Suitable courses for a relative newbie in Dublin

swededmonkey

Hi all,

Can any of you recommend a decent course in the Dublin area to join for a couple of newbies to get their game and handicap together?

Ideally looking for something moderately priced and the course to be challenging but not to the point of self despair!

3 of us will be signing up and anticipate we'll be starting out on fairly high handicaps (22+)

mike12

Where are u based. Lots of courses on the northside that are easy enough. Swords open, silouge, donabate are 3 of the easiest and cheapest.

swededmonkey

mike12 wrote: »

Where are u based. Lots of courses on the northside that are easy enough. Swords open, silouge, donabate are 3 of the easiest and cheapest.

We are based between Chapelizod and shankill. Ideally anything west and south would be perfect

Ollieboy

Any course on the M50 would suit you, I can help to get you into Corrstown Golf Club for €1353 from now till the end of next year if you're interested and that would cover GUI and Insurance.

http://www.corrstowngolfclub.com/

That offer is open to any other forum members that are interested.

Kingswood Rover

Blessington lakes great little club and very welcoming, meticulously maintained with brilliant greens all year round, have a look at the website for membership offers. PM me if you guys want to try it out.

Dr.Rieux

I'm a beginner with a high handicap and joined Slade Valley. It's not a long course so suits me as I'm not a big hitter, they have decent deals at the minute. See http://www.sladevalleygolfclub.ie/. They also have deals for under 35s

Seve OB

Blessington lakes is miles away, and I wouldn't recoment it, but it must be 10 years since I played it.

Honestly, If I were you guys, beginners, with a modest budget, those kind of handicaps and not wanting to go to far, I don't think you can go far wrong with Citywest of Grange Castle. If you get good in a year onwards, you would probably want to move on from those places, but they are exactly what you are looking for.

ronnie3585

Leopardstown.

Kingswood Rover

Seve OB wrote: »

Blessington lakes is miles away, and I wouldn't recoment it, but it must be 10 years since I played it.

Honestly, If I were you guys, beginners, with a modest budget, those kind of handicaps and not wanting to go to far, I don't think you can go far wrong with Citywest of Grange Castle. If you get good in a year onwards, you would probably want to move on from those places, but they are exactly what you are looking for.

Ah here 20 mins from M5O is hardly miles Seve, 10 years is way too long not to have played, Opens every Tuesday and Wednesday.

Seve OB

Kingswood Rover wrote: »

Ah here 20 mins from M5O is hardly miles Seve, 10 years is way too long not to have played, Opens every Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ah ok. I thought it was further. Is that Boystown? Electricity pilons down the first hole? I could be thinking if a different course.

webels

Kingswood Rover wrote: »

Ah here 20 mins from M5O is hardly miles Seve, 10 years is way too long not to have played, Opens every Tuesday and Wednesday.

Super 9 hole course, but 20 minutes from m50 in the loose sense of time, more like 30-35....

Kingswood Rover

webels wrote: »

Super 9 hole course, but 20 minutes from m50 in the loose sense of time, more like 30-35....

Yep might be a half hour although lads coming from tallafornia swear it only takes 20 mins on a Sunday morning, poetic license and all that, anyway i am coming from the Naas direction so the OP may need a few test runs to judge.

Kingswood Rover

Seve OB wrote: »

Ah ok. I thought it was further. Is that Boystown? Electricity pilons down the first hole? I could be thinking if a different course.

Yes, was Boystown they changed the name to Blessington Lakes GC as it was easier to promote. No pylons, 2 hole is played over a large grassed in Quarry.

Seve OB

Kingswood Rover wrote: »

Yes, was Boystown they changed the name to Blessington Lakes GC as it was easier to promote. No pylons, 2 hole is played over a large grassed in Quarry.

9 hole track?
1st might be index 1?
Pretty sure I hit an electricity cable there in a club match and had to reply my shot.

We had won our match but as the result was a tie, and we were the last match alive we had to go down 19 and gave a shot on it. My second clipped the cable but was still a good shot, just in edge of green. I had to replay it! Not a good shot, went left and took 5. A 4 was needed to half the hole because we were giving away a shot. Always remember it as if I didn't have to reply the one which hit the electricity wire I was looking good for the par and a chance to keep the game going, we lost and were knocked out cause if it

finglashoop

beech park too far out of the way?

Mantis Toboggan

I wouldn't recommend citywest for a newbie. It's quite tricky. Can't go wrong with grange Castle.

First Up

Dennis Reynolds wrote: »

I wouldn't recommend citywest for a newbie. It's quite tricky. Can't go wrong with grange Castle.

Grange Castle would tick most of the boxes for your situation.

It's pretty pathetic how some people use any thread like this just to push their own club, no matter how badly it fails to meet the criteria. A poster asking for a straightforward piece of advice deserves an honest answer.

Felexicon

swededmonkey wrote: »

Hi all,

Can any of you recommend a decent course in the Dublin area to join for a couple of newbies to get their game and handicap together?

Ideally looking for something moderately priced and the course to be challenging but not to the point of self despair!

3 of us will be signing up and anticipate we'll be starting out on fairly high handicaps (22+)

DO NOT TRY CORBALLIS!!!!!

swededmonkey

Felexicon wrote: »

DO NOT TRY CORBALLIS!!!!!

Already have!! The tight fairways don't leave any margin for error!

Cheers for the advice folks. Think we're going to play around the courses in the area first before we settle. Played Glen of the downs yesterday and really enjoyed it

ForeRight

Hazel Grove in tallaght is beautiful.

As good as any courses in the area

First Up

ForeRight wrote: »

Hazel Grove in tallaght is beautiful.

As good as any courses in the area

See?

Milk_Tray

dont join ballinastoe roundwood anyway, brutal! leopardstown would be great first time course

Mantis Toboggan

First Up wrote: »

Grange Castle would tick most of the boxes for your situation.

It's pretty pathetic how some people use any thread like this just to push their own club, no matter how badly it fails to meet the criteria. A poster asking for a straightforward piece of advice deserves an honest answer.

Was this directed towards me? I'm not a member of grange Castle !

First Up

Dennis Reynolds wrote: »

Was this directed towards me? I'm not a member of citywest!

No, it wasn't.

Kingswood Rover

First Up wrote: »

Grange Castle would tick most of the boxes for your situation.

It's pretty pathetic how some people use any thread like this just to push their own club, no matter how badly it fails to meet the criteria. A poster asking for a straightforward piece of advice deserves an honest answer.

i think the OP well capable of looking up info on Golf clubs in the greater Dublin area. He is asking for advice/opinions from fellow enthusiasts. People giving an opinion on their own club and promoting their own golf club on a golf forum....Mad Ted.

First Up

swededmonkey wrote: »

Already have!! The tight fairways don't leave any margin for error!

Cheers for the advice folks. Think we're going to play around the courses in the area first before we settle. Played Glen of the downs yesterday and really enjoyed it

You would be well advised to play a fair few courses before deciding what suits you. Also be aware that courses that are brilliant in the August sunshine might be a different matter come winter. (This is probably to worst time of year to evaluate courses for that reason as you don't get to see how well they drain, how badly they are affected by frost etc.)

Given your various locations, places within striking distance of the the M50 probably suit you all. That gives you a fair bit of choice - e.g along the M/N7 and M/N11 and even a few out the M/N4. You also have places like Westmanstown, Castlenock and Luttlerstown that are very handy for Chapelizod especially.

If you are worried about spraying it around, then maybe places with a lot of water won't suit but your first priority should be a course you look forward to playing and that is in reasonably easy reach.

You will get lots of offers but I would advise not to get sucked into any deals that lock you in now for all of 2016. Take a long term view - i.e use this year to "shop around" and then decide after you have tried a few in different weather conditions.

First Up

Kingswood Rover wrote: »

i think the OP well capable of looking up info on Golf clubs in the greater Dublin area. He is asking for advice/opinions from fellow enthusiasts. People giving an opinion on their own club and promoting their own golf club on a golf forum....Mad Ted.

He didn't ask for an opinion of your club - he asked for advice.

Members' "opinions" can be treated with scepticism for obvious reasons.

PARlance

Kingswood Rover wrote: »

i think the OP well capable of looking up info on Golf clubs in the greater Dublin area. He is asking for advice/opinions from fellow enthusiasts. People giving an opinion on their own club and promoting their own golf club on a golf forum....Mad Ted.

Suggesting BL to a newbie living in Chapelizod is daftness. He won't have much change from an hours drive.... 20mins from the M50.... do they cover your speeding tickets in the yearly sub?
A newbie to this forum won't know that you plug BL at every opportunity, commendable in terms of pride in your club etc but not very helpful for someone looking to make an informed decision.

For a newbie living in Chapelizod that is on a budget I would say there are only a few realistic options. Grange Castle or Elm Green for value, GC being a better course but Elm Green being handier. Castleknock also an option as they have a cheap plan (600 if that's still available) but the cost per round under that option is fairly pricey. Haven't played City West but it's also an option, I think Grange Castle usually gets the nod over it when people are making these recommendations.

OP will prob outgrow GC or Elm Green quickly but they would be my recommendations for the first year anyway.

PARlance

And one course that I've never heard mention on this forum is Summerhill Golf Club. It's probably about a 40-45 minute drive for you OP which is a little more than ideal but full membership is €350 and there are no green fees thereafter. It's a 9 hole course and it's not going to win any awards but there are a few decent holes and it's an ideal course to start out on.

A friend that lives close by to it and who is just starting out joined this year. He has the place to himself most days... even at weekends (evenings). So you could get plenty of practice. If budget is the main factor and you can live with the drive then it's the cheapest regular golf you'll get.

Seve OB

PARlance wrote: »

Castleknock also an option as they have a cheap plan (600 if that's still available) but the cost per round under that option is fairly pricey.

Yes it's still available. But just to clarify, It's not a cost per round on top of the €600. For €600 you get 5 day membership and €600 credit on a card & better still, for €800 you get 850 credits and for €1,000 you get 1,100 credits. You can also join as a full member on a similar credits system, but you are getting into big bucks.
You can spend your credits on coffee, restaurant, bar, merchandise and of course golf. Every time you play golf it costs you credits. So for example I played on Saturday and it was 30 credits but I played during the week last week and it was only 15 credits. So the price you pay in credits is much less than Joe Bloggs walking in off the street and it obviously gets you membership privileges. You can also pay for guests using your credits. In actual fact, if you were ever thinking of bringing a society out there, you would be better off to join up as a member, get your discount and pay for the society using your credits.
IMO it's a no brainer for someone local who might roll up and use the restaurant, bring a few mates out, but for a newby, maybe come up and play it a few times, as there is a good bit of water around the place so might not be as suitable as some other courses.

Gumbo

Elm Green just off the M50 at Castleknock.

finglashoop

PARlance wrote: »

Suggesting BL to a newbie living in Chapelizod is daftness. He won't have much change from an hours drive.... 20mins from the M50.... do they cover your speeding tickets in the yearly sub?
A newbie to this forum won't know that you plug BL at every opportunity, commendable in terms of pride in your club etc but not very helpful for someone looking to make an informed decision.

For a newbie living in Chapelizod that is on a budget I would say there are only a few realistic options. Grange Castle or Elm Green for value, GC being a better course but Elm Green being handier. Castleknock also an option as they have a cheap plan (600 if that's still available) but the cost per round under that option is fairly pricey. Haven't played City West but it's also an option, I think Grange Castle usually gets the nod over it when people are making these recommendations.

OP will prob outgrow GC or Elm Green quickly but they would be my recommendations for the first year anyway.

elm.green is a much better course than grange castle (not a member) but it is local. in superb condition. although some fairways are fairly tight.

54and56

OP, not sure if Stackstown has been suggested previously but if the location suits they have just launched a 15 months for the price of 12 offer. Sign up for 2016 (no joining fee just €1,429 which includes a restaurant levy of €100, GUI Levy €19 and Non Stop Draw €66) and you'll have full membership from now to Dec 31st 2016.

If you guys are under 30 the Young Adult (20 - 25) full annual rate is expected to be €350 for 2016 and the Young Adult (26 – 30) is expected to be €650 but that would be for Jan to Dec 2016. The final decision on that pricing hasn't been made but it might be worth your while calling the office 01 494 1993 and seeing what the story is, particularly if there are three of you thinking of joining. See http://www.stackstowngolfclub.ie/Membership_2012/Default.1665.html