Heritage Golf Club - Co Laois

liamos43

Anyone know what is it like this time of year? Does it get wet / muddy etc. Thinking of going down one of the days. Thks.

FixdePitchmark

The fairways are exceptionally good.

Rough gets bad and bunkers.

To be honest . Every year I go there . It has just deteriorated every time.

I do like course. So disappointing.

Macker1

Playing there on Tuesday next week so will provide an answer then.

delboykelly

Just Treats have voucher for there today. 4 ball for €89. Good value.

bailey99

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

The fairways are exceptionally good.

Rough gets bad and bunkers.

To be honest . Every year I go there . It has just deteriorated every time.

I do like course. So disappointing.

Absolutely spot on. Deteritating every year. Nowhere near the staffing levels required to keep the place in order. And it's a great test of golf, no really weak holes at all bar the first hole I think.

Bunkers are horrendous and have been for years. They just don't bother with them anymore. Greens and fairways in good knick alright. Has the potential to be really good but its certainly getting worse and worse with each visit.

big_drive

Played it in August, mt first time. Was in really poor condition. Bunkers awful, they have too many of them to maintain. Better to fill in a few and have grass bunkers or something

Potential to be a super course, very testing

Sean_pop

Personally I don't like the course.

The bunkers are terrible. By right half them should be filled in as they haven't the staff to maintain them.

FixdePitchmark

I like the course a great test of your longer game - Being honest I think the course is too hard, unless you have a decent long game. Look at the par 3s , some you are hitting 6 irons and lower.

some par 4s you need a big dive and low irons. Then you have traditional shorter par 4. It has a great mix of holes.

But, when you are use to courses in good condition and have even seen The Heritage in good condition - as golfers it is hard to go to it in poor condition.

The place was designed and built in mad times - it is the outdoor bath tub of golf courses - It was never going to work.

I'm glad I got to play it and all that - but we should have , as we all ended up paying for it.

PARlance

With the water tax, we could be all getting our outdoor bath tubs Fix

Love the course myself, played it a few times at the start of this year and I thought it was in pretty good shape tbh.

Saying that, the bunkers were poor but at that time of year so were bunkers elsewhere.

FixdePitchmark

Well The Heritage is the type of course Irish Water would come up with, for The Staff playground.

PARlance

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Well The Heritage is the type of course Irish Water would come up with, for The Staff playground.

Performance based bonuses, score par and stick it down as a birdie...

dines08

Got married in September and treated the lads standing with me to a round up there. Booked well in advance and was telling the 3 lads how great the course was. To say it disappointed was an understatement. Really really let it go, greens had been hollow cored which was just bad timing but the rest of the course wasn't worth talking about either. Again, as said previously, I've played it 5 times now and everytime I go back it's in worse condition. Don't think I'll be rushing there anytime soon

stitcheddepin

I love it down there, try to get down 3 or 4 times a year for the opens.
a real tough test of golf, im a big hitter so enjoy the length. the different holes require different shapes off the tee, which most courses haven't bothered with. agreed the bunkers aren't great for a championship course, but the greens are super nd fairways are bone dry all year with the sand base. tee boxes also are immaculate.
there is no money coming into the place, only 190 odd members I think, hence the neglect of bunkers

bailey99

stitcheddepin wrote: »

I love it down there, try to get down 3 or 4 times a year for the opens.
a real tough test of golf, im a big hitter so enjoy the length. the different holes require different shapes off the tee, which most courses haven't bothered with. agreed the bunkers aren't great for a championship course, but the greens are super nd fairways are bone dry all year with the sand base. tee boxes also are immaculate.
there is no money coming into the place, only 190 odd members I think, hence the neglect of bunkers

If the place was in decent condition then more mo ney would come in. Have they any cop on up there, 120 odd bunkers, so if you can't maintain them, then fill in 30 or 40 of them and see can you maintain the greenside bunkers even.

There was one bunker as any sort of condition last time I was up there. The greenside ones weren't even raked and we were a group of 30 odd going out midweek.

We're not heading back there anyway again.

Slieve

It's true that the course is not up to the standards of 5 years ago, but what relatively new course is. I travel a good bit to play various courses and the same could be said for Druid's Glen and Kileen Castle to name but two. I 'd say that for golf this time of year you won't get better greens or fairways than the Heritage, other than links. A beast of a course and if you can play there you can play any golf course. I really enjoy it.

stitcheddepin

there is no big urban area near it, hence the lack of members, hence the decline.if the heritage was where say palmerstown stud is, it would be a thriving club as the course layout and design is one of the best in my opinion. I have to travel for 50 mins to get there, if it was say just 20mins from naas it would be thriving with members

cgh

te heritage is what €950 a year to join,
if you look around, Portarlington is €650, The Heath is €595
so why join a course that while it has a great design has been let go for the last number of years.

Slieve

The problem with Portarlington, a wonderful summer course, is that it is a poor winter course, your ball could plug on the green and its possible to loose a ball on the fairway, again due to plugging.

The Heath is public land with sheep grazing on the course.

cgh

who doesnt love sheep.....

yettie1701

I think the sheep are gone off the Heath not 100% sure though. They reckoned it was too dangerous for them with all the golf balls and stuff so they took their belongings and headed for stradbally. They get free tickets to electric picnic now as residents. Heard they are really happy

Macker1

Played earlier today in what I would call good weather for this time of year. Very hard to keep an eye on balls due to the winter Sun which was blinding at times on certain holes.

The Good.....

Tee Box areas were grand
Fairways grand. No issues with drainage from recent showers
Greens quite decent after recent hollow tining. Rolled reasonably fast and true

The Bad,

Bunkers not maintained at all
Rough a little too heavy when just off the fairways which is too penal. In my opinion the rough should have first cuts and then the deeper trouble.
Various sections around are looking untidy which is probably down to the realities of maintaining the resort


There were a few groups out on the course but I cannot fathom how this white elephant can be financially viable.

I would have liked to play this course during the boom times when I expect it was in top condition.

Slieve

yettie1701 wrote: »

I think the sheep are gone off the Heath not 100% sure though. They reckoned it was too dangerous for them with all the golf balls and stuff so they took their belongings and headed for stradbally. They get free tickets to electric picnic now as residents. Heard they are really happy

Golf balls are more dangerous than Stradbally????

cgh

yettie1701 wrote: »

I think the sheep are gone off the Heath not 100% sure though. They reckoned it was too dangerous for them with all the golf balls and stuff so they took their belongings and headed for stradbally. They get free tickets to electric picnic now as residents. Heard they are really happy

Nope, the sheep are still there, the Heath would be the same as the Heritage, good fairways, good greens, poor bunkers, sheep poo here and there, but a great test of golf. if the sheep were gone it would be a cracker of a course

delboykelly

As above, played Heritage today. Agree with comments above. Tee Boxes, Fairways and greens were spot on. Bunkers were unbelievably bad. That bad that I just kicked the ball to a better spot and took my shot. Pointless playing a bunker shot that is buried In someone else's boot print. None of them been raked, grass growing up through some on the sand, and the grass around the edges is diabolical... If they spent a week bringing the bunkers back up to a half decent standard the course would be fine condition.
Another thing, €50 asking price for a green fee for a course in this condition is a joke!(I didn't pay that, paid €25 and I'm still not happy with the state of the place). Shame that this one thing is letting the course down so bad. Lot of beautiful, strong holes.

Silver-Tiger

Anyone been out here recently?

Still ever deteriorating or has it picked back up?
Used to enjoy it.

Irishdaywalker

Played with my society last month, course was in very good condition, far from deteriorating. The only problem I had on the day was the pace of play - the course was absolutely rammed, we where playing behind a society of 50 + players. when we finished the first and got to the second there was 4 groups on the hole, not including my group waiting. It was looking at 6 hour round - thankfully the back 9 picked up some pace but was still 5.5 hours to play. But, I am getting off topic. Course was in good nick and worth another visit ! ! ! And very friendly staff in bar and pro shop!

slave1

Played it Saturday, tee boxes perfect, fairways and rough very good, bunkers good.
Greens looked perfect but were very very slow and very very bumpy.