Portmarnock Links

Mickiwi wrote: »

Does anyone know what the new owners have planned for the Links (Hotel Course) in Portmarnock? Great course but geared towards green fees and limited members. Would love to know the 5 -10 year plan...

There's a member on here, Golfgraffix, that may be able to tell more but from what I last heard, the new owners are happy to keep the current arrangement with the club.

Mickiwi wrote: »

Does anyone know what the new owners have planned for the Links (Hotel Course) in Portmarnock? Great course but geared towards green fees and limited members. Would love to know the 5 -10 year plan...

I am on the commitee there but am away at the moment so missed our last meeting but AFAIK there will be no change this year and more than likely no change next year.

For a resort course its a model that works quite well, 100 members coughing up about €220k at the end of each jan and all they have to give away are 2 hours on a Sun and Wed plus one day a year for our club day. has no real impact on their guest tee times.

J

Looks like we are good for next year at least, renewal forms arrived on Friday.

J

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Must head out a good few times next year. It is already a bit expensive.
But, I feel it will be out of the reach of the mere mortals.

must be best in Dublin .

I'd head out some winter days with you for the qualifying comps if you are around

Golfgraffix wrote: »

3 spots at 8:45 this wed if anyoneis interested, €30 inlcuding comp fee.

J

I'm in work this Wednesday but thanks for the offer. Hopefully get out in the next couple of weeks.

Kingswood Rover wrote: »

Wow only 100 members would have thought there would be more, great track. i wonder are there many clubs with that sort of number of full members. Hats of to the people that keep them going.

The licence from the course owners has the membeship capped at 100. We have about 60 regular players and about 60% are full an the rest are 5 day members.

I have played in 2 other clubs and this is by far the best so far, small membership can be challenging to get a good interclub team together but it makes for a very good club atmosphere as everybody pretty much knows everyone else.

I love it as it is five minutes from the house, right beside the kids school and if i want to stay for a pint i can leave the car and its playable all year round with 2 qaulifying comps every week all year. I think i have had 38 qualifying scores already this year.

In saying all that it is pricey and can be very hard to justify when you see some of the membership fees just outside the dublin area.

J

ForeRight wrote: »

I'd head out some winter days with you for the qualifying comps if you are around

Cool yes - I'm finished with parklands till may now.

I don't want to see a Christmas tree again till then.

Tones69 wrote: »

Gonna try get a game in here in the next few wks. Played once and loved it

SEnd me a PM when you are ready to play and you can come out with me, a good few boardsies have been out this year for the wed member/guest comp.

J

30 inlcuding comp fee

Hi there - just reopening this? Anyone know if the Links is worth joining - I am in another club and trying to weigh it up.

The winter matchplay 2019 - Hit Portmarnock Links thanks to an invite from Golfgraffix here.

We typically play Corballis - so it was a nice treat to hit a full golf course at the higher end of the Dublin links options.

I've always loved the course - it just has a terrific mix of links holes. From the first tee you know you are on a "real golf course" – it has you thinking from the off and it has a classic links drain hole to start. Your never sure what club to hit – and a great testament to a course when it has you asking questions on your first shot.

There has been considerable investment in the course and facilities and the full venue is top drawer stuff at this stage. Hotel, golf shop, short game practice area.

Considering how poor the conditions were , it is remarkable that it had no impact on course conditions at all. The joy of links golf and good design.

The course has a great variety of short holes, long holes, dog legs left and right and a couple of blind holes too. They are only blind if you are in the wrong place and the course rewards good strategy on holes like 9, 14, 15, 16. Put the ball where you can see.

The par 3s are a joy when you literally could play all the irons in your bag on different days.

The finishing 4 holes are simply brilliant and it made for fantastic drama in the 2 match play matches we had. In Portmarnock Links, You rarely get out of the last 4 holes without some damage to your card or your heart. 15 What a hole , 16 what a hole.

In the car park I heard a golfer saying , the course is tough but fair. That is true. If you are hitting the ball well you will be rewarded. There are many links in Ireland that have a real cruel twist to them. That isn’t really a feature of Portmarnock Links.

The bunkers , greens and fairways are top of the range. Amazing to get true roll that links greens have , but very hard to get it right. We were playing them in slow conditions. But they are greens that can get incredibly fast. It is a different game at that green speed.

Portmarnock Links has an unusual aspect of being protected by a large sand dune on the coastal side. I know there are plans to try bring the sea view in more and this will be a more pleasant aspect of the round. But the day that was in it – with 10 m/s wind. The shelter was much appreciate and we can dream of the sea views in the summer.

One blemish on the course is the work taking place 13. Work is underway to solve the problems here. So it has a winter green at present.

The bunkers – are simply amazing and real links hazards. You need to be a serious bunker player to just get out and the riveted edge is stunning.

With the wind and rain , it was interesting looking at the planes struggle. Imagine trying to land in that. I’m sure they were looking at us going, imagine trying to play golf in that.

At one stage – it got so bad we had to stop and take a break. Then the sun was out again within minutes. One of the lads in the group turned and said. This is fantastic , imagine you could be in work.

A great day , a great course. We will be back.

Cracking day. Utterly pissed down once or twice. Wind up all day. But great fun. It’s a savage place to play matchplay. I found it a little unfair at times though as I had number of tough breaks such as strange lost ball from a perfect 3wooded drive, unplayable ball embedded in the face of a riveted bunker, very first drive finished in a sanded divot right off the mark. When you factor in the toughness of the conditions on the day these things just made it that little bit extra Spicy.

My game plan to keep the ball low worked out well for me though. The course layout makes it feel like an adventure. Hope to get back out when the 13 green is finished, there looked like a big enough job going on there.

The best is saved for last and as fix said, the last 4 holes are a super finish. Having played corballis a bit recently, I find you start to lose concentration near the end there. Here, in a close match, you are always conscious of the difficult finish. My match went down to the 18th which kept it exciting. Truth be told, I think we were all exhausted walking off the last green, as there is nothing straightforward about any single shot around there. Looking forward to trying it again in a different wind direction!

charlieIRL wrote: »

If I lived closer, it’s a club I wouldn’t think twice about joining.

^ This, all day long.

Seve OB wrote: »

giving up St Mags so are ye?

I know where I'll be living beginning 2019 not sure too much beyond that. I would need the dust to settle on that whole thing before I change.

A few of us got out here again for a second match yesterday morning. The conditions were perfect, calm still and mild. My hat came off after the first. My Jumper a hole or two later. More than once I sprinkled the top of my head with grass when pinching a tuft and throwing it up to test the wind. So different to my last day out here.

The greens were faster then I'm used to for this time of year and I over cooked a few of them, even 4 putted one of them :mad: The grass on the greens here just looks different to what I'm used to seeing and I find it hard to gauge the pace. Morning dew doesn't seem to hold on to the ball the same.

The rough is tame in many parts, wispy, you'll generally find a ball here and have a shot. But you need to know which are the parts that you can miss.

The bunkers here are tough and deep. But the sand quality is excellent and consistent (a gripe of mine on my regular place!)

Many give up golf for winter. My regular place moves to 12 hole comps, the tees are pushed forwards, and there's placing fairway and lift, clean & drop in the rough. The ability to play 18 hole qualifiying comps in excellent conditions, on a beautiful course on a lovely calm day in the middle of winter makes the idea of being a member of this course very enticing. I halved the match in the end. It would have been nice to win. But win, lose or draw, playing in these conditions at this time of year just can't be beat when so many others put their clubs away months ago not to be seen again until the masters kicks their season off again next year.