Athlone Open Days - What's the story??

BenEadir

Hi all,

I'll be in the Athlone area over Xmas and noticed from their site that they have "Mens and Ladies Open Singles" from Dec 26th to Jan 2nd, see http://www.athlonegolfclub.ie/open_days.html

I'm a relatively new member in my local club in Dublin (have my GUI card and handicap etc) but have never been to another clubs open day before so just wondering what the protocol is?? Do you just rock up on the day, put your name down and wait for your slot or do you book a tee time in advance??

Whats the story with green fees on open days??

Ben

Jul3s

Yes you usually have to book in advance, phone the club if they don't have an online booking system, it's usually €20 for opens.

charlieIRL

give us a buzz if you are looking for a playing partner, few of us here organising a round over the christmas.

Rikand

For the open wednesday competition we run, green fees were 15 euros, so green fees will probably be 15 or 20 for the open singles for visitors.

timesheets will be in the pro shop usually about 10 days before the open days start, so you can just stick ring up and the pro will put your name down on the sheet.

09064 92073 is the number for the club.

We don't have an online timesheet as yet, though we are looking into getting one as we speak.

BenEadir

Thanks Rickylovesuall,

Myself and the Brother in law would like to play Wed the 28th so I'll call the pro shop the week before Xmas to book.

BTW, an online booking facility would probably generate good income for you. I'm in Athlone 8-10 weekends a year and would like to be able to book a Saturday slot online. I'm sure other 'visitors' would do the same. Are non members welcome on Saturdays or is it members only or members with guests only on Saturdays?

Cheers,

Ben

Rikand

BenEadir wrote: »

Thanks Rickylovesuall,

Myself and the Brother in law would like to play Wed the 28th so I'll call the pro shop the week before Xmas to book.

BTW, an online booking facility would probably generate good income for you. I'm in Athlone 8-10 weekends a year and would like to be able to book a Saturday slot online. I'm sure other 'visitors' would do the same. Are non members welcome on Saturdays or is it members only or members with guests only on Saturdays?

Cheers,

Ben

non-members are welcome any day of the week, no restrictions. The only problems you may encounter on Saturdays is its the day when Societies play the course mostly, so the timesheet can be quite full, but if there's a slot there, you are just as welcome to it as a member is.

The online booking facility is definitely something we are getting, the club are just weighing up the idea of buying a ready made one, or letting me design and code it for my college thesis. Much better idea to let me do it, but we'll wait and see

BenEadir

Rickylovesuall wrote: »

The online booking facility is definitely something we are getting, the club are just weighing up the idea of buying a ready made one, or letting me design and code it for my college thesis. Much better idea to let me do it, but we'll wait and see

If you are going to do it can I suggest that instead of just sending an email with the tee time info on it you give the user an option to receive a meeting invitation so it can slot straight into the Outlook/Google/Online diaries a lot of people now use to manage their schedules, especially with the proliferation of smart phones?

I'd also encourage you to build in the "4 hours from sunset" line into the tee booking calendar. The BRS system (http://www.brsgolf.com) has this and I find it really useful for booking late tee times which will let me play the full 18 before darkness sets in!!

Ben

Rikand

BenThere wrote: »

If you are going to do it can I suggest that instead of just sending an email with the tee time info on it you give the user an option to receive a meeting invitation so it can slot straight into the Outlook/Google/Online diaries a lot of people now use to manage their schedules, especially with the proliferation of smart phones?

I'd also encourage you to build in the "4 hours from sunset" line into the tee booking calendar. The BRS system (http://www.brsgolf.com) has this and I find it really useful for booking late tee times which will let me play the full 18 before darkness sets in!!

Ben

Sorry im only getting back to this now, busy with exams and the like. It looks like they wont be waiting for me to do it and are getting the BRS System at some stage. I'm still going to do it myself anyways and thank you for the input particularly the 4 hours from sunset bit. It was something I hadn't thought of myself.

Hope you enjoy yourself over the christmas period playing Athlone. 10 day weather forecast says we shouldnt get any frost so heres to hoping

BenEadir

Played Wed the 28th and was disappointed overall. Only 15 holes in play (1,2 & 18 were closed) and the greens were in terrible state. They had been played with frost and were pot marked with bare patches from foot marks. Why destroy your greens to stay open an extra few hours????

You need to get that booking system installed ASAP also. We were due out at 11:46 and got there on time to see 2 x 4 balls waiting to tee off.

Would like to play it again in summer when the greens are playable and the full 18 are open.

Ben

Rikand

firstly as a former P.R.O of Athlone, let me apologise on behalf of the club for the negative experience you encountered while playing the course. I feel I should try to address some of the issues you mentioned in your post, hopefully make you feel a little different about things

as regards the 15 holes in play. For most of the winter so far, we had been playing the 1st - 15th holes in competition play so that it was possible to play the last 3 afterwards if you so wished, however, they had to close the 1st and 18th due to all the rain we had and they were a little soft up the left and side of each hole. You could have played the 2nd , not much consolation i know, but yeah, that's why those holes weren't in play.

As regards the footprints on the green, they're not actually footprints, they're disease, or i should say, they were disease. The greens got something in October and were a lot worse then they are now. There is growth in the greens again and they are much improved from what they were but yeah, it was nothing to do with trying to get extra people out in unsuitable conditions. Just a bit of bad luck that we're thankfully on the road to recovery from.

I agree with the booking system thing, believe me I've said it to them and been saying it to them for years

I'm glad to see you are considering coming back in the summer, trust me, everything else will be much more to your liking when you return

charlieIRL

Pity you didnt enjoy it Ben. Last week was my first time playing there in months and for the first time i enjoyed the round and only lost 2 balls (to silly mistakes!!)

Last time i played 2 other courses nearby they were in similar conditon due to the weather. moate was actual ly closed last time i was there unfortunately

BenEadir

Hi Ricky,

Thanks for taking the time to reply and for putting my concerns in context. I'll certainly give it another shot in the spring/summer when hopefully the grens have recovered and the full 18 are open.

Funny thing is I tried to join Athlone in 2006 when (if I remember correctly) the joining fee was €5,000 as I was planning to move back to live in Athlone but I couldn't get anyone to even send me out an application form despite several phone calls, emails and a visit to the club one Saturday. Dodged a bullet there

Ben

Rikand

yep you should join now for 375 they also have favourable rates for distance members!

Also, the highest the entrance fee ever was, was around €3000 (4 times the annual sub )

BenEadir

Rickylovesuall wrote: »

yep you should join now for 375 they also have favourable rates for distance members!

Tried that before. Joined one of the clubs near Athlone as a full member and played twice in the 12 months

Full member in my local Dublin club now and playing 2-3 times a week during the Summer and at least once a week from mid Nov to end of Feb.

Now I'll just just pay and play Glasson, Mount Temple, Athlone, Ballinasloe, Moate or (my favourite) Esker Hills when 'home' for weekends rather than do a distance membership and be limited to playing just that one.

I'll report back in May/June when I next get to play 'the town' course.

Ben

bobob

Hi Ben. Kind of new to this! Am in the same boat as you as regards living away. I'm also from the west living in the east but cant afford membership in wicklow. Playing society golf at the moment. Was home in galway over the xmas and was invited to play in Ballinrobe. Course was fabulous even after all the bad weather. Only very few wet areas. Had great day, bad golf by me but that happens. Greens in particular were brilliant, my putting bad! Seriously considering joining if I can get reloceted with my job. You should give ballinrobe a go next time youre around.