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A must to play.
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20-08-2012 11:02am#1
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Played the Heritage yesterday and thought it was a decent track without being blown away by it. There are many fine parkland courses I've yet to play in Ireland and this was one so it was nice to tick it off the list. Having said that, I don't think it's as good as a number of courses I have played, including Headfort New and my current number 1 (despite all of it's associations
), the K Club.
Possibly my biggest criticism of the place is maintenance, which has already been touched on in this forum. The fairway and greenside bunkers were in rag order, and some of the shrubbery and vegetation looked very unkept, noticeably around some of the water hazards which are actually partially obscured in places as a result. I read an article recently that claimed the difference between the pro game and the amateur game has never been more evident and that this was predominantly down to length and The Heritage pays tribute to this; it's a very long course with a very high average CSS but it was made to look easy by the pros in the Seve Trophy.
Having said that, the fairways are very generous for the most part and it takes a truly wild shot to be punished severely which I admire. This is not necessarily the case with a number of 'old-school' parkland layouts such as my own place (Lucan GC) and (to a much lesser extent) well-respected tracks like Carlow or Mullingar, where you can occasionally hit awful tee shots and finish on adjoining fairways or in otherwise decent shape. There's none of that around The Heritage: a bad miscue will leave you swimming or in deep rough, which makes the course tough but very fair.
On that note however, I must return to the bunkers, specifically the fairway traps. I don't know if they were always so shallow but to pros and decent amateurs, they are no hazard whatsoever. In fact, on at least 2 or 3 holes (most obviously 3 and 12) I found myself bunkered down the right but in better shape than my playing partners down the middle of the fairway because the 1) sand was so compacted 2)the lips were non-existent and 3) I was on a straighter, shorter line to the green than they were because I'd cut off the dog-leg by (unintentionally) driving into the sand! This, unfortunately, suggests that the course design fell into the American habit of fashioning bunkers for reasons that have more to do with aesthetics than strategy. That they built more than they were able to maintain just adds insult to injury.
There are some standout holes of course. 9 and 18 both run parallel to a spectacular water hazard and are both strong par 4s. The 4th hole is a serious par 3, like the 17th at Naas on steroids. Very difficult, and a par 3 you're almost glad to get out of the way early so you've time to make up for the damage it's done to your card!
With the exception of large scale water and bunker hazards however, there is a very bare feel to the Heritage imho. There's very little in the way of mature trees framing holes, something that I think the K Club does spectacularly well and the 'wide-open' sensation, though sometimes misleading, is something I felt on almost every tee. Having said that, the course is only a decade old so I can't completely rule out the possibility that it could be very special given a few more years. I only hope it survives for the necessary amount of time!0 -
I only played it once, in the "good times" and it was a cracking course - I do here alot of people comment on bunkers in the majority of courses nowadays, problem is greenkeepers have a lot cost cutting to do these days and bunkers generally go down the pecking list, and with the bad weather over the summer, the bunkers never got a chance to drain properly, also alot of people dont realise that bunkers on can take up to 3 months of solid work to get them back to good playing conditions - but yeah the heritage is class!!!
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Benicetomonty wrote: »Played the Heritage yesterday and thought it was a decent track without being blown away by it. There are many fine parkland courses I've yet to play in Ireland and this was one so it was nice to tick it off the list. Having said that, I don't think it's as good as a number of courses I have played, including Headfort New and my current number 1 (despite all of it's associations), the K Club.
Possibly my biggest criticism of the place is maintenance, which has already been touched on in this forum. The fairway and greenside bunkers were in rag order, and some of the shrubbery and vegetation looked very unkept, noticeably around some of the water hazards which are actually partially obscured in places as a result. I read an article recently that claimed the difference between the pro game and the amateur game has never been more evident and that this was predominantly down to length and The Heritage pays tribute to this; it's a very long course with a very high average CSS but it was made to look easy by the pros in the Seve Trophy.
Having said that, the fairways are very generous for the most part and it takes a truly wild shot to be punished severely which I admire. This is not necessarily the case with a number of 'old-school' parkland layouts such as my own place (Lucan GC) and (to a much lesser extent) well-respected tracks like Carlow or Mullingar, where you can occasionally hit awful tee shots and finish on adjoining fairways or in otherwise decent shape. There's none of that around The Heritage: a bad miscue will leave you swimming or in deep rough, which makes the course tough but very fair.
On that note however, I must return to the bunkers, specifically the fairway traps. I don't know if they were always so shallow but to pros and decent amateurs, they are no hazard whatsoever. In fact, on at least 2 or 3 holes (most obviously 3 and 12) I found myself bunkered down the right but in better shape than my playing partners down the middle of the fairway because the 1) sand was so compacted 2)the lips were non-existent and 3) I was on a straighter, shorter line to the green than they were because I'd cut off the dog-leg by (unintentionally) driving into the sand! This, unfortunately, suggests that the course design fell into the American habit of fashioning bunkers for reasons that have more to do with aesthetics than strategy. That they built more than they were able to maintain just adds insult to injury.
There are some standout holes of course. 9 and 18 both run parallel to a spectacular water hazard and are both strong par 4s. The 4th hole is a serious par 3, like the 17th at Naas on steroids. Very difficult, and a par 3 you're almost glad to get out of the way early so you've time to make up for the damage it's done to your card!
With the exception of large scale water and bunker hazards however, there is a very bare feel to the Heritage imho. There's very little in the way of mature trees framing holes, something that I think the K Club does spectacularly well and the 'wide-open' sensation, though sometimes misleading, is something I felt on almost every tee. Having said that, the course is only a decade old so I can't completely rule out the possibility that it could be very special given a few more years. I only hope it survives for the necessary amount of time!
Great Review.
It was a crazy new idea for Ireland. It was a great place to see and in fairness to the guy who made it , it was top class finish, tee boxes and fairways, distance markers.
Hit a 5 iron to 18 inches on 4th (near hole in 1) and missed putt (i'm a loser
:mad::o:))
These places are too big too keep, it was grand when there was plenty of money , but it will be a steady decline in most, you can see it, and when you let them go, it is very hard to get back. NAMA places I've played are in poorish condition. Hard for the staff when the number is halved , it is a min min approach.
Some think the Heritage is not even the best in Laois - The Heath or Portarlington - Not a fan of The Heath myself.
Mount Juilet , miles ahead of The Heritage.
A Links anyday anyway, but none in Laois :P:)0 -
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Super post ! Hope it survives too would be terrible to see such a great place go to ruin .Benicetomonty wrote: »Played the Heritage yesterday and thought it was a decent track without being blown away by it. There are many fine parkland courses I've yet to play in Ireland and this was one so it was nice to tick it off the list. Having said that, I don't think it's as good as a number of courses I have played, including Headfort New and my current number 1 (despite all of it's associations), the K Club.
Possibly my biggest criticism of the place is maintenance, which has already been touched on in this forum. The fairway and greenside bunkers were in rag order, and some of the shrubbery and vegetation looked very unkept, noticeably around some of the water hazards which are actually partially obscured in places as a result. I read an article recently that claimed the difference between the pro game and the amateur game has never been more evident and that this was predominantly down to length and The Heritage pays tribute to this; it's a very long course with a very high average CSS but it was made to look easy by the pros in the Seve Trophy.
Having said that, the fairways are very generous for the most part and it takes a truly wild shot to be punished severely which I admire. This is not necessarily the case with a number of 'old-school' parkland layouts such as my own place (Lucan GC) and (to a much lesser extent) well-respected tracks like Carlow or Mullingar, where you can occasionally hit awful tee shots and finish on adjoining fairways or in otherwise decent shape. There's none of that around The Heritage: a bad miscue will leave you swimming or in deep rough, which makes the course tough but very fair.
On that note however, I must return to the bunkers, specifically the fairway traps. I don't know if they were always so shallow but to pros and decent amateurs, they are no hazard whatsoever. In fact, on at least 2 or 3 holes (most obviously 3 and 12) I found myself bunkered down the right but in better shape than my playing partners down the middle of the fairway because the 1) sand was so compacted 2)the lips were non-existent and 3) I was on a straighter, shorter line to the green than they were because I'd cut off the dog-leg by (unintentionally) driving into the sand! This, unfortunately, suggests that the course design fell into the American habit of fashioning bunkers for reasons that have more to do with aesthetics than strategy. That they built more than they were able to maintain just adds insult to injury.
There are some standout holes of course. 9 and 18 both run parallel to a spectacular water hazard and are both strong par 4s. The 4th hole is a serious par 3, like the 17th at Naas on steroids. Very difficult, and a par 3 you're almost glad to get out of the way early so you've time to make up for the damage it's done to your card!
With the exception of large scale water and bunker hazards however, there is a very bare feel to the Heritage imho. There's very little in the way of mature trees framing holes, something that I think the K Club does spectacularly well and the 'wide-open' sensation, though sometimes misleading, is something I felt on almost every tee. Having said that, the course is only a decade old so I can't completely rule out the possibility that it could be very special given a few more years. I only hope it survives for the necessary amount of time!0 -
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charlieIRL wrote: »I love playing the Heritage, fantastic course but like what has been said too many times - the bunkers are terrible and we mentioned it before that some of them should be filled in if they are not going to me maintained.
Ya shouldn't be in the bunkers
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