nicklaus was supposed to do PGA National, but had an argument over something with the owners. I could be wrong about this.

heavyballs

Brockagh wrote: »

I hope I don't offend anyone, but I think it's a pretty crappy gimicky course. Does not have a natural feel at all to it. Good condition when I played it. A bit like the new Dun laoghaire course. No subtilty at all.

i think it's hard to knock young courses like these 2,yes you can get a new build that has a natural feel but normally it takes time,with the amount of young tree's DL has planted it's going to be a smashing course in time if you combine that to the views up there.
Re: PGA is a smashing course and i would not mention it in the same breath as Esker which to me is nothing more than a average course with a couple of nice holes.

Brockagh

That's fair comment, as these are just opinions. I love Esker Hills, although it's hard to walk. I believe PGA is a bad copy of an American style course, but that's what people want, I suppose (I don't mean that to sound patronising). Maybe I should give it another chance and play it again when it reopens.

tamloc

The best course in the country bar none, IMO. They just need to get more out there. ie cheaper green fees.

Mister Sifter

Christ, what a come down - PGA National to Citywest.

goofontour

Played both City west courses and PGA over the last couple of months - greens on both city west courses were in better condition! (Just difficult to find anywhere to get the driver out at Citywest )

spacecoyote

Didn't the owner (mansfield i think?) offer the course plus a serious wad of cash to Newlands golf club to do a swap of ownership, but the members of Newlands rejected the offer because of the cost of running the place?

Its a nice course alright, the par 5s are lovely holes, but I think I maybe had it a bit too hyped in my head before playing it, as it didn't live up to my expectations.

It must be a serious money pit for the owner though, it can't be making even close to the money required to run the place?

Brockagh

spacecoyote wrote: »

Didn't the owner (mansfield i think?) offer the course plus a serious wad of cash to Newlands golf club to do a swap of ownership, but the members of Newlands rejected the offer because of the cost of running the place?

Its a nice course alright, the par 5s are lovely holes, but I think I maybe had it a bit too hyped in my head before playing it, as it didn't live up to my expectations.

It must be a serious money pit for the owner though, it can't be making even close to the money required to run the place?

That's true about Newlands. I hadn't heard about the cash bit, though.

I think the idea was to make money from the property around it. That model. The initial massive sign-on fee was to assure buyers around the course that no riff-raff would be playing near their lovely homes.

spacecoyote

Brockagh wrote: »

That's true about Newlands. I hadn't heard about the cash bit, though.

I think the idea was to make money from the property around it. That model. The initial massive sign-on fee was to assure buyers around the course that no riff-raff would be playing near their lovely homes.

yeah from what I gathered they refused the initial offer of a straight swap so Mansfield added a few million as a sweetener to the deal, which they also refused

golfirl

Looks like it could stay open , new management looking to take over and run the course for the next 12 months , they are talking about new membership deals , lower green fees etc........ , lets hope so

ozymandias10

its a fine course but it does have drainage problems..bit of a bog in winter...if they could dry it it would be a lovely track....i like it...not my favourite but i do enjoy it and he whole clubhouse and practice areas are fabulous