Good public courses

Does anyone know of any good public golf courses in Dublin, and if so do you know what the green fee is as well. Thanks

copacetic

these are the usual suspects, all decent enough
although condition can be suspect and elmgreen is
very easy, think prices are about right for weekend play..

citywest championship 60
grange castle 30
hollystown 35
sillogue 25
elmgreen 30
citywest lakes 40
stepaside (9 holes twice) 24
deer park (no booking) 30

TheDoc

corballis

CCOVICH

Corballis is a great wee course-very challenging links. Don't bother with the back 9 nine though-not up too much. I got an eagle on the 2nd on Thursday evening with a 4 iron off the tee (Par 4). The ball kicked to edge of the rough and rolled around 150 yards to within a foot of the hole-crazy!

Btw-Hollystown isn't a public course (neither is Citywest), but it is quite 'welcoming'. Played there yesterday-tough. Pitched into a lake 3 times on the 8th (I think). Very busy-2 pm is probably a good tee time.

Stepaside is nice-very forgiving.

I've played Deerpark load cos it's convenient for me, but I'm tired of it. Not much to it, just long. There are always a few skangers haging around the fairways on one of the 9 hole courses-but it is a public course. Good thing about Deerpark is the hotel bar-nice to have a pint after shooting your 55 for 9 holes! Stunning views.

I'll add Swords Open to the list of public courses-nice course, fees around €20/€30 depending when you play. Adviseable to book.

Have never played Sillogue-what's it like?

There is a pretty good par 3 course in Marlay Park, some of the holes are long enough.

copacetic

I suppose it depends what you mean by public, they aren't public owned but they accept any member of the public who can pay the green fee, so they are as public as any of the rest of them I would say.
swords open and corballis are the ones I misses, is swords still trying to only put out 4 balls at the weekend?
sillogue is worth a visit if you've not played it, it has a monster par 4 where you have to drive over a valley and up a hill, even if you hit it 250/60 or so you will be left with 5-7 iron to a green with trees right and OOB left all the way!
condition can be iffy but the holes are nice and it is decent lenght unlike hollystown which would have been a great course if they had built 18 on the land instead of 3 shortish 9 hole courses..

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Trampas

Corballis is a cracking course which everyone should play.

Cheap also.

I've played over 60 courses in Ireland and Corballis is one i would always go back to.

CCOVICH

Daveym- I guess I was taking public to mean owned by the Council, but I take your point, Hollystown and Citywest etc. are more open to non-members. Thanks for the info on Sillogue.

I don't know about the situation in Swords Open at the weekends- I have only played there on a Thursday afternoon (2 ball)

I've put my name on the waiting list for Hollystown- I like the fact that you have a bar etc. on the course. No waiting list for Corballis, but it's a bit crazy to be playing that course too often, and like I said, I think the back 9 are ****e. Also, the right of way to the beach through the course can be a bit of a problem-a lot of young kids wandering around.

Re, Corballis-does anyone else think that the back 9 are a waste of time?

Trampas

I think the 10th, 11th, 17th holes aren't to bad in Corballis but the rest of the back 9th isn't great.

The 18th was good but ruined with the moving of the green.

The front nine is very good. loads of variety of holes and shots.

RuggieBear

I reckon this could be stickified. Very useful to know.

delboy159

The back nine isn't as challenging as the front - or as interesting. But to get a good score in Corballis you need to do two things:
1. Not mess up on the front nine
2. Score really well on the back nine - as in 4/5 shots better than the front (even though its technically a 33 par front and a 32 par back).

There are a few holes on the front I'd do a dance on the green if i got a bogey (even a double bogey). Whereas some of the holes on the back 9 you "need" to get a par. It isn't a happy par - it's a necessary par.

I agree with the 10th, 11th (really freaky beside the beach on a windy day) and the 17th - short but tough. It can be dull enough with the three holes in the other field (holes 13 to 15) - (1 par 4 and 2 par 3s) - but I'd be aiming for 2 pars and a bogey from them and I don't have a handicap, the low level I'm at. I'm not saying I always walk away with 2 pars and a bogey, but I can and should (and need to - to make up for the Valley of sin or the hidden bunkers or U-turn par 5 on the front 9 etc.)

All in all I'm a big fan of Corballis and take the back nine as a scoring challenge (even at my level) and take the front nine as a challenging, fascinating possible gut wrenching on it's day game of roulette and skill.

CCOVICH

Just played Sillogue for the first time yesterday. Have to say I thought it was excellent value (€25 for 18 holes on a Saturday ). Nice course-infinitely better than Deerpark, on a par with Stepaside and Swords Open.

Pity I was fookin' awful

dataglo

Water Rock, Midelton in County Cork is great

randomfella

A more detailed description of how to get to courses or where they are would be much appreciated if possible.

CCOVICH

randomfella wrote:

A more detailed description of how to get to courses or where they are would be much appreciated if possible.

Sillogue : Just off the M50 (North of Ballymun)
Stepaside : Just beyond Stepaside village, Enniskerry Road I think
Swords Open : Balheary Road, Swords
Corballis : 5 minutes from Donabate
Elmgreen : Just off Dunsink Lane?, M50 Blanchardstown exit
Deer Park : on the way into Howth village

Check out club listings on www.gui.ie

cabla

iv played in sillogue and i would recomend it. cheap and very decent public course

josejames007

yeahhh,,,,,,,Water Rock, Midelton in County Cork is awesome!!!!:D

sector7g

Elmgreen on Dunsink Lane Castleknock is very well maintained. Its not too difficult but with the changes they've made to the course this year its not getting any easier!

J.R.HARTLEY

how well has elmgreen recovered from gettings it's greens ripped up, i remember during the problems on dunsink lane about a year and a half ago somebody got in at night and trashed some of the greens with a jcb

o_O

wheres dere park?

extopia

CCOVICH wrote:

Just played Sillogue for the first time yesterday....infinitely better than Deerpark, on a par with Stepaside and Swords Open.(

Have to say I haven't played Stepaside but of the other threee I think Deer Park's (Grace O'Malley course) is the best. Very nice holes on 1,2,3, 7, 8, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18 - not too bad a return. Sillogue is very flat and boring for the most part, especially the back 9 - but I agree with the earlier poster about the 8th, where you have to drive over trees and then up a long hill blind (for me anyway) to a distant green. But that's really the only memorable hole.

I enjoy Hollystown too. But I'm lucky - I usually play weekdays so don't have to pay the weekend rates! Hollystown is only €25 midweek as far as I recall (haven't played for a few months).

janmolby

Deer Park is out in howth, go to http://www.deerpark-hotel.ie for directions, I have to say that as a beginner I really like it, prefer it to Stepaside, plus it has 36 holes so if the main course is busy you can just go on the other course which doesn't be in as much demand.

Go to www.golfmaster.ie & click on Golf Courses & then click on the county you want for a listing of the golf courses in that county with a price range indicator. If the course has a website it will be listed under Course Info.

Mad_Max

Has anyone played grange castle since they opened their new back nine (well 7 ).
The layout has changed now,played the old 17 as 10 then onto a new 7 holes then back to the old 18th.
New holes are much much better than the old ones.well worth a visit now. Midweek students is €14 so great value. think its €21 for others and weekends.
Also just played sillogue few weeks ago and thought the greens were a little poor but for the cheap price cant realy complain.

FlutterinBantam

Balbriggan do an "Early Bird" fee for 25 euro and you get b/fast after ..Valid up to 1000!!!... You won't do better than that

nigey

CCOVICH wrote:

Corballis is a great wee course-very challenging links. Don't bother with the back 9 nine though-not up too much. I got an eagle on the 2nd on Thursday evening with a 4 iron off the tee (Par 4). The ball kicked to edge of the rough and rolled around 150 yards to within a foot of the hole-crazy!

Btw-Hollystown isn't a public course (neither is Citywest), but it is quite 'welcoming'. Played there yesterday-tough. Pitched into a lake 3 times on the 8th (I think). Very busy-2 pm is probably a good tee time.

Stepaside is nice-very forgiving.

I've played Deerpark load cos it's convenient for me, but I'm tired of it. Not much to it, just long. There are always a few skangers haging around the fairways on one of the 9 hole courses-but it is a public course. Good thing about Deerpark is the hotel bar-nice to have a pint after shooting your 55 for 9 holes! Stunning views.

I'll add Swords Open to the list of public courses-nice course, fees around €20/€30 depending when you play. Adviseable to book.

Have never played Sillogue-what's it like?

There is a pretty good par 3 course in Marlay Park, some of the holes are long enough.

Sillogue is not too bad. few lovely holes better than Deer park but not as good as Corballis, Sillogue has very very bad drainage dont go near it in the winter, they have tried to put drainage in but it wont work, worth the 25 euro fav hole is the 8th i think it is you have to drive over threes very nice!

Gillie

I've just recently played Ballinrobe, Castlebar and Westport. Found them all class.

Incidently you can play all 3 as a package for €70.

If your looking for value for money in terms of accomodation I would recommend making Castlebar your base and staying in Lough Lannagh Village.

Gillie

Sorry. Forgot the links:
www.castlebargolfclub.ie
www.golfwestport.com
www.ballinrobegolfclub.com

www.loughlannagh.ie

Mr. capello

yeah there was a bit of bother from some of the travelling community regarding the ripping up of the greens.... but the greens are in great nick again now. fully recovered. the place was closed there for a while but the greenkeepers have done a top job.

Mr. capello

yeah there was a bit of bother from some of the travelling community regarding the ripping up of the greens.... but the greens are in great nick again now. fully recovered. the place was closed there for a while but the greenkeepers have done a top job.

GreenHorn

Mr. capello wrote:

yeah there was a bit of bother from some of the travelling community regarding the ripping up of the greens.... but the greens are in great nick again now. fully recovered. the place was closed there for a while but the greenkeepers have done a top job.

I'm a member of Elm Green... Was playing there one day with my regular golfing buddy when we came to the 17th (par 3 about 180yds)...

We were held up for ages taking our tee shots by 3 traveller kids who insisted on walking on front of the green as slowly as humanly possible...

When they eventually disappeared (or seemed to anyway!) we teed off. I hit my ball onto the green and by buddy went slightly long and left through the green.

Of course, one of the travellers has to run back, kicks my ball off the green and legs it. We were in stitches laughing on the tee box. Then the f*cker came back and nicked both balls and they all high-tailed it like they'd just robbed a bank...

Funny stuff. We both agreed that as it was a friendly game we could both have a free drop from as clsoe as possible to where we thought our original balls had lay...

As if the game's not hard enough lads eh??

Gillie

GreenHorn wrote:

I'm a member of Elm Green... Was playing there one day with my regular golfing buddy when we came to the 17th (par 3 about 180yds)...

We were held up for ages taking our tee shots by 3 traveller kids who insisted on walking on front of the green as slowly as humanly possible...

When they eventually disappeared (or seemed to anyway!) we teed off. I hit my ball onto the green and by buddy went slightly long and left through the green.

Of course, one of the travellers has to run back, kicks my ball off the green and legs it. We were in stitches laughing on the tee box. Then the f*cker came back and nicked both balls and they all high-tailed it like they'd just robbed a bank...

Funny stuff. We both agreed that as it was a friendly game we could both have a free drop from as clsoe as possible to where we thought our original balls had lay...

As if the game's not hard enough lads eh??

I woulda freaked f*cking out!!!:mad:
Your a patient and tolerant man!:cool:

GreenHorn

Gillie wrote:

I woulda freaked f*cking out!!!:mad:
Your a patient and tolerant man!:cool:

Ah what's the point? Last thing ya wanna do is get into a row with a gang of travellers! We mentioned it to the guy in the ProShop of course (I may have exaggerated just exactly how close my ball was to the pin but sure why not?? ) but there's not much he can do either...

Mine was a ProV as well! li'l fuggers...

btowner

I found this really good website for golfing in Cork. It has everything including directions and green fees. What else do you need!


www.cork4golf.com

magic_murph

Recently played clontarf golf course. Not bad, bit over priced at €60 a round, compared to some courses this is alot for what you get.
Its quite an easy couse, bit busy, alot of the fairways run parrellel or across each other. On a good day you would get close to par, unfortunetly when i played I got the yips with the sandwedge, ever shot with it would skit off to the right of the hole, very strange.
Worth a look if your looking toplay just outside the city centre.

Enigma365

I play the leopardstown course. Its 20 Euro weekdays and 25 Euro weekend, or 15 Euro at any time if you are a student.

Its a pretty decent 18 hole public course. Not overly challenging but is in nice surroundings - very open with decent enough views. It gets decent south Dublin clientele(yes Im a snob) and has a nice clubhouse with bar/restauraunt.

Although the course is in the middle of the leopardstown racetrack, the golf course entrance is different to the racecourse entrance. You come into it via foxrock village. I usually either get the luas to sandyford or the 46a to just outside foxrock church. Either one leaves about a 15-20 minute walk.

The only other public course I have played in Dublin is Deer Park in Howth. To be honest though it is not as nice a course, is more expensive at 14 Euro for 9 holes, and was full of skangers when I was there. I wouldn't rush back.

Enigma365

I should say that i only played one of the 9 hole courses in Deer Park. Maybe the 18 hole course is better.

Is Corballis accessible by public transport? I don't mind walking up to 15-20 minutes.

Aesop

Word of warning on Corballis. Front 9 is very nice and great value. Back nine is a complete waste of time.

BTW Anyone played Rathbane in Limerick?

kifi

Yep ive played Rathbane in Limerick. I didn't enjoy it. greens are awful (most par 3 courses ive played have had superior greens). It maybe a good place for beginners though. Quite a relaxed atmosphere about the place. Also, the course is not situated in the nicest area of Limerick.

Maybe you should try limerick county. http://www.limerickcounty.com/. Haven't played it yet myself but looking at the website it seems lovely.

mejner

Aesop wrote:

Word of warning on Corballis. Front 9 is very nice and great value. Back nine is a complete waste of time.

That's a bit harsh, 13-15 is a waste of time. 10-12 are decent golf holes, so are 16-18.

Adiaga 2

Enigma365 wrote:

I should say that i only played one of the 9 hole courses in Deer Park. Maybe the 18 hole course is better.

Is Corballis accessible by public transport? I don't mind walking up to 15-20 minutes.

Dublin Bus have a service to Donabate village - check their site. There's also a very good train service from Connolly which is probably your best bet. It's about half hour walk from there to Corballis. If you haven't played it, it's worth a visit and good value. The 3rd hole alone is nearly worth the green fee....ok maybe not quite It's just the 3 holes mentioned above that really disappoint. I saw a little write up of the place in a UK golf magazine a few months ago and they raved about it too.

mejner

Adiaga 2 wrote:

Dublin Bus have a service to Donabate village - check their site. There's also a very good train service from Connolly which is probably your best bet. It's about half hour walk from there to Corballis. If you haven't played it, it's worth a visit and good value. The 3rd hole alone is nearly worth the green fee....ok maybe not quite It's just the 3 holes mentioned above that really disappoint. I saw a little write up of the place in a UK golf magazine a few months ago and they raved about it too.

A lot of Swedes going to Dublin play the likes of Portmarnock Old, Royal Dublin, The Island and... Corballis!

Aesop

mejner wrote:

That's a bit harsh, 13-15 is a waste of time. 10-12 are decent golf holes, so are 16-18.

Fair enough 13-15 are by far the worst of the back 9. 12 and 16 though do my head in. Crossing fairways (almost shared). Most weekends that fairway usually has 16 guys on it all shouting fore at each other

mejner

Aesop wrote:

Fair enough 13-15 are by far the worst of the back 9. 12 and 16 though do my head in. Crossing fairways (almost shared). Most weekends that fairway usually has 16 guys on it all shouting fore at each other

True, I only play weekdays. I can imagine a summer weekend being a pain! Maybe so for 11 and 18 aswell.

A good route would be 1-11 and 17 - 18. All good links except hole six. A good hole but not links.