Golfer's Guide to Ireland Awards

Kevinmarkham

The 2013 guide was launched last night, and 23 awards were handed out. This is the second year that the Guide has had awards and they have a more varied format than some.

Best links went to Royal County Down
Best parkland went to Dun Laoghaire

The rest are on my blog

Rikand

Fairplay to Oughterard, though it must have improved a bit. Played it about 4 years ago and I wasn't totally impressed with it

donvito99

Never found Dun Laoighaire to be a particularly good course.

Almaviva

Kevinmarkham wrote: »

Best parkland went to Dun Laoghaire

:eek:Surely not. Kevin, you've played them, all whats your view ?

Does that not make a mockery of any of the 'awards' in that guide ?

fullstop

Is the voting in any way, how should I put it...political? What criteria are used? Hermitage is hardly the best parkland in Leinster?!

Almaviva

fullstop wrote: »

Hermitage is hardly the best parkland in Leinster?!

It gets worse. Clearly a nonsense.
Is there a formal bidding process where each award is auctioned ?

fullstop

Almaviva wrote: »

It gets worse. Clearly a nonsense.
Is there a formal bidding process where each award is auctioned ?

Thought it must have been the Heritage and I'd misread it, but no!

Kevinmarkham

donvito99 wrote: »

Never found Dun Laoighaire to be a particularly good course.

Almaviva wrote: »

:eek:Surely not. Kevin, you've played them, all whats your view ?

Does that not make a mockery of any of the 'awards' in that guide ?

fullstop wrote: »

Is the voting in any way, how should I put it...political? What criteria are used? Hermitage is hardly the best parkland in Leinster?!

I don't know how the courses are assessed. Last year's were more clearcut, but this time around there were some that surprised me. How much weight you give to them is subjective, but I genuinely like the idea of taking some of the old (Hermitage) and the new (Newcastle West) and saying 'here are some courses worth investigating'. Hermitage was ranked 58th in Golf Digest, Newcastle West didn't make it in.

I think the Inside the Ropes trip to Dun Laoghaire gives a good idea of what regular golfers think of the place.

thewobbler

All awards ceremonies are too political for my liking, but this one really does seen odd.

Hilton Templepatrick better than Slieve Russell, Farnham, Rosapenna, Lough Erne, or even Bundoran or Nuremore? No, no, no.

dvemail

For Adare Manor to be given best hidden gem in the country is a bit mad to be honest. The old 9 are great but the 9 holes they added in to make it 18 are just squeezed in and they make a bit of a shambles of it all.

The whole list looks dodgy really.

onlyfinewine

dvemail wrote: »

For Adare Manor to be given best hidden gem in the country is a bit mad to be honest. The old 9 are great but the 9 holes they added in to make it 18 are just squeezed in and they make a bit of a shambles of it all.

The whole list looks dodgy really.

The old nine is pretty much gone completely and Eddie Hackett who re-designed it was quoted as saying that there was not enough land for a good 18 but he would design a 15 hole course to the highest standard. He was given a brief to squeeze them in anyway.
Although there are some good holes there is too many areas where it can be dangerous and routing is not the prettiest.
The majestic mature trees are a wonderful feature of the course and it can be difficult to score on the small tricky greens.
While it has charm it is difficult to rate it as a hidden gem in my opinion.

The Guardian

Dun Laoghaire is a good trek in my opinion.
I have not played enough parklands in leinster to say it is the best however.
Agree with all commentators on KMs article - 70 quid green fee is too expensive in this climate. Perhaps DL does not wish to attract this type of business however. Many members, of the older variety. Cash in the bank account, etc etc

FixdePitchmark

The Guardian wrote: »

Dun Laoghaire is a good trek in my opinion.
I have not played enough parklands in leinster to say it is the best however.
Agree with all commentators on KMs article - 70 quid green fee is too expensive in this climate. Perhaps DL does not wish to attract this type of business however. Many members, of the older variety. Cash in the bank account, etc etc

The last time I knew anything about geography, Mt Juliet was in Leinster.

Dun Laoghaire , will be a fine course with time. Much time needed.

ssbob

I have no complaints about the Munster choices tbh, having played Cork a number of times in different conditions, I really enjoyed it and they have made some really good alterations to protect the course against the bombers(most notably moving the bunkers on the first).

A very interesting and promising point of fact in your blog Kevin, was the fact that for every 35 visitors we create 1 job here and therefore the gathering should help create close to 10,000 jobs, that is real cash within the country and no matter what people think of the Gathering, you have to applaud the initiative and the willingness to get something going again in this country!

PARlance

ssbob wrote: »

A very interesting and promising point of fact in your blog Kevin, was the fact that for every 35 visitors we create 1 job here and therefore the gathering should help create close to 10,000 jobs, that is real cash within the country and no matter what people think of the Gathering, you have to applaud the initiative and the willingness to get something going again in this country!

The Annual Insomniacs Golf Society has been up and running nearly 20 years.
This year it's an "International" (available for a Gathering Grant) Event.... I can't wait to see how many international Insomniacs come over for this, I'm fairly sure that all participants (mainly people from Westport) will be entered into the Gathering Numbers though.

€20,000,000 spent on the Gathering.
They should put that into their GetoutofHere campaign they've been promoting for years.
Spend it on 20,000 flights to Oz for youngsters.
Saving €400,000,000 in Dole payments.
Nearly a Billion if they stay in Oz for year 2.

I don't know why I'm cynical when it comes to the Government stats around this things....

Rant over (but I could have went on )

ssbob

ajcurry123 wrote: »

The Annual Insomniacs Golf Society has been up and running nearly 20 years.
This year it's an "International" (available for a Gathering Grant) Event.... I can't wait to see how many international Insomniacs come over for this, I'm fairly sure that all participants (mainly people from Westport) will be entered into the Gathering Numbers though.

€20,000,000 spent on the Gathering.
They should put that into their GetoutofHere campaign they've been promoting for years.
Spend it on 20,000 flights to Oz for youngsters.
Saving €400,000,000 in Dole payments.
Nearly a Billion if they stay in Oz for year 2.

I don't know why I'm cynical when it comes to the Government stats around this things....

Rant over (but I could have went on )

To be fair AJ, your numbers are pretty rounded, thought you'd be better!!

If I am being honest, I reckon out of everyone I know that has emigrated over the past 3/4 years(close on 100 people I would say) at least 50% of them left jobs to go, so while the emigration numbers are startling, they are not all leaving because they can't find work here.

As for "The Gathering", let's all just get behind this for this year and we can make judgements when it's over;)

PARlance

ssbob wrote: »

To be fair AJ, your numbers are pretty rounded, thought you'd be better!!

If I am being honest, I reckon out of everyone I know that has emigrated over the past 3/4 years(close on 100 people I would say) at least 50% of them left jobs to go, so while the emigration numbers are startling, they are not all leaving because they can't find work here.

As for "The Gathering", let's all just get behind this for this year and we can make judgements when it's over;)

Every little bit helps (distract from the main issues at hand)!!

I'll leave it till Esker Hills to continue my rant with you on this
I may have a visitor for Esker Hills, he's a mate that's living in Switzerland, he heard all the gathering hype and booked a flight, all he needs is an event to go to now....... :rolleyes::D

ssbob

ajcurry123 wrote: »

Every little bit helps (distract from the main issues at hand)!!

I'll leave it till Esker Hills to continue my rant with you on this
I may have a visitor for Esker Hills, he's a mate that's living in Switzerland, he heard all the gathering hype and booked a flight, all he needs is an event to go to now....... :rolleyes::D

Well if he is a member of boards, which is free to sign up to, he is more than welcome to join us in Esker Hills.

I cannot wait to discuss these issues with you there! My Mrs is driven mad by me watching "The Frontline", "Vincent Brown" and listening to "The Right Hook" every day!!!:D:D