Corballis

The island has a par 5 in the back nine (15th hole?) the green is surrounded by a similar dune amphitheatre (it's probably only a few hundred metres away and shaped by the same processes that shaped the one in corballis!). Trying to go near that par5 in two your hitting a long club into the amphitheatre. It may be the best hole on that course!

As a test I did a 12 hole routing on the same plot of land. It fit quite nicely with some great holes.

You would have an option of playing 12 hole or 18, the 1st holes can be played twice with quite different tee boxes. All 3 loops take you back into the clubhouse

A few years ago there was talk of moving the green back into the dune itself which would have meant quite an elevated green.

I don't know if that is part of the current plans.

I had thought that perhaps the ninth green could be played from the eight tee box as a par three and then the current eight could be reversed, teeing off where the green is now and having the green down towards the current tee box.

It would probably be a bit too tight. Besides, any hook shot playing the (current) ninth green from the (current) eight tee box would end up in The Island so that probably wouldn't work either

i'd say not many course have more than 3 great holes on them to be fair

and the price more than matches the quality of the course

which holes?

I find it enjoyable for the price especially in comparison to its coastal neightbours

^ I like 1, 2, 13.

Each of these require a controlled accurate (for both distance and range) wedge or short iron. Are nice looking and have a good amount of danger. 2nd hole is very unique. Distance control, spin and managing the wind are the tasks here.

I don't disagree with any of this ☝️

Bang on the money here.

I love 3. It's a completely different beast from the member tees than off the forward tees. I've birdied it last two times ive played it from front tees.

From back tees I've never gotten close to a bird. The tee shot is so difficult and into the wind it's effectively a par 5.

I always thought that there was a great 1st hole waiting to be routed in the existing terrain, going straight right from the existing 1st hole and borrowing from the par 5. The site for the green is already there. Imagine how it could look if the scrub areas were brought back to exposed sand base ?

2 can be an interesting hole into the wind. At the extreme, with a 4i ice barely made it onto the plateau and I've been on the back of the green. With a fairly average breeze the tee shot is grand, just take extra club. The challenge is if the breeze is with you and the ground hard you've to make sure to take enough to get to but not enough to go over the other side.

The approach into an average breeze can be tricky though. Since it's short, once the ball gets into the air it can move a lot. It's a relatively easy hole, but you can find yourself in trouble very easily.

The first has some interest too. It's a massive green, so you should be hitting it. But it's not completely straightforward. The green is angled, so what is middle of the green (depth wise) on the left side is in the bunker / run off of the right side. And if you hit enough club to go middle of the green on the right side, if you pull it left you're into the thick grass bank over the back. It's still a relatively easy target to hit, but the penalties for failing to do so are fair. They're tough bunkers or it's a big hill to try and get up and down from.

I wouldn't argue either are great holes, but I wouldn't call them weak.

what would you change with it? On a calm day not that hard if you hit a good shot, similar to most par 3s. Harsh if you go safe and a bit long, hard if you go short and an easy 4

the pain is waiting for the par 5 or the beach goers, thats surely the whole places main issue and what people complain about most, slows play etc

10th is the most complained about hole in general, but fun to go for the green and then lose that ball

Renewal time for me is in October and I'm leaning towards staying, but a little tempted to look at something that I might find easier.

On the plus side with corballis, it's always dry, the holes are very interesting and it should develop you as a player. The weakest shots in my game tend to be the half wedges, and playing on corballis is unavoidable practice on them. And in reality, I've really improved at them. I used to blade and practically duff a huge amount of them. I do that less now. But you'll also be forced into playing a few running low shots, punched low into the wind, some very different lies. There's variety on that course that few others offer.

But on the downside, my two biggest problems with the course are that I miss hitting the longer clubs. There's a good argument that I should only hit the driver once in corballis per round. You'll never be able to hit the club properly hitting it that often and on other courses it could be the most important club in the bag. Range practice is fine to keep you up to speed in driving, but you need course practice. And the second problem is that my scores are terrible there. On a bad day in corballis, I'll be around 25 points. On a really good day I'll be challenging 36 points. The result of this was my handicap going up as high as 18.4. It's now 13.1 with all new counting rounds being on away courses. I made a conscious effort to play away courses because I feared my handicap was going to go over 20. And lots of those new counting rounds I would say i played fine at best, whereas there are days i played really well in corballis that aren't included. And the handicap going so high did bother me, I can't deny it!

I don't want to spend a fortune on golf when I'm going to play at most 20 times in a year, so Hollywood lakes or balcarrick would probably be the most likely alternatives. I fear they'd be driver and wedge courses, but maybe not. Especially if they play comps from the blues.

Any thoughts on this? I am leaning towards staying and just playing half my golf elsewhere to keep the handicap somewhat down and the driver somewhat ready for action. Ultimately, I love the course. It's annoying that I enjoy playing in comps, but really struggle to break 30 points. I wouldn't mind qualifying to play in the captains some year for example. But ignoring my card I love playing there.

Hi Blue Note. I'm not a member here but a nearby resident and usually play it 2-4 times a year and have been doing so for years and years. It's a great spot. It has its faults like anywhere else but I think the positives far out weigh.

I play in Sutton. It's a short, tight links too. There are days I would use the driver much there either. And it's by far not the most important club in the bag.

Ive played with a few low guys over the years from your course. They are still members there and still low handicap. And some don't live anywhere near it.

If I wasn't a member where I I've always been, and was looking to move to a course nearby here in Donabate, Corballis would be No. 1 on the list for me

Erik Anders Lang (Golf YouTuber) was at Corballis today, will be keeping my eye out for that vlog