Jim Stynes wrote: » Played Portrush today for the first time. Amazing place and very tough of course. How much is the membership for the likes of these places. I was playing with a fella who is a member but only plays it a handful of times a year.
Seve OB wrote: » Smells of I’m playing golf but the rest of yiz aren’t :mad:
willabur wrote: » Irish Open at Carne next year Massive news for the club and course
etxp wrote: » Unfortunately they don't have the facilities to host the Irish open. Don't even have a range that an amateur can hit driver on never mind a pro.
PARlance wrote: » Plenty of reasons for it not to hold such an event but I'd say they'd get around the range issue by utilising 1 or 2 of the additional 9 holes in some way. I can't list them off but I'd imagine there are a lot of links courses that get big events which use a temporary range. Driving ranges not being exactly typical to traditional links courses afaik.
blackwhite wrote: » Quite a few of the Open courses have used their 2nd 18 as location for both range and also for tented village over the years. If it's good enough for them, then I'm sure Carne wouldn't turn their noses up at it
hurleronditch wrote: » Bethpage has hosted 3 majors and will be hosting the Ryder Cup in a few years, and you can’t hit any more than a 4 iron on their weird, downhill, rubber matted range, so if Carne ever did have the want to push for something better than the Irish PGA they’d figure it out.
Seve OB wrote: » The latest edition of The Open did exactly this up north last year. I'm pretty sure I recall same happening in Fota a few years back also
thewobbler wrote: » Ventured over to Castlerock today and got an unusually benign day for it. To generate any negatives here would require an extreme level of nitpickery, It is varied, fun and testing, with great views, and its perimeter holes must be truly daunting in a stiff breeze. Holes 6-10 is a fantastic stretch. Genuinely brilliant value for money at £55. Oddly enough they’ve gone with an “all bunkers are GUR” policy for the season, to allow them to recover after becoming overgrown and messy during lockdown. Typically this saw me only hit one bunker all day! —- Also visited Portstewart’s 2nd course (Riverside) yesterday. It’s decent and has some very good par 3s in particular. At £30 it softens the blow a little of shelling out for the neighbours. But it’s not really a links. Plays more like a heathland course.The ground game isn’t even close to an option on most holes. The single toughest hole I played all weekend (including Portrush) was the index 2 on Riverside. 440 yards of par 4 upwind, heavily bunkered, across a stream, surrounded by cabbage. A well connected drive, 3-wood and wedge wasn’t enough.
Whiplash85 wrote: » I'm down to play Castlerock next week but mats are in use. Still will be nice to hit a few balls again. I might try and squeeze in the 9 hole Bann course while I am there. Have you played it and is it worth playing?
IAmTitleist wrote: » Played Royal County Down yesterday. Not to rub it in but what an absolute joy of a place to play. Immaculate considering it was mid-November. Lovely change after weeks of being bogged down at my home course. Proper golf.
Poker Face wrote: » Video on the new 6th 7th and 8th holes in Tralee. 7th looks like it has been there forever!!https://video214.com/play/iUeKiT8qWl6Eo80tnYAJcQ/s/dark
Mushy wrote: » Saw a tweet from michael lehane saying they're (politicians) not expecting many international tourists this year (breaking news alert). Hopefully this will lead to some good deals on courses like last year. I was in contact with Portrush and they're awaiting to see if theyll run those open competitions again, fingers crossed
Dwarf.Shortage wrote: » It is great but there is also an aspect of be careful what you wish for. If Lahinch are in this state some of the big links' could genuinely not survive another year without tourism.https://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/lahinch-golf-club-runs-out-of-its-own-cash-after-3m-covid-19-hit-1.4419304 It's easy to say they just need to charge less but the money they take in is being spent on service delivery. I was down in the southwest playing some of the usual suspects over the summer and the amount of staff they have is massive. Someone there to greet you, attendant on the range, enough green keeping staff to present the course 10/10 all year. Dropping from €250 to €100 might keep the lights on, but a lot of these jobs will go if it continues much longer.
slave1 wrote: » We all know this is US dollar pricing, it is not sustainable in the Irish market and they have build their infrastructure around this elevated pricing. They need fresh thinking and flex their setup accordingly. etxp is dead right, €250 LOL is all I can say, needs to be double digits but they are too afraid of perception I'd say to take that step. I was trying to organise a 4ball to play both the courses with dinner in between Summer 2020 and they would not budge off their rack rates, silly silly stuff, went to Enniscrone instead
