The Links Thread

I think thats the sign of a great course. Bogey is easy, par is hard

Rosslare is a great links. You'll enjoy it.

I wouldn't be a huge fan of the 12 hole course personally but is a very handy option

St Helens Bay is 15 minutes away and I always find it enjoyable might be worth considering

Your options are limited… sadly. There's Wexford GC and St Helen's Bay. Then you're looking at New Ross, Enniscorthy or Bunclody, if you fancy a spin that far, or Courtown on your return journey. Quality golf around Wexford town itself is not the best. Personally, I'd go for two rounds at Rosslare.

Bunclody is a great spot and not far from Wexford town. Real hidden gem to be honest and cheap enough

Played it for the first time 2 weeks ago and loved it

Tralee is 17th 4 ball and singles 21st August. Booking for visitors opens 29th July

"I know I could join The Island if I wanted to now – but you know what , I’m not sure I would like to be in any top club now. You can hardly play them year round , they are being preserved for tourists and summer golf. They are almost becoming wall paintings. Not a club as you know it – not a place you can just be yourself. €350 euro for a round of golf – I’m not sure I want to be part of that at all. I just don’t like the American model – and I’m not sure why Irish golf is modelling itself on a deeply divided and unpleasant segregated model. What next – a lad on min wage takes your clubs off you – parks your car – calls you sir for a tip , it just is not Ireland to me"

I disagree that 350 Euro/round is following the "American model". Most courses (~80%) are PUBLIC in America. The 20% that are private are for cliquey types… see similar in UK - Country clubs with pools etc for the family.. The 20% that are private are rarely packed like the public courses so maybe 90% of rounds are played on public courses. The public courses I play charge anything from $30 to $80 a round; $80 on weekend on a very good parkland public course matching good Irish courses…

Now - if I profiled Irish & UK golfers based on the ones I might meet playing Whistling Straits, or Pebble Beach, or Pinehurst - how would you react?? The typical Irish golfer blah blah blah - well you haven't met the typical US golfer. You meet the rich top 1%'ers.. And NO - for other comments - they don't just play courses based on the price (how stupid…) They see the top 100 lists and they know - and the tour operators know and advertise based on those lists… It's the lists, not the price…

Beth Page Black - $130 weekday, $150 weekend so 115 Euro…

most of the Irish Links Courses are Member based. Those members are privileged. BUT they don't OWN the course. The way they are running them these days they are acting like they do own them. They should be promoting access fairly. Restrict tour operators paying ridiculous prices and booking too many slots, and provide more access to both Irish & foreign visitors. Put in quotas if too many 'yanks' but charge them the same. Don't run it to maximize $$$ so you can upgrade the clubhouse for the privileged few (and rich foreigners)…

Played in EIG's Social Media Links Challenge there over the weekend at Enniscrone and Carne.

Weather was fairly brutal on the day we played Wild Atlantic Dunes at Carne but must say i don't particularly get the hype about the place. Far too many elevated greens, blind shots and just all round stupidness for me. At times it was more akin to crazy golf than proper golf.

Enniscrone much the better of the two courses for me but even that left me a bit underwhelmed. For all the talk of the North West having the best golf in Ireland i'm not so sure i can agree. The only exception to this IMO is St Pats at Rosapenna which is truly excellent.

This is relevant to courses in general and not just links courses, but I think golf courses are too well maintained nowadays. I listened to a podcast a little while ago and the guy they had on (a golf course architect) was talking about The Augusta affect - where people's image of golf is basically Augusta. And Augusta is perfect - there are no blemishes on the course. And that's what members want their clubs to strive for. But there are problems with that - sometimes the course will benefit from leaving the greens grass grow a little longer. And the overuse of chemicals to get courses in great shape for as much of the year as possible. And obviously the cost of it all.

We expect greens to be fast all summer long. I'd love if they left them slightly longer (which would apparently make maintenance easier) and then targeted a few weekends each year to have them fast, like the captains or scratch cups. For me, it would make more of an event of these days.

And as regards the links courses becoming inaccessible to the Irish golfers - it certainly is a shame. I would like Golf Ireland to bring in a stipulation of holding say 2 opens a year at 50% of your green fee rate as a condition of membership, but demanding Golf Ireland rates doesn't make any sense to me. Right now, you'll still get great deals from Donegal down until you meet Clare, but as tour operators get better and better at running tours there they'll surely join Dublin and Kerry and the rest in just offering green fees for very high prices. With the volume of top links courses there will always be some deals on offer if you look out for them, but the days of booking a trip to Donegal whenever suits you and choosing which courses to play and getting great rates will surely disappear.

On the other hand, if you don't limit yourself to links golf, Ireland will still have exceptional value and accessibility on offer. You can probably play about 70% of the courses in Ireland for €70 or less. That's some selection for very reasonable rates.

ridiculous comment- I’ve played plenty of 60/70/50 (and below) links and parklands over past few years that were far from dog tracks

Agree about lists and the pricing structure. It all comes down to demand. Its not only Americans that are getting charged them prices @ExPaddy its all tourists. But its the same in opposite direction. If I'm going to America I want to play at least 1 of the top courses! I have played TPC Sawgrass bucket list stuff to me. Probably the way The Island or The European is to our tourists. As to me its my favourite course in the World and that was before I even played it but again the green fee this year for Sawgrass was $800+ So it kinda of is like for like..

I'd be amazed if the tour operators are paying the rack rate for those they put on the courses. I'm sure there's hassle in a club for maintaining a timesheet - but with a tour operator they're probably booking an hour or two each time and handling the golfers questions. They're probably more likely to be there on time. More likely to buy merch which I would say is extremely lucrative for the clubs. More likely to eat en masse in the club after. And I'd say some of the clubs even need them to fill their timesheets.

I assume those on the tours just pay a fee for the tour and don't know what each course costs. It probably makes them decent enough value too - if they're getting deals in the clubs and the hotels and restaurants, even after their markup the golfers probably aren't being fleeced.