The Links Thread

Thanks again for that. I really enjoyed the course. I struck it very well which helped.

It was an odd scratch cup though in that it was a stableford comp.

It's a great course though. I'd still have narin & portnoo as the best I've played, but this was probably my second favourite. The par 3s are lovely, par 5 4th probably my favourite hole. Had I known that one you go over an edge you could run down to the green I might have taken a club more with my second, but it's a good thing I didn't know that!

The one thing though about every time I play a links course other than corballis, is that they are always so much more forgiving. If you go into the rough, you'll probably find your ball. And have a good chance of having a decent lie. And if you miss a green, unless you miss it badly or on the wrong side, you'll have a good chance of an up and down. It's so much more pleasant playing like that.

I haven't played them. I'm not sure I'd like them now that you say that!

The other big ones I've played are Portmarnock links, portsalon, narin & portnoo. And they were all very forgiving. Both in terms of missing fairways and missing greens. I'm not sure I enjoy the courses where if you go off line your ball is probably gone. It's not too bad when it's definitely gone, because you won't spend time looking for it. So if I hit the ball into a lake, that's fair enough. What annoys me is when I just miss a fairway or a green and the ball is likely gone, or even if I find it barely playable. With water the danger is clear and probably just on one side of the hole. But with that sort of thick rough, any time you don't hit a fairway or a green you can potentially be facing a disaster of a hole. The punishment just doesn't match the crime for me.

Now I don't mind that occasionally. It balances out against those times where you hit such a bad shot that you miss the danger. For example slicing a drive onto another fairway. It just wears you down when it's every little miss.

I read it yesterday, great read, very exciting to hear this new course is Grade A. I visited Rosapena last year and it blew me away. It's becoming our St. Andrews/Bandon Dunes and I can't wait to go back.

Hopefully not! Prices were gradually creeping up until Covid kept our American cousins away. I’d say they’re currently sensible.

i’ve heard a few people mention that St Patrick’s is “too easy”. I’m putting this down to a more-benign-than-usual summer.

While a few of our group did shoot their lights out, conditions were nigh on perfect. A handful similarly shot their lights out on a bright, wind free Portsalon the day previous, too. And do you know what - such wonderful respite it was too, after a windy Sandy Hills battered us all into submission on the Friday. St Patrick’s wide fairways give us all a chance, and those who could find the right position on the fairway, a real chance.

Encountering a scoreable day on a big links has to be one of life’s greatest pleasures. Why people want beaten up by golf, I’ll never understand!

Not sure I'd agree with 'too easy'. It's certainly generous (rough included, unless you're way off line) off the tee but those greens will cause plenty of problems if you're approaching from the wrong spot.

But I do agree that there's nothing more enjoyable than a benign day and scoring well.

Had you played Sandy Hills before? It's been softened a lot in the past couple of years.

yeh exactly - same can go for many things to be honest. Good marketing can make what some would see as a high price seem like good value to others. Easy to do with golf courses but Irish courses are beyond bad at it

Thanks, the tees were quite far forward alright.

I’d played Sandy Hills 3 times before on unusually calm days… and I found the back 9 pretty scoreable. In fact the scoring on the first outing, about 10 years ago, from our very hungover / still drunk group on a 9am tee time was unusually good.

this time around there was a crosswind that jumped between testing and savage.

A completely different game.

That said, it’s still a couple of ranks below RCD and The European in terms of difficulty/cruelty.

Played St Patrick's last weekend. Wow. What a gorgeous course. Great fun. Thoroughly enjoyable. Likely to be in the Irish top ten in a few years. Greens still a bit hairy and turf not quite bedded in in a few spots, but great to play. Mind blowing views as well.

You don't mind me asking how much it cost for each round?

820 euro, that's a fair chunk of change.

It turns out the experts were right all along.

Reviisted Baltray today in a Golf Digest event, some 9 years since my only previous time playing it.

On that occasion if truth be told I was underwhelmed. My expectations of a top 10 course were maybe too high, but more than likely were mostly misguided. At that time of my life I was fascinated with steep and undulating links. I suppose I just didn’t understand!

In the same way that in recent years, I’ve come to appreciate classic parklands over modern “championship” parklands, what it’s a strategic links is about all kind of came together for me today.

The course is absolutely immense. The ever changing direction/routing, which always keep you thinking. The constant requirement for a clear sight of the pin to have any idea what to do on approaches. The string of options that are then opened up by a good tee shot. The need for brute power off the tee, and the challenge to find a low ball flight. That petrifying feeling when you know your ball is being sucked into a runoff.

But most of all, it’s challenging, rewarding and completely fair golf. So much so that I’m now thinking that those things which are absent - exposed sea views and giant dunes - might tend to get in the way of such playability.

Still wouldn’t be sure about the 17th hole (last par 3). But the rest of it is top drawer. It has punched past the Island and Rosses Point, into my top 3, just behind Portrush and St Patrick’s.