Feckin weather!

slave1

Dare to say it, looking like less rain and a temp bump over next short while

El Guapo!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122026118#Comment_122026118

I'm due to play tomorrow. If you've just jinxed me....

slave1

Banned!

🤐

IrishOwl...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122024397#Comment_122024397

I play Grange Castle 3 maybe 4 times a year and it’s always in great condition. It’s shame it has no proper club house to sit and have a bite to eat and pint after, but even still, if it was closer to me I’d join it in a heartbeat.

spacecoyote

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122030799#Comment_122030799

Biggest problem with Grange Castle was never the condition of the course.

It's biggest problems are, 1, their members are second class citizens, and 2, they just want volume out on the course

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122030799#Comment_122030799

The lack of clubhouse would put me off. Lovely course but the shop / cafe thing is just weird.

Part of my pre-round warm up often involves a pint of stout so it'd be a tough adjustment!

billy3sheets

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122030884#Comment_122030884

Jaypers! That's just such a nasty comment!

I don't know the members but a friend of mine joined recently. It's a public course which does a good job serving the public. We had no issues with any golfers and the greens were free of unrepaired pitch marks.

Kaisr Sose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122030884#Comment_122030884

What is meant by point 1? I was considering joining to get back into playing regularly.

I can understand point 2. Its a public course so to be successful they need volume.

spacecoyote

I don't think it's a nasty comment as it's not a comment about the members. It's a comment about how the course is run.

I was a member there for 4 years myself. I left because

1. When I first joined there was active work going on to improve the layout. Tree planting, shaping the fairways, etc... when target got the 10 year lease they actually removed a bunch of the planting that had been done and widened the fairways further, which were already wide, because they wanted the place to be easier to play, so they could get more people out on the course
2. They continually, in particular on a Saturday, reduced the available tee times for members so they could get more societies out on the course. I think the year I left, on a Saturday, the let male members have the tees until 10am. They then let female members have 30 minutes. Then it was societies and visitors from 10.30. There are a lot of members there, so getting a tee time became a battle.
3. The extension of point 2 above, they kept the women and men completely separate on the timesheet

The above are the reasons I said the members are second class citizens there, because its being run by a private company who appear to care more about traffic then they do about their members. I get why, they got a ten year lease on the place and they want to make hay, it just wasn't great to be on the other side of their business model

billy3sheets

Ok @spacecoyote my apologies. I misinterpreted your first point as a slight on the members.

As a member of a club run by the same company, I'm aware of the contention between member times and society/green fee times. Yes, members don't have full timesheet access and it does upset some, but generally there are enough slots for competitions and casual golf.

I think many courses have been made easier to improve throughput by removing obstacles, cuttingback rough. That's not always for financial reasons. Faster rounds are popular!

Sorbet

Counting rounds back in my golf club from tomorrow with placing on fairways only. Leaving cert around the corner - good weather must be on the way 😀

spacecoyote

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122033372#Comment_122033372

My own club cuts trees down every year to improve on flow, drainage, etc... under advice from an agronomist as well as getting in architect's to advise, so I get that.

They've taken out some trees that were genuine features at times that upset members, but it's generally improved the playability of the course and likely has helped with pace (whilst allowing the remaining planting to flourish)

I just found that, in places in GC that they took out planting that made the place feel almost too open

IAmTitleist

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122033437#Comment_122033437

Lucky you! I went out for 9 holes on Tuesday night and lost numerous balls that were plugged in the fairway that i never found.

In 2022 our course was qualifying from early April, 2023 was early May. This year is looking like middle of May at best. Is this going to be the new normal for parkland courses?!

benny79

No. Im Parkland, Kilkea Castle and we are qualifying this weekend. 2 weeks later than usual. But course is drying out quick and greens improving daily! They were bad.

bobster453

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122035287#Comment_122035287

Is this going to be the new normal for parkland courses?!

Yep. Qualifying years ago used to be 1st April to 31st October..be lucky to have 1st May to 30th September going forward for most parkland courses imo.

big_drive

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122033437#Comment_122033437

I'm trying to remember, is placing on fairway & dropping in rough counting? Or is it placing on fairway only?

finglashoop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122041766#Comment_122041766

Fairway only

Lip Out

There is an option to use a local rule "lift, clean and replace" in the rough which allows for the competition to be counting. The ball needs to replaced on the exact same spot as it was lifted from. It's not commonly implemented, I'm guessing committees think it might be open to misuse.

First weekend counting in my home club. Placing on fairways only. Lots of mud balls in the rough but manageable. Good to be back to proper golf.