Organising a golfing weekend - idea's appreciated

The Clam

Right, the story is that I've been asked to organise a "decent" golfing weekend away for a group of 12-20.
The stipulations are as follows, need two quality (yet affordable) courses in relative close proximity to each other and they need to be within 1 1/2 hours of Dublin (but not Dublin itself!). Its the usual kind of stuff, golf on a Friday, then some beers, golf on a Saturday and a few more pints.
Would ye have any suggestions or even previous experiences on something similar? Cheers.

BigChap1759

Budget per round would be helpful in order to give suggestions

heavyballs

The Clam wrote: »

Right, the story is that I've been asked to organise a "decent" golfing weekend away for a group of 12-20.
The stipulations are as follows, need two quality (yet affordable) courses in relative close proximity to each other and they need to be within 1 1/2 hours of Dublin (but not Dublin itself!). Its the usual kind of stuff, golf on a Friday, then some beers, golf on a Saturday and a few more pints.
Would ye have any suggestions or even previous experiences on something similar? Cheers.

Kilkenny,stay in the Hibernian,play Gowran and Mount Juliet,2 cracking courses and not as dear as you might think

The Clam

Sorry, you're dead right, around the €25-€35 mark

Tones69

heavyballs wrote: »

Kilkenny,stay in the Hibernian,play Gowran and Mount Juliet,2 cracking courses and not as dear as you might think

Hes not gettin the juliet for less than 65-75 euro anyway thats a fact, especially fri-sun

Dr_Colossus

The Clam wrote: »

Sorry, you're dead right, around the €25-€35 mark

Could be tough enough getting a decent course on a Sat for that as you'll rule out the likes of the 36 hole venues like Powerscourt and Carton House. Headfort could be an option though, have only played the new course and it's very good.
Another option would be to stay somewhere like Monasterevin and play The Heritage and Dunmurray Springs. The Heritage is a class long course and can be got fairly reasonable now while Dunmurray Springs is a good quality short course so you'd have good variety each day.

link_2007

There was a link posted before for some Wicklow tour operator that offered 3 rounds of golf (on 3 different courses) + 2 nights B&B for around €150.

Can't remember the exact details but google should be able to help.

searay

Options to consider from my experience:

Kells - Stay in the Headfort arms and play headfort old course on Friday. new on Saturday. Both very good courses.
Tullamore - Play Tullamore and Esker Hills or New Forest - stay in the Days Hotel
Sligo - It's a 2.5 hour drive but you could play Castle Dargan and Strandhill. if you stay in the Glasshouse you are in the middle of town and close to the action.
Kilkenny - Mentioned earlier. Gowran is great but you won't get Mount Juliet for that price. Maybe go for Castlecomer

It's difficult to get a cheap rate if you are trying to book for a group on a Saturday.

heavyballs

Tones69 wrote: »

heavyballs wrote: »

Kilkenny,stay in the Hibernian,play Gowran and Mount Juliet,2 cracking courses and not as dear as you might think

He's not gettin the juliet for less than 65-75 euro anyway thats a fact, especially fri-sun

I wasn't given a price range and tbh I'd say you're wrong,chap from mount Juliet posts here a bit,would do a good deal I'd say,they need to up their budget a bit imo

Tones69

heavyballs wrote: »

I wasn't given a price range and tbh I'd say you're wrong,chap from mount Juliet posts here a bit,would do a good deal I'd say,they need to up their budget a bit imo

They were advertising their junior/inter scratch for 60 with a burger and that was supposed to be as cheap as it gets. Unless you're organising a big society group then really you are looking at upwards of 70 euro on the wknd! If not 80

Kevinmarkham

A couple of options:

Wicklow – stay in the Woodenbridge Hotel (although not much nightlife ‘action’ unless you head in to Arklow) and you have four courses to consider: Arklow, Coollattin, Macreddin and Woodenbridge. David from Macreddin is on here a fair bit and will probably do you a good deal for the Saturday, so you can pick one of the others for the Friday. Woodenbridge GC is opposite the hotel.

Carlow – stay at Mount Wolseley Hotel in Tullow and play their course, and then choose between Bunclody and Rathsallagh. You can also stay at the Mill Race in Bunclody, which is opposite the golf club entrance and at the top of the village. Other courses in the area are Leinster Hills and Killerig Castle (neither of which are ‘quality’) and the mighty Carlow – but you won’t get it for the fees you’re looking at.

Dtoffee

I would recommend Headfort old and new, two GREAT courses as Searay suggested ..... staying in Headfort Arms or over Smyths pub (cheap bed only accommodation but breakfast at the club is v good). Plenty of pubs in Kells and no need to drive if you stay in the town.

Seves Three Iron

Knightsbrook Hotel in Trim would leave Knightsbrook GC on your doorstep. They'd definitely cut you a deal. Great course that hosted the Junior Solheim Cup while Killeen Castle, about seven miles away, obviously hosted the full Solheim Cup. Trim GC is about two miles away also, while Rathcore is about 7 or 8.

Jimmy Iovine

searay wrote: »

Kilkenny - Mentioned earlier. Gowran is great but you won't get Mount Juliet for that price. Maybe go for Castlecomer

Definitely look into Castlecomer. It's a fantastic course. Some really great holes around it.

newport2

I'd agree with some of the posts above and either go with Kells, although don't know where to stay in surrounding area, or Mount Wolsely in Carlow and try and get Carlow GC or Rathsallagh for the second round. Mount Wolsely have done good hotel rates in the past, I'm sure would do a good deal for that many golfers.

Only thing is, when you're booking where to stay, make sure you don't come across as a stag party. Some hotels would be afraid to let you in!

PARlance

The Clam wrote: »

Right, the story is that I've been asked to organise a "decent" golfing weekend away for a group of 12-20.
The stipulations are as follows, need two quality (yet affordable) courses in relative close proximity to each other and they need to be within 1 1/2 hours of Dublin (but not Dublin itself!). Its the usual kind of stuff, golf on a Friday, then some beers, golf on a Saturday and a few more pints.
Would ye have any suggestions or even previous experiences on something similar? Cheers.

As there is a budget for the rounds of €25-35 I am also assuming that there's a budget for accommodation.
The accommodation will take up the majority of your spend.
So my suggestion would be to get the accommodation sorted first, have a look around for hotels that are doing deals etc.
Then move onto the course selection, you shouldn't have any problem finding a few good courses within range of any hotel...the hotel may also run some offers in conjunction with nearby clubs.

If you get a deal on the accommodation, you might be lucky and have a few extra quid to throw onto a "better" (price not always reflective of quality) course in the locality.

kevgaa

Hi,

Maybe try New forest and Mullingar or Moyvalley. All decent courses.

You should get decent rates on the golf and a few hotels around the area.

Kev.

gymman39

tullamore ,esker hills and new forest are all within 10 - 15 mins of each other

Goldenjohn

gymman39 wrote: »

tullamore ,esker hills and new forest are all within 10 - 15 mins of each other

We did a trip to Tullamore this year for 16 lads, played Esker hills on the Friday and Tullamore on the Saturday got a good deal in the central hotel including a meal.

Good night out and the golf club is very close for the next morning. Definitely get a buggy if you play esker which cost another e20.

Definitely recommend Tullamore...... did Sligo the year before but thats prob too far for you, again well worth the trip.

The Clam

Thanks a mill for all the suggestions lads, really appreciate (unsure still how to thank individual people!).
Both the Tullamore and Mullingar options are very appealing. I'd probably have to stick within the €25-€35 budget as some of the lads aren't "serious" golfers and the first thing they hear is price rather than the quality of the course.