Joining a club in Dublin for practice facilities.

srgpodge

Living in Spencer Dock in Dublin 1. Looking to join a golf club. As most of my golf will be played elsewhere with mates who are members of other clubs the main purposes of my joining are practice facilities (short game and putting) and GUI membership.

Have little knowledge of the Dublin golf club scene so would be very grateful for any advice and suggestions.

Podge

dar_cool

Elm green have a driving range and various different membership options. Played the course yesterday. Its in good condition for this time of year.

Hickoryhack

Elm Green is excellent as said above. Another option is Glencullen GC. I'm not a member but love playing it. Great location and views on a fine day, only 9 holes but you get your GUI h/c. Fees are reasonable. Has a small chipping area & practice green. It's also very near Steapside Golf Centre which has c. 40 driving bays & a nice Par 3. Just down the road from there is Stepaside GC, run by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Co. Council, a public course, also very reasonable & kept very well, similar to Elm Green. It is busy weekday mornings with Ladies societies & I think they have no mens' club so a man can't get a GUI h/c unlike Elm Green. Another club is Grange Castle GC, run by South Dublin Co. Council. So it should also be reasonable. Never played it but was in clubhouse once & it seemed welcoming & friendly. It's a few miles from Newlands Cross, taking first turn-off on Naas Rd. & well sign-posted.

GreeBo

My club (Grange in Rathfarnham) has a Pavilion deal where you get full access to the practice facilities (inc a 6 "full" hole course), restricted access to the main course and a GUI.

I believe several other Dublin clubs have Pavilion deals but not sure if they also provide GUI.

Rippeditup

GreeBo wrote: »

My club (Grange in Rathfarnham) has a Pavilion deal where you get full access to the practice facilities (inc a 6 "full" hole course), restricted access to the main course and a GUI.

I believe several other Dublin clubs have Pavilion deals but not sure if they also provide GUI.

What's the practice ground like in the grange? I just bought one of the bungalows beside it. Do you know how much the membership is?

GreeBo

Rippeditup wrote: »

What's the practice ground like in the grange? I just bought one of the bungalows beside it. Do you know how much the membership is?

There is a full length grass driving range with 4/5 flags for target at 45-65m
There is a also a shortgame area with a proper green with 4 pins on it and a greenside bunker. You can get up to about 80m from it.

Also putting green and a small (kinda crappy) chipping green beside the clubhouse/first tee.

Pavilion is ~700 I think, but not 100% sure.

EvanCornwallis

Hmm maybe I could make a bit of money letting people use my facilities.

Can't help with the GUI sadly.

ShriekingSheet

OP, have a think about your plan based on the below. It sounds like a false economy to me.

Firstly, there's no really cheap option in Dublin (versus the countryside deals) for GUI & practice, so you will be spending a few hundred quid anyway.

Secondly, given that you'll be going to your mates' clubs and paying green fees, how much are those going to add on to your real annual spend on playing golf?

At a guess, would your prospective green fees + a low end membership = roughly the same as just joining your mates' club? Maybe not quite, but you see what I mean.

Or

Would you be better off paying a little bit more (than bargain basement) for membership, and spending a little bit less on green fees. You could get a decent home club that you wouldn't mind playing, and could invite your mates there the odd time.

I mean, you could get really cute about it and join the place down the country for €99 to get a GUI, then get GUI Academy practice facility membership for €150! But that's just crazy.

srgpodge

Thanks guys, really appreciate the help.

Couple of suggestions for Elm Green. I'm concerned about the short game/pitching facilities on offer. I will definitely check it out though.

Also a few mentions of southside clubs. My issue with these is accessing them in the evenings post work. Getting to anywhere south of the Liffey between 5/6 is pretty time consuming. Yesterday evening I left Spencer Dock at 5.15 and it took me 45 minutes to reach Ucd.

Shriek, couple of good points made. Dont get me wrong I'm not averse to paying up if needs be. I think that one thing that I didnt clarify is that many of the rounds wont be played at my mates clubs either. We play a lot of open days and groupon deals around the Dublin area.

Also the two clubs that most of my mates are members of are tough ones for me to join. Dun L who's 1k intermediate membership is closed for the year. St Annes who still have a 5 k upfront which I probably can't justify right now.

I have a couple of clubs on my shortlist that I'm planning to view in the coming week or so.

Margarets is top of the list. Associate membership for < 500. Includes GUI, practice facilites(which are good from what I've heard) and competitions(need to clarify). Also reduced green fees. Also going to check out Roganstown, Ballcarrick, Elm Park and Hollystown.

dar_cool

Also consider luttrellstown if you don't mind paying. They have excellent short range facilities and 5 day membership is a grand.

ShriekingSheet

srgpodge wrote: »

Thanks guys, really appreciate the help.

Couple of suggestions for Elm Green. I'm concerned about the short game/pitching facilities on offer. I will definitely check it out though.

Also a few mentions of southside clubs. My issue with these is accessing them in the evenings post work. Getting to anywhere south of the Liffey between 5/6 is pretty time consuming. Yesterday evening I left Spencer Dock at 5.15 and it took me 45 minutes to reach Ucd.

Shriek, couple of good points made. Dont get me wrong I'm not averse to paying up if needs be. I think that one thing that I didnt clarify is that many of the rounds wont be played at my mates clubs either. We play a lot of open days and groupon deals around the Dublin area.

Also the two clubs that most of my mates are members of are tough ones for me to join. Dun L who's 1k intermediate membership is closed for the year. St Annes who still have a 5 k upfront which I probably can't justify right now.

I have a couple of clubs on my shortlist that I'm planning to view in the coming week or so.

Margarets is top of the list. Associate membership for < 500. Includes GUI, practice facilites(which are good from what I've heard) and competitions(need to clarify). Also reduced green fees. Also going to check out Roganstown, Ballcarrick, Elm Park and Hollystown.

Would be interested to know what you go with and how it works out.