Your Top 5 Irish Holes

Kevinmarkham

I've been asked to put together a 'Dream 18' holes... so I thought it was an opportunity to ask people on here for their opinions.

Let's have your five favourite holes on the island (that you have played). No reason needed. Give fewer or more depending on your mood. It'll be interesting to see which ones come out on top.

Five of mine (not in order):
Portsalon 2nd Par 4
Old Head 4th Par 4
Macreddin 12th Par 4
Druid's Glen 13th Par 4
Ballybunion Old 11th Par 4

If you want a little inspiration:
Top Ten Parkland Par Threes
Top Ten Links Par Threes

ForeRight

Druids 13th the index 1
Waterville the mass hole par 3
Royal county down 9th
European par 5 along the beach from the height
Royal Portrush par 3 called calamity corner.

ShivasIrons

8th Ballybunion Old
9th Cork GC
14th County Louth
9th RCD
15th Portmarnock

Seve OB

my two favourite holes in Golf.

Mount Juliet, 3rd & 4th.

I love the way they are in a little valley of trees all on their own.... away from the rest of the world! Tough enough holes also adds to their charm, watery graves lay await for errant shots and a tight fairway on the 4th with no room for a sprayed tee shot!.... In my head, I'm there now

I think I would also stick in K-Club 16th on the palmer course, a nice risk/reward par 5.
Hermitage 11th alongside the Liffey is a cracking hole
And lastly I know loads will laugh at me for picking another from the K-Club, especially the Smurfit course, but I think the 18th is a fantastic hole with the Island green.

thewobbler

6th at Sandy Hills
16th at Portmarnock Links
4th at Ardglass
3rd at Concra Wood


I doubt anyone will join me in mentioning the 12th at Headfort New. An easy hole, but one solitary tree makes it.

Rikand

14th - Carton House, O'Meara Course (par 3) - the one with the river in front and back
16th - Adare Manor (par 3) - all over the water
6th - Tullamore (par 3) - Big bunker in front
9th - New Forest (par 3) - the orchard hole
15th - Athlone (par 4) - short dogleg par 4, athlone : a thinking mans golf hole ( my favourite of all! )

Dr_Colossus

So hard to pick just 5 but will vote for the following for now

Par 4 13th in Druid's Glen
Par 4 4th in Mount Juliet
Par 4 16th in Carlow
Par 4 10th in Ballinrobe
Par 4 7th in The European Club

Ronney

From a 50 played of top 100 view (no Ballyb , Tralee, lahinch,)

Big dogs
11th Waterville, pure class and so many good drives just short of the hill!
13th European, despite green middle bunker, much better than 7 and is built up, by previous holes!


9"Rcd, smashs it at the clock tower



16th Rosses, on a windy day, aim for new yolk ...and hope...!
17 Waterville ....back tee only!

dines08

18th Adare Manor

big_drive

16th in Tralee

meath4sam

16 17 18 at Killeen castle best finishing holes in the country.

Kevinmarkham

meath4sam wrote: »

16 17 18 at Killeen castle best finishing holes in the country.

So you're nominating 16, 17 and 18 as 3 of the best holes in Irish golf???

Benny Cake

4th in Concra Wood, double dogleg par 5 with water in play all the way. Spectacular hole.

http://www.3deagleview.com/flashexp/concrawood_map.html

Joeyjoejoe43

In no particular order...

1) Grainne Seoige
2) Sharon ni Bheolain
3) Andrea Corr
4) Ros Purcell
5) Mary Harney

OilBeefHooked2

Joeyjoejoe43 wrote: »

In no particular order...

1) Grainne Seoige
2) Sharon ni Bheolain
3) Andrea Corr
4) Ros Purcell
5) Mary Harney

+1
Don't forget Bibi Baskin :pac::pac:

Rikand

After playing Palmerstown House today, I need to adjust my top 5....I could be adding 3 or 4 new holes!

stockdam

There are a lot of courses that I haven't played but here are my top 5:

14th at Royal Portrush
9th at Royal County Down
1st at Scrabo
4th at Clandeboye Dufferin
18th at Knightsbrook

FixdePitchmark

Very hard.

1. 13 Enniscrone
2. 13 Mt. Juilet
3. 12 Old Head
4. 13 The Island
5. 12 McCreddin

But, not in order . On another day in another mood you could put 5 others up.

ok, a few others in mix,

All above courses have others but wont go there.

Corballis 3
Portmarnock Links 16
Carton Monty 18
Druids Heath 18
luttrelstown 18

Benicetomonty

11th ballybunion old
8th k club palmer
11th european club
3rd tralee
13th royal county down

Difficult to justify the last two perhaps as theyre courses Ive only played the 1 time,but those holes have committed themselves to memory so readily that they warrant their positions

John Divney

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Very hard.


All above courses have others but wont go there.

Corballis 3
Portmarnock Links 16
Carton Monty 18
Druids Heath 18
luttrelstown 18

Wow, apart from the Monty(never played), these holes are favourites of mine, and on underdog courses I love.

The 18 at Druids Heath is a great hole, the satisfaction of bombing one over the tree and landing it between the bunkers, you leave high. (No idea why people don't love this course)

Portmarnock links, superb course and underated
(seems to be getting a proper recognition on the rankings now), 16th great hole

The third at corballis is a fine links hole. exactly what Irish links golf should be all about, a natural meander between quality dunes..

The finish at Luttrellstown is effortless parkland, old trees. atmospheric, no gimics. That part of the ground seems haunted to me, love it.

Kevinmarkham

Useful stuff - thanks all. I have it down to 25 holes... and have decided to create Ireland's first 25 hole golf course as I can't think which 7 to omit.

mike12

7th European
12th the European.
Have another 10 but couldn't be sure what numbers they are.

Dero123

12th Druids Glen Par 3

13th Mount Juliet Par 4 Index 1

2nd Druids Heath Par 5

17th Glasson Par 3

17th Kileen Castle Par 4

kevgaa

Interesting one, once you have 5 holes in mind you think of somewhere else..

1). Druids Glen 13th - Best Hole IMO in Irish Golf
2). Enniscrone 13th - If your not familiar with the course standing on the medal tee for the first time leads to some interesting vocabulary :eek:
3). Nairn and Portnoo 7th - Great par 3
4). Old Head 12th - One hell of Par 5 from the Back Tees
5). County Sligo 3rd - On a clear day you cant beat the 360 degree panoramic view..

jimini0

The 15th at westport
Long par 5
Drive over a sea inlet. Have clew bay all down left side if you are long enough you can go for it in two but have to hit across the sea again to reach elevated green

ThunderCat

par 3 13th Corballis. Terrific par 3 that people would rave about if it were on one of the bigger courses.

par 4 14th Co.Louth. Short par 4 played to one of the best green complexes in the game.

par 4 2nd RCD. Best example I've played of a hole that rewards a correctly positioned tee shot by granting you a glimpse of the pin with the approach shot, but punishes you into playing a blind approach if the tee shot isnt up to scratch.

par 4 10th Portmarnock Links. Another short par 4 with a straighforward enough tee shot, but its the approach shot that I love because it lulls you into thinking you have an easy approach but you get near the green and you see the devilish run offs and all you can do is smile.

par 5 12th Old Head. Hell of a par 5.

Johnny_Fontane

2nd at Old Head
12th at Old Head
6th at Royal Portrush
12th at Tralee
10th at Carne

two at old head, but the second you make your way to those tee boxes, you are absolutely flabbergasted at what awaits you.

Johnny_Fontane

jimini0 wrote: »

The 15th at westport
Long par 5
Drive over a sea inlet. Have clew bay all down left side if you are long enough you can go for it in two but have to hit across the sea again to reach elevated green

played it last month, great hole. Straight into a gale.....Double :mad:

ssbob

From my limited knowledge of golf courses, here's my cut off it:

• Mitchelstown 4th hole, what a hole!
• Mount Juliet 4th hole
• Blarney 11th(personal favourite, home course vote)
• Adare 3rd(I think) with the big tree just short right of the green, anyone verify?
• Mount Juliet 17th
• Mitchelstown 12th
• Adare 18th
• Old Head 12th & 16th

Can't narrow it down anymore, I am a sucker for really old impeading trees! I also have never played a proper links course so have not experienced most of the holes mentioned above!

Kevinmarkham

ssbob wrote: »

From my limited knowledge of golf courses, here's my cut off it:

• Mitchelstown 4th hole, what a hole!
• Mount Juliet 4th hole
• Blarney 11th(personal favourite, home course vote)
• Adare 3rd(I think) with the big tree just short right of the green, anyone verify?
• Mount Juliet 17th
• Mitchelstown 12th
• Adare 18th
• Old Head 12th & 16th

Can't narrow it down anymore, I am a sucker for really old impeading trees! I also have never played a proper links course so have not experienced most of the holes mentioned above!

Great to see Mitchelstown getting a nod - I love the 4th hole. Blarney 11th - is that the V hole?

As for Adare: is this the one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinmarkham/4724661162/in/set-72157621881384336

Dermoth

Glad to see the 16th from Old Head mentioned. The 12th is spectacular but the more I play the course the more I love the 16th.

pcasso

12th Carne par 4
4th Corballis par 3
13th Druids Glen par 4
7th K club par 5
Palmerstown House 6th par 5

FixdePitchmark

I know it has crazy holes, is too small, in bits in parts.

But funny Corballis getting in here, old friend of mine.

Great links holes, 2,3,4,5,6,7.

Not too many courses you would have a run of holes like that.
Problem is there is very poor holes in a good run on back.

Anyway great thread.

pcasso

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

I know it has crazy holes, is too small, in bits in parts.

But funny Corballis getting in here, old friend of mine.

Great links holes, 2,3,4,5,6,7.

Not too many courses you would have a run of holes like that.
Problem is there is very poor holes in a good run on back.

Anyway great thread.

Indeed.
the par three forth in Corballis must be a contender for shortest golf hole in the country but is in fact far from easy.
Find the green in regulation and a par should be the least of your ambitions but miss it, and with the green being long and narrow that is very easily done, and a bogey looks like a good score.
Different but great

FixdePitchmark

pcasso wrote: »

Indeed.
the par three forth in Corballis must be a contender for shortest golf hole in the country but is in fact far from easy.
Find the green in regulation and a par should be the least of your ambitions but miss it, and with the green being long and narrow that is very easily done, and a bogey looks like a good score.
Different but great

SW short left center.

ssbob

Kevinmarkham wrote: »

Great to see Mitchelstown getting a nod - I love the 4th hole. Blarney 11th - is that the V hole?

As for Adare: is this the one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinmarkham/4724661162/in/set-72157621881384336

Cheers for that, yes the 4th in Mitchelstown with those 100 year old trees bearing down on you is spectacular.

The Blarney hole is the one after the "V" hole(which is no more btw-they have made that a Par 3 now) The 11th has a huge coniferous tree on the right side of the fairway so if you hit a draw off the tee you have to hit it at that then there is a false front to the green with bunkers about 40 yards short. Beautiful hole!

Miley Byrne

May not be to everyone's tastes but a few holes I think are a bit special...

Adare Par 4 13th (Augusta-like IMO)
Tralee Par 4 12th (a beast into the wind)
Old Head Par 5 12th (Can't really describe why, unreal hole)
Ballybunion Old Par 4 11th (Needs no explanation)
Ballybunion Old Par 3 8th (A flick of a SW (or less even) but a tiny target)
Lahinch Old Par 3 5th (Just unique)

shamco

4th mount juliet
11th Ballybunion
1st Enniscrone
18th Carne
18th Adare

Webbs

16th Tullamore
3rd Tralee
10th Mount Juliet
2nd Slieve Russell
14th Galway Bay

Dr_Colossus

Webbs wrote: »

2nd Slieve Russell

Great hole, had forgotten about that one. Lovely par 4 followed by the signature par 5 later in the round also.

peepee

Par 3 13th Tralee
Par 5 12th Old Head
Par 5 18th Adare
Par 4 6th Cork GC
Par 3 5th Lahinch