Best Short Courses

dixiefly

Hi,
I sometimes arrange golf outings for a group of family members some of whom are infrequent golfers and some are the wrong side of 80 yrs old. I find that many courses - especially ones attached to or near nice hotels are just too long or too difficult. Courses like the Heritage with all those bunkers on the 10th, Killeen Castle - a beautiful courses but really long, same for Slieve Russell, Knightsbrook etc.

I think the trend of building just championship style courses to new hotels was perhaps misguided in hindsight of course. With the aging demography of golfers and younger players being time poor I think well designed courses circa 5k yards total with 5 or 6 par 3’s and just 1 or 2 par 5’s would suit a certain customer base.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to courses that might approach this style / length?

Seve OB

Play your rounds off the red tees?

Oasis1974

Pitch and Putt for the laughs.

brick tamland

dixiefly wrote: »

Hi,
I sometimes arrange golf outings for a group of family members some of whom are infrequent golfers and some are the wrong side of 80 yrs old. I find that many courses - especially ones attached to or near nice hotels are just too long or too difficult. Courses like the Heritage with all those bunkers on the 10th, Killeen Castle - a beautiful courses but really long, same for Slieve Russell, Knightsbrook etc.

I think the trend of building just championship style courses to new hotels was perhaps misguided in hindsight of course. With the aging demography of golfers and younger players being time poor I think well designed courses circa 5k yards total with 5 or 6 par 3’s and just 1 or 2 par 5’s would suit a certain customer base.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to courses that might approach this style / length?

Off the top of my head.......Citywest, Corballis, lahinch castle

Glen mill par 3

billymitchell

Elm Green is very short too

Ally McIntosh

dixiefly wrote: »

Hi,
I sometimes arrange golf outings for a group of family members some of whom are infrequent golfers and some are the wrong side of 80 yrs old. I find that many courses - especially ones attached to or near nice hotels are just too long or too difficult. Courses like the Heritage with all those bunkers on the 10th, Killeen Castle - a beautiful courses but really long, same for Slieve Russell, Knightsbrook etc.

I think the trend of building just championship style courses to new hotels was perhaps misguided in hindsight of course. With the aging demography of golfers and younger players being time poor I think well designed courses circa 5k yards total with 5 or 6 par 3’s and just 1 or 2 par 5’s would suit a certain customer base.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to courses that might approach this style / length?

Unfortunately it can only be called hindsight now.

But some of us have been singing this tune for years. There was a huge amount of greed and delusions of grandeur among developers of golf facilities during the Celtic Tiger years. What we actually needed was a number of simple facilities with courses that maxed out at 6,500 to 6,600 yards, with daily tees around the 5,800 to 6,000 yard mark.

Courses that are compact, use less acreage (less cost) and take 3 hours to jaunt around.

slave1

Seve OB wrote: »

Play your rounds off the red tees?

This, huge assumption on this island that the red tees are the ladies tees and what's worse is some courses label them or have signage "Ladies/Ladys Tee"...

HighLine

slave1 wrote: »

This, huge assumption on this island that the red tees are the ladies tees and what's worse is some courses label them or have signage "Ladies/Ladys Tee"...

+1 on that. This also creates a stigma for juniors who could/should be playing off the reds. I'm currently in the process of getting the term "ladies tees" removed from all scorecards at my home club.

charlieIRL

Where are you based? Castle Barna in Offaly or Mount Temple in Westmeath are handy enough courses and both have buggies

thewobbler

Rathcore, Headfort Old, RCD Annesley, Warrenpoint, Woodenbridge, Strandhill, Mannan Castle, Ballymascanlon are all good courses that spring to mind.

dixiefly

charlieIRL wrote: »

Where are you based? Castle Barna in Offaly or Mount Temple in Westmeath are handy enough courses and both have buggies

Based in county Meath. Have played Mount Temple in the past a few times with a previous golf society. Will check out both.

dixiefly

thewobbler wrote: »

Rathcore, Headfort Old, RCD Annesley, Warrenpoint, Woodenbridge, Strandhill, Mannan Castle, Ballymascanlon are all good courses that spring to mind.

I have played some of these - Rathcore is a lovely course but a tough enough track with a lot of hills - wouldnt suit some of the older members of our group.
Headfort Old is also a very good course.

As a group we have played and like Ballymascanlon, Mannan Castle and Co. Meath (Trim).

Have driven by Warrenpoint G.C. many times - need to check it out with our group also.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

dan_ep82

Try Ardee.

It doesn't play very long and not too much water (two holes). Good mix of holes and not as difficult as Rathcore and plays a little shorter than Headfort Old

dixiefly

dan_ep82 wrote: »

Try Ardee.

It doesn't play very long and not too much water (two holes). Good mix of holes and not as difficult as Rathcore and plays a little shorter than Headfort Old

Thanks, played it a couple of times. I remember two holes sort of crossing each other and it was a little concerning.

But will definitely go for it again as it ticks a few boxes.

dan_ep82

dixiefly wrote: »

Thanks, played it a couple of times. I remember two holes sort of crossing each other and it was a little concerning.

But will definitely go for it again as it ticks a few boxes.

May be a different course, no shared fairways

PARlance

Kileen (not Kileen Castle), Castlewarden and Beech Park are 3 flat compact courses that should be easy on old legs without compromising on quality or enjoyment.

Beech Park wouldn't be as flat as the other two but it would still be mild.