North dublin membership help.

Jimdagym

Hello all.
I am in the final stages of choosing which club to join, and i have all my research done more or less, but...
I am looking for input from members of clubs in the area. Not negatives really, just deal makers like whether the members are welcoming? Is there generally a good social element in the bar/clubhouse? Is it hard to get out on the course with regards visiting societies and provision of enough members allocated times? Are there many members?
Any help really would be appreciated. I have 3 or maybe 4 clubs in mind and i really cant decide which one is the best for me. I wont say which ones they are yet so as not to influence anyone.
Cheers boardsies.

f22

If you've narrowed it down just mention them, otherwise mention what budget and other requirements you have.

Jimdagym

f22 wrote: »

If you've narrowed it down just mention them, otherwise mention what budget and other requirements you have.

I dont want to exclude others courses yet because although i have it down to a few, i am still open minded to more, and i would appreciate the input from any members of the local clubs. Regards budget, i am not going to pay an entrance fee, but subs up to 2k a year are fine. Thats pretty much every club in the area. My requirements, i am able to find out myself if the club has te practice areas or whatever. I cant find out off the website or from a phone call to the club if the bar is normally empty come saturday night, or if you have to put your name on the time sheet for saturday morning two weeks in advance. Or even if the steak is the best in Ireland. Thats what I am really looking for from this thread f22.

f22

Entrance fee in fact rules several clubs from your options, including: (I'm sure I've forgotten a few)

Portmarnock (not that it's an option anyway)
Royal Dublin
St. Annes
Clontarf
Beaverstown
The Island
Forrest Little

That leaves you with:
Donabate
Corrstown
Roganstown
Balcarrick (although 2011 options haven't been announced)
Turvey
Hollywood Lakes
Corballis
Sillogue
Elm Green

Out of that list Roganstown would be the only one to interest me, and if I was on a really tight budget, Corballis.

Osgoodisgood

f22 wrote: »

Entrance fee in fact rules several clubs from your options, including: (I'm sure I've forgotten a few)

Portmarnock (not that it's an option anyway)
Royal Dublin
St. Annes
Clontarf
Beaverstown
The Island
Forrest Little

That leaves you with:
Donabate
Corrstown
Roganstown
Balcarrick (although 2011 options haven't been announced)
Turvey
Hollywood Lakes
Corballis
Sillogue
Elm Green

Out of that list Roganstown would be the only one to interest me, and if I was on a really tight budget, Corballis.

What about St Margaret's?

f22

Osgoodisgood wrote: »

What about St Margaret's?

Yep, and I forgot Skerries too!

Jimdagym

f22 wrote: »

Yep, and I forgot Skerries too!

Skerries is still 6.5k in afaik. St mags is one i am considering, but would love to get a members input. I know it has fallen from the glory days, and a lot of people here have been put off it. I understand there to be very few members left.

Golfgraffix

I am a member in Roganstown and from what i can see it would fit your requiremenst perfectly.

We had had about 50 new members this year, most on the membership rental scheme, this means they have rented, either from the club directly or from a non playing member a years memebership. They have all the rights of a full member and from the guys that i have played with so far all seem to only have positive things to say.

Not sure iof it is the extra revenue or what but the course is getting back into very good shape and looks and plays very well.

I know when this plan was put to the members there was some concern over having a two tier memebership, those who paid the joining fee and those only playing subs but from what i can see out on the course and in the bar these concerns were unwarrented and everybody seems to be happy.

I think that there are some spots left, its a nice club with a young to middle age demographic, I think you would enjoy it there.

BTW I do not represent the club, so you may want to double check availability, price and terms.

I am also a member in Portmarnock links, €2500 for 7 day and €1500 for 5 day. the course is in great condition but with only 100 or so members it doesnt have the feel of a normal club, but i enjoy it and probably will really see its benefit in the winter months when other courses are becoming unplayable.

J

Jimdagym

Thats the type of info I am looking for. Thanks Golfgraffix. Do you know by any chance if the leased membership arrangement is long term, or reviewed annually?

danthefan

Sorry for being off topic but is Roganstown relatively new? I'd kind of fallen out of playing much golf for the last few years (much to my regret) and I'd never heard of it before starting to read this board.

Jimdagym

danthefan wrote: »

Sorry for being off topic but is Roganstown relatively new? I'd kind of fallen out of playing much golf for the last few years (much to my regret) and I'd never heard of it before starting to read this board.

Yeah, only 6 years os so.

stringy

I'm going to chip in my home club, Donabate. You can pay pro rata for the rest of the year, 30euro a week. Course in especially great condition at the moment, the greens are awesome, so get down and check it out. Having 27 holes is such a bonus, it means you can pretty much get out any time, e.g. even on the spare 9 on the Saturday afternoon. Great practice field with two greens, a separate chipping green, excellent club house, and super friendly members

Monday Open Singles
Wed 4ball or 9 hole evening singles
Thurs Mixed 9 hole
Saturday Singles
Sunday 4ball

25e Early bird and 15e Evening specials

Lots of options!

f22

stringy wrote: »

the greens are awesome

Something must have changes dramatically Stringy because the greens were truely shocking for Junior Cup a couple of weeks ago.

Jimdagym

thank you stringy. Generally speaking, is it hard to get out on a sat or sun morning? Without using the spare 9, that is.

Mister Sifter

To be fair to Donabate, around Junior Cup time the greens were still recovering from pole forking. They weren't too far away, i thought, from being decent.

Nice clubhouse up there and i was very impressed by the practice facilities - massive area for hitting off fairway-quality grass and long enough to take the driver. Also a course-quality chipping green.

Downsides - the course is average enough and the CSS usually seems to fall lower than par.

stringy

Junior Cup was unfortunate, they took longer than expected to recover from pole forking, but played at wknd and they were superb, back to their best.

At the weekend it's not too difficult to get out, and with the online booking you can book your tee-time a week in advance.

Ok it isn't a championship course, but the CSS last Saturday was 74 and for the Junior Cup it was 75. It's deceptively tricky at times, with really low scores a rarity.

All I'm saying is that it's good value for an established club with good all round facilities.

RGS

I second Roganstown, i am a member and agree with the sentiments expressed by Golfgraffix.

Jimdagym

Thanks very much for the help guys. Is there anyone from st mags, corrstown, hollywood lakes or maybe somewhere I'm not thinking of that can throw in their 2c?

billy3sheets

Hi Jimdagym,
I've been a Hollywood Lakes member since 1999. The membership fee has gone through the same cycles as other places, peaking in about 2005 at 8K, dropping back to 5k. Now you can join for 1.5K which is about e250 entrance plus your annual sub.
The course is around about 20 years and is maturing nicely now. There's lots of trees, water, pacey greens & a great variety of holes.
The male membership is about 650, about 100 of which have joined in the last 2 years or so. The club is owned by the members and our teams compete very well in inter-club competitions, including Pierce Purcell, Bruen & Barton shields, Uden, O'Grady cups
We built a brand new clubhouse 2 years ago, from which there's a splendid view south as far as Bray. There's a reasonable practice area too.
You can play one of the mid-week opens there for e15 so I'd recommend you give that a try before you decide
Hope this helps...

Jimdagym

billy3sheets wrote: »

Hi Jimdagym,
I've been a Hollywood Lakes member since 1999. The membership fee has gone through the same cycles as other places, peaking in about 2005 at 8K, dropping back to 5k. Now you can join for 1.5K which is about e250 entrance plus your annual sub.
The course is around about 20 years and is maturing nicely now. There's lots of trees, water, pacey greens & a great variety of holes.
The male membership is about 650, about 100 of which have joined in the last 2 years or so. The club is owned by the members and our teams compete very well in inter-club competitions, including Pierce Purcell, Bruen & Barton shields, Uden, O'Grady cups
We built a brand new clubhouse 2 years ago, from which there's a splendid view south as far as Bray. There's a reasonable practice area too.
You can play one of the mid-week opens there for e15 so I'd recommend you give that a try before you decide
Hope this helps...

Thanks billy, thats very helpful. With 650 male members, does that make it very hard to get out weekend mornings. I see they are doing a join up now for 2k and say nothing till jan 2012. Thats a super deal.

billy3sheets

Yes, as we have an active membership in Hollywood Lakes, the weekend timesheets are busy, particularly from say 8-10am. We have an online booking system with BRS golf and are linked into HowDidIDo. Some people play in regular 4 balls and take turns with the booking. Usually there are free slots, even on Medal days & the club is clamping down on offenders who book with no intention of playing or who cancel out late. Everybody still gets a game

The course is already well drained but occasional small projects are undertaken to improve or repair existing works.

Recently the club has installed clocks at a few holes to monitor the pace of play & I've heard anecdotally that this has improved the average round time.

As I say, give it a try & see for yourself.

Jimdagym

Thats great information Billy. Thanks a million.
Jim

Jimdagym

Right, so here is where i am.
Furthere to recommendations on this thread, roganstown and donabate are now on my list for consideration.
The 3 clubs i had previously been considering were hollywoodlakes (thanks for the review billy3sheets), corrstown and st margarets. They all meet the practice area requirements i have and they all have decent to excellent clubhouse facilites. By and large, the fees are all roughly the same.
St margarets really is my love. The layout excites me every single time i play it. But the deterioration of the course and lack of members is a huge problem for me. I have emailed all 5 clubs looking for any advice they can give me but i wont hold my breath. For some reason i find golf clubs terrible at getting back to you.
So is there anyone in can give me their tuppence worth as to what to do now? Picking between these five is proving near impossible for me.

danthefan

Stupid question but have you played all 5 courses?

Golfgraffix

Have you played Roganstown yet? If not send me a pm and i will see if can organise to get you out. As i say it is a nice track with a good membership and superb facilities.

The parctice area is the the greatest but is fine for short to medium irons.

J

f22

Jimdagym wrote: »

Right, so here is where i am.
Furthere to recommendations on this thread, roganstown and donabate are now on my list for consideration.
The 3 clubs i had previously been considering were hollywoodlakes (thanks for the review billy3sheets), corrstown and st margarets. They all meet the practice area requirements i have and they all have decent to excellent clubhouse facilites. By and large, the fees are all roughly the same.
St margarets really is my love. The layout excites me every single time i play it. But the deterioration of the course and lack of members is a huge problem for me. I have emailed all 5 clubs looking for any advice they can give me but i wont hold my breath. For some reason i find golf clubs terrible at getting back to you.
So is there anyone in can give me their tuppence worth as to what to do now? Picking between these five is proving near impossible for me.

For what it's worth Jim here would be my order of preference, I know all the clubs pretty well and know members in all of them (bar St. Margarets because they left for reasons you mentioned yourself).

1. Roganstown
2. Corrstown
3. Hollywood Lakes
4. Donabate
5. St Margarets

Jimdagym

danthefan wrote: »

Stupid question but have you played all 5 courses?

Not a stupid question, the only one I have not played (as I was saying to Golfgraffix) is Roganstown, and thats principally due to the online booking never working.
As I was also saying to him, the place i join, I am looking for something long-term. I need to find out a lot more about the membership lease agreement before I consider that anymore.
F22,thanks for your input, its much appreciated. Given Roganstown is on hold untill the club get back to me, your next 3 (Corrstown, Hollywood Lakes, Donabate) all fit the bill as they are proper members clubs. The lakes has never been cheaper to join (2k till jan 2012:eek:) and corrstown do a great scheme were you can have playing rights for a couple of years before you decide to shell out on your share membership. IMO a lot more clubs should do this. Donabate is lovely track and I always enjoy myself there.
The main reason for this thread is that none of my friends have taken the step of golf club membership. Wherever I do join, i will be going in without knowing any other members. That is why I was trying to find out which clubs had a welcoming social side,and maybe which ones were more keep-to-themselvesie.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who helped clear up a few of the points for me. It is much appreciated.

f22

Jimdagym wrote: »

Not a stupid question, the only one I have not played (as I was saying to Golfgraffix) is Roganstown, and thats principally due to the online booking never working.
As I was also saying to him, the place i join, I am looking for something long-term. I need to find out a lot more about the membership lease agreement before I consider that anymore.
F22,thanks for your input, its much appreciated. Given Roganstown is on hold untill the club get back to me, your next 3 (Corrstown, Hollywood Lakes, Donabate) all fit the bill as they are proper members clubs. The lakes has never been cheaper to join (2k till jan 2012:eek:) and corrstown do a great scheme were you can have playing rights for a couple of years before you decide to shell out on your share membership. IMO a lot more clubs should do this. Donabate is lovely track and I always enjoy myself there.
The main reason for this thread is that none of my friends have taken the step of golf club membership. Wherever I do join, i will be going in without knowing any other members. That is why I was trying to find out which clubs had a welcoming social side,and maybe which ones were more keep-to-themselvesie.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who helped clear up a few of the points for me. It is much appreciated.

Jim, the other option is to look at some at the other clubs that have heavily discounted entrance fees that can be split over several years and negotiated. It would certainly open up some better options for you if you could afford it.

danthefan

Roganstown do open singles competitions, costs €25 I think, might be an idea to play it before making a final decision. Haven't played it myself but have read very good things on here about it.

Jimdagym

f22 wrote: »

Jim, the other option is to look at some at the other clubs that have heavily discounted entrance fees that can be split over several years and negotiated. It would certainly open up some better options for you if you could afford it.

What clubs are you thinking of, f22?

f22

Not sure about individual pricing but Beaverstown, Forrest Little (may be biased) and Skerries are three that spring to mind

Jimdagym

f22 wrote: »

Not sure about individual pricing but Beaverstown, Forrest Little (may be biased) and Skerries are three that spring to mind

I know you're in Forest little, I dont know the financial arrangements there (never played it either), but i know skerries is 6.5k. Spread out over 3 years max so its still 2k plus your subs. Beaverstown is 3k for this year inc subs. There is no mention on the site about how much of that the subs actually are, or whether or not there is a phased payment scheme. Several voicemails to the club and several e-mails to find out more details have gone unanswered.
TBH, i cant afford a few thousand in hello money, and if I was going down that route, it would be Balbriggan I would be joining (8k).
But I am not, so (untill the roganstown lease deal is clarified where also no-one wants to return v/mails or emails) it is increasingly looking like Corrstown on a playing membership or Hollywood on the 2k for membership and subs till end 2011.

lettuce97

Hi Jimdagym, I'm in the exact same position as you so first of all thanks for starting the thread - and to all the others for the input.
Played Margaret's on Tuesday, the course seemed in grand nick bar what I thought were very slow greens for this time of year. Seemed very quiet though for a nice sunny evening, even if it was midweek.
I was looking at either Donabate or Corrstown for next year, that Hollywood Lakes deal looks tempting too though. I'd be interested to hear what you info get back from Roganstown too.
Also, does anybody have any opinions on when is the best time of year to join a club?
Cheers

Jimdagym

danthefan wrote: »

Roganstown do open singles competitions, costs €25 I think, might be an idea to play it before making a final decision. Haven't played it myself but have read very good things on here about it.

Cheap way of playing it alright, but dont you need a gui handicap to play in it?

danthefan

Jimdagym wrote: »

Cheap way of playing it alright, but dont you need a gui handicap to play in it?

Ahh I didn't even think of that. You could just fib I suppose.

Jimdagym

lettuce97 wrote: »

Hi Jimdagym, I'm in the exact same position as you so first of all thanks for starting the thread - and to all the others for the input.
Played Margaret's on Tuesday, the course seemed in grand nick bar what I thought were very slow greens for this time of year. Seemed very quiet though for a nice sunny evening, even if it was midweek.
I was looking at either Donabate or Corrstown for next year, that Hollywood Lakes deal looks tempting too though. I'd be interested to hear what you info get back from Roganstown too.
Also, does anybody have any opinions on when is the best time of year to join a club?
Cheers

Hello lettuce. Boy, did i save you some legwork.
Margarets. Love the course but its in serious neglect. Bunkers in bits, bald greens, tee's with lumps out of them. I'd love to join in, but its just in need to too much care. Half the handrails are rotted. €1500 per year, starts the day you join.
Corrstown. On the phone today. 1500 per year (750 from now till dec). All to be paid up front. After 3 years, must become full member at 4500 or leave. Entrance fee to be paid over 3 months. 100% rules me out of there. No help for prospective members at all.
Hollywood lakes. €1989 all in until dec 2011. You can pay over 10 months with fairways credit. Very helpful.
Roganstown, 1419 per year. 800 offer till end jan. The full year subs can be spread over the year. The guy i was talking to was not sure if the half year subs could be.
Beaverstown, 3k in for 2010 inc this years subs. 525 off for joining this late. Leaves 700 odd in subs for this year, can be staggered once its all in by year end. The 1500 entrance fee can be spread over up to 3 years. They were very helpful with providing suitable payment options.
Donabate. New associate membership. 3 year term, then you can apply for full membership at the current rate. At the minute its 9800e. Those associate subs are 1565 but you can say them off by DD or in stages in the clubhouse. 800 quid to join to end of year. Very helpful too.
Balcarrick 1300 per year. Very flexible payment options too.
Didnt look into turvey cos i hate it and forrest little cos its a little rich for my blood.
Given all the feedback i got on here, and the pricing and payment arrangements, i am currently between roganstown and hollywood lakes. I hope this helps you.

Jimdagym

and regard the roganstown lease, the guy seemed to think that once your in, your in. I'd rather discuss that with the GM or someone before i signed on the dotted line.

lettuce97

You certainly have Jim, much appreciated! I might try a bit of research into husband & wife options to see if there's any offers anywhere and will definitely be in touch with Roganstown. Shame about Corrstown, I can't see myself going for that commitment after 3 years either. Thanks again - will let you know if I make any decisions!

danthefan

Off topic, sorry, but what exactly has happened to St. Margarets? I played there a few years ago and thought it was really nice. Members have left (recession?) and they can't afford to keep the course in good condition or what?

billy3sheets

Jim, Here's a suggestion - useful for making decisions on all sorts of things.
List out all of the things you are evaluating about each club, weight each one for importance, then score each one for each club & multiply by the weight. Then tot it all up & you'll have a score for each. Then you'll have an objective result which you can use to help you decide.

Jimdagym

billy3sheets wrote: »

Jim, Here's a suggestion - useful for making decisions on all sorts of things.
List out all of the things you are evaluating about each club, weight each one for importance, then score each one for each club & multiply by the weight. Then tot it all up & you'll have a score for each. Then you'll have an objective result which you can use to help you decide.

Thats a fine way of doing it ordinarily Billy, but at this stage, since I have pretty much decided its between Roganstown and Hollywood Lakes (please god don't let someone offer another option to muddy the waters even more!!), what I want to do know is go down and walk around both set-up's, play both courses, check the facilities and get a good "feel" for the place.
I had a good chat with Seamus (GM?)in the lakes yesterday, a very nice man who I dont think could have been more helpful. I rang Roganstown today, and also yesterday, and each time I seem to have gotten someone who wasn't really informed / interested, which proved to be very uninformative. I wont say its off-putting, but it didnt leave a fantastic impression Would anyone know the name of someone who might be in more of a position to go few more of the details with me, maybe even show me around a bit if i ventured over?

lettuce97

Jimdagym wrote: »

Thats a fine way of doing it ordinarily Billy, but at this stage, since I have pretty much decided its between Roganstown and Hollywood Lakes (please god don't let someone offer another option to muddy the waters even more!!), what I want to do know is go down and walk around both set-up's, play both courses, check the facilities and get a good "feel" for the place.
I had a good chat with Seamus (GM?)in the lakes yesterday, a very nice man who I dont think could have been more helpful. I rang Roganstown today, and also yesterday, and each time I seem to have gotten someone who wasn't really informed / interested, which proved to be very uninformative. I wont say its off-putting, but it didnt leave a fantastic impression Would anyone know the name of someone who might be in more of a position to go few more of the details with me, maybe even show me around a bit if i ventured over?

Hi Jim,
I wandered up to Roganstown yesterday for a look around, place looked well - good and busy. Elaine was the person in the pro shop, very helpful in answering any questions I had about membership. I don't think she's there every day though. I'm going to hopefully play the course some evening this week and assuming I like the course (which I'm sure I will based on the feedback here) I reckon I'll go with the membership - pro rata rate for the rest of the year is €719.50.

lettuce97

Done and done - joined Roganstown at the pro rata rate. Have to say I've been hugely impressed with everything up there so far. Now to watch my handicap drop faster than NAMA's profit estimates!!

Jimdagym

lettuce97 wrote: »

Done and done - joined Roganstown at the pro rata rate. Have to say I've been hugely impressed with everything up there so far. Now to watch my handicap drop faster than NAMA's profit estimates!!

The best of luck up there. I'm sure you'll be welcomed by what seems to be a hugely friendly membership.

Golfgraffix

Hey Lettuce, welcome to the club, hope you have a blast playing there.

Just in time for Capts day on Saturday, you wont be able to win but I am sure you can still play.

If you are interested in mid week golf, there is a Tues comp every week, in fact there is two and open and a members comp.

If you want to find the lay of the land on the course there is some very good simulation stuff on the website, you can even play it on your pc as a simulation, there is also a iphone app due in a couple of days.

http://www.roganstown.com/golfApp001/preview01.html (FLYBYS)

http://www.roganstown.com/golf-dublin-airport-north-dublin/play-golf-online/ (How to install the simulation)

J

RGS

Lettuce as a Roganstown member welcome to the club. Just get your name down for the weekend comps and you will meet a few members--we are a friendly bunch.

lettuce97

RGS wrote: »

Lettuce as a Roganstown member welcome to the club. Just get your name down for the weekend comps and you will meet a few members--we are a friendly bunch.

Thanks for the great welcome all - totally in line with what I've experienced at the club, incredibly welcoming. Lovely course too. Hopefully plenty of practice and I'll be ready to meet a few of you at the competitions!

Osgoodisgood

Jimdagym wrote: »

Hello all.
I am in the final stages of choosing which club to join, and i have all my research done more or less, but...
I am looking for input from members of clubs in the area. Not negatives really, just deal makers like whether the members are welcoming? Is there generally a good social element in the bar/clubhouse? Is it hard to get out on the course with regards visiting societies and provision of enough members allocated times? Are there many members?
Any help really would be appreciated. I have 3 or maybe 4 clubs in mind and i really cant decide which one is the best for me. I wont say which ones they are yet so as not to influence anyone.
Cheers boardsies.

Jim, So what did you eventually decide to do? Have you joined anywhere?

Jimdagym

Osgoodisgood wrote: »

Jim, So what did you eventually decide to do? Have you joined anywhere?

Actually not yet. In the early stages of this thread i hurt my back, so this is my third week off work. Doc ordered me at the start of july not to hit a ball for at least a month. So waiting to be able to swing again to try out one or two final courses. Although truth be told, despite some minor problems with customer service up in roganstown when i tried to enquire up there, the overwhelmingly friendly response i received from members there on here has pushed it to the top of the list. I think, once i play it and dont absolutely hate it, it'll be there.

Osgoodisgood

Why Roganstown over Hollywood Lakes? I had a similarly excellent response from HL so I'm in a real 50:50 situation.

Jimdagym

Osgoodisgood wrote: »

Why Roganstown over Hollywood Lakes? I had a similarly excellent response from HL so I'm in a real 50:50 situation.

Hl is the last other one on my list, but all else being equal, it would be easier to get out in RT. And i work shift, so thats important to me. A lot less members for stop you playing.