Grange Castle or City west??

Hi All,

looking for some opinions, currently looking at a new club for membership, was a member in Blessington lakes but 1hr drive to and from has halted my travel. So basically I'm on look out for new club I'm in Harold's Cross so have narrowed it down to 2, both roughly 20/25 mins from my door. I have heard and read that Grange Castle can be tough to get a tee time very busy, and Citywest can get very damp and soft come winter and be near unplayable at time? Any comments or suggestions?

Thanks

gypsy79

What handicap are you? And how long are you off the tees. If you are long and straight then City West might quickly become too easy for yu? I slightly prefer City West but as you say avoid it when wet

play of 23, when playing well hit around 250 of tees average 230ish, and generally straight might lose 2/3 drives a round

allybhoy

Have you played either course? Ive played both of them dozens of times.. If I had to choose between those two I would probably go with Citywest but they arent the greatest options to be honest.

I presume you have ruled out Lisheen Springs and Slade Valley because they are also too far away? I wont mention Palmerstown \ Naas \ Killeen so if distance is an issue, Castlewarden might be an option as it is literally only another 5-6 minutes down the N7 from Citywest and is a decent track with a solid membership base, you could also look at Beech Park which is not as far as Castlewarden distance wise but its a bit longer to get to as you have to come off the motorway.

another consideration is price, since i can't commit to getting out 1 a week looking at grange castle and citywest for there play and pay memberships otherwise i probably would have been happy to go a bit further away but at 260 and 300 for a membership these two came to mind

gypsy79

ronnoco13 wrote: »

another consideration is price, since i can't commit to getting out 1 a week looking at grange castle and citywest for there play and pay memberships otherwise i probably would have been happy to go a bit further away but at 260 and 300 for a membership these two came to mind

I had guessed that pay and play was going to be your option. I dont think there are many others with as good offers

Kingswood Rover

sad to see you leave the blessed lakesand hope you enjoyed your time with us but yep from Harolds X it is a bit of a trek, you could do worse than look at Kilmashogue, 595 for full membership they seem on the up and well organized.

Golf365

If you are under 35 a lot of the golf clubs that 'allybhoy' mentioned are doing great deals, could be worth looking into.

First Up

Of the two you shortlisted, I would prefer Grange Castle.

padzer

ronnoco13 wrote: »

Hi All,

looking for some opinions, currently looking at a new club for membership, was a member in Blessington lakes but 1hr drive to and from has halted my travel. So basically I'm on look out for new club I'm in Harold's Cross so have narrowed it down to 2, both roughly 20/25 mins from my door. I have heard and read that Grange Castle can be tough to get a tee time very busy, and Citywest can get very damp and soft come winter and be near unplayable at time? Any comments or suggestions?

Thanks

Like yourself i was a member in Blessington lakes but found it too far away to play it much. Moved to Citywest last year. I find unless you are on the internet at 10am on friday morning its nearly impossible to get out on the weekend (this is probably the norm in most courses though).

The course itself is short, personally i would prefer to "grip it n rip it" but there is pretty much only a need for the driver on the par 5's as there seems to be danger all over the place.

Elmgreen is another cheap option, only €450 pay 'n play and €10 a greenfee. Has a range and you can get a bit of grub there. Plus if a few of yous are joining its only €350 for the first 2 years.

First Up

Norfolk Enchants_ wrote: »

Yes you must have, best to stick to the mickey mouse tracks so.

How is PH these days? Have the new owners put in the cash to get it back to the old standard?

titlebearer

Played Grange Castle yesterday. The greens were in great condition but I have a few gripes with it. The last few times Ive played it I found it to be very slow. Yesterday played with my father and it took over 4 hours to play a 2 ball. We waited on every shot. That was a Monday morning!! Secondly they have made some changes to the course in which they have cut back of lot of the gorse and loads of trees. This has made the course very easy to play. You can be wild off the tee and still score well on most holes.
As someone said earlier City West is a lot tighter and a lot shorter. There are 6 par 3's on the course, the greens are generally very very good, but in Winter I heard they only open 14 holes.. Correct me if Im wrong.

titlebearer

titlebearer wrote: »

Played Grange Castle yesterday. The greens were in great condition but I have a few gripes with it. The last few times Ive played it I found it to be very slow. Yesterday played with my father and it took over 4 hours to play a 2 ball. We waited on every shot. That was a Monday morning!! Secondly they have made some changes to the course in which they have cut back of lot of the gorse and loads of trees. This has made the course very easy to play. You can be wild off the tee and still score well on most holes.
As someone said earlier City West is a lot tighter and a lot shorter. There are 6 par 3's on the course, the greens are generally very very good, but in Winter I heard they only open 14 holes.. Correct me if Im wrong.

Thanks for that great info kinda confirmed what i had heard on both, no just time to make a decision.

dk1982

titlebearer wrote: »

Played Grange Castle yesterday. The greens were in great condition but I have a few gripes with it. The last few times Ive played it I found it to be very slow. Yesterday played with my father and it took over 4 hours to play a 2 ball. We waited on every shot. That was a Monday morning!! Secondly they have made some changes to the course in which they have cut back of lot of the gorse and loads of trees. This has made the course very easy to play. You can be wild off the tee and still score well on most holes.
As someone said earlier City West is a lot tighter and a lot shorter. There are 6 par 3's on the course, the greens are generally very very good, but in Winter I heard they only open 14 holes.. Correct me if Im wrong.

Competitions are 14 holes in winter but the 18 holes are open so you can still play the 18. In regards to another poster saying you have to be online at 10 on a friday to get a tee time at the weekend. Thats true if you're looking for an early time i.e. 7 to 11.30/12 but its no problem getting out after that. For example, as of now this Saturday you can get out anytime after 11.56 and Sunday anytime after 11.40

yettie1701

Not a member of either course but have played both. I would rate Grange Castle well above Citywest. I wouldn't be a fan of Citywest at all and frankly wouldn't play it again. I don't know anything about the ins and outs of slow play or getting a tee time in either place but I've always enjoyed GC any time I've played there.

WHIP IT!

gypsy79 wrote: »

What handicap are you? And how long are you off the tees. If you are long and straight then City West might quickly become too easy for yu? I slightly prefer City West but as you say avoid it when wet

I'd just like to assure the OP, that if (please God) you play from now until the day you shuffle off this mortal realm... no golf course will ever become "too easy"... I chuckle when I hear club golfers refer to anywhere as "too easy"... as a 13 handicapper who hopes to threaten single figures this year, I haven't come across a golf course yet that I couldn't make an absolute b*llox of if I tried...

I'm a member of Grange Castle, OP, and I think, for the money, it's a great club... I've played CW a fair bit and I just personally don't like the course as much. The front nine in particular. I'd actually rather play the (quite nice) back nine twice than play the whole 18.

allybhoy

WHIP IT! wrote: »

I'd just like to assure the OP, that if (please God) you play from now until the day you shuffle off this mortal realm... no golf course will ever become "too easy"... I chuckle when I hear club golfers refer to anywhere as "too easy"... as a 13 handicapper who hopes to threaten single figures this year, I haven't come across a golf course yet that I couldn't make an absolute b*llox of if I tried...

I'm a member of Grange Castle, OP, and I think, for the money, it's a great club... I've played CW a fair bit and I just personally don't like the course as much. The front nine in particular. I'd actually rather play the (quite nice) back nine twice than play the whole 18.

I agree with that but at the same time I would say that all courses become quite boring when played repeatedly and I personally think Grange Castle falls in to this category more than most courses. There arent enough challenging or signature holes. Apart from the extreme dog leg left (4th?) and the Par 5 over water (12th?) the rest are fairly straight forward and slightly uninspiring, which is why I would personally pick Citywest.

Ive nothing against GC by the way, Ive played it lots of times and I think its a grand course in a superb location but that would be my main reason for not joining it over Citywest. As you say the back 9 in Citywest in particular is nice and it has some lovely finishing holes.

WHIP IT!

allybhoy wrote: »

I agree with that but at the same time I would say that all courses become quite boring when played repeatedly and I personally think Grange Castle falls in to this category more than most courses. There arent enough challenging or signature holes. Apart from the extreme dog leg left (4th?) and the Par 5 over water (12th?) the rest are fairly straight forward and slightly uninspiring, which is why I would personally pick Citywest.

Ive nothing against GC by the way, Ive played it lots of times and I think its a grand course in a superb location but that would be my main reason for not joining it over Citywest. As you say the back 9 in Citywest in particular is nice and it has some lovely finishing holes.

I dunno about that, if you've gotten through 14, 15 & 16 'level twos' at Grange Castle, you've done well and you've certainly earned that gentle par-three, par-five finish... at the end of the day, if you're paying less than €300 for membership, then GC and CW are a lot of golf course for that money in my opinion...

megabomberman

I'm based in Dublin 8 myself and was thinking it was a toss up between the two.

The 5 day Pay&Play in GC looks ideal for me. I'm never around weekends and would probably look to play the odd open day here and there during the week as well so wouldn't be wedded to the place.

I'll probably sign up for this and end up popping out once a week to play 9 and use the putting green etc. supposedly they are working on adding new pitching facilities etc as well, that would be a nice bonus from my perspective.

brick tamland

Lads.

What's the time sheet like in GC these days. Is it BRS
online? Hard to get a spot at the weekend?

Cheers