Golf weekends away on a budget

Lefty2Guns · 02-11-2021 8:51am

Following on from that.

Anybody got good recommendations for courses that offer houses/lodges on the course?

Have been too and played:

Fota Island, Farnharm Estate, Dundrum House, Mount Wosley, St. Helens Bay.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

prawnsambo · 02-11-2021 9:42am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118105366#Comment_118105366

Castlemartyr, Mount Juliet (very limited) and The Heritage (Penthouse apartments) off the top of my head.

Of those, Castlemartyr is probably the best in terms of accommodation - Houses are a good size, competitively priced and well located. Mount Juliet probably the worst, expensive and very limited. The Heritage apartments are very nice, separate to the hotel with their own entrance. Can be expensive, but there are sometimes deals.

Lefty2Guns · 02-11-2021 10:51am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118105489#Comment_118105489

Thanks. Must check out Castlemartyr. Wouldn't give Mount Juliet my money. I used to run a golf society and we went there and played. It was the start of October and there was a load of bits of leafs and stuff on a load of the greens. I understand thats nature but they didn't even send ground staff out that morning with a blower to clear the greens. The morning we played was a nice and calm day too so the stuff was clearly there from the night before or early that morning. For the price we paid it was unacceptable. I raised it with the pro-shop when I got in and their response was less than satisfactory. Told them to do one and I'd never give them money again. We had about 35 lads playing that day too at €60 a head.

Lefty2Guns · 02-11-2021 10:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118105489#Comment_118105489

Whats the course like at Castlemartyr?

prawnsambo · 02-11-2021 11:21am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118105767#Comment_118105767

I really like it. It's marketed as an inland links course and there are certainly 'linksy' elements to it. According to my 'memorable holes' criterion for rating courses, it scores quite highly. 😁

Watch out for the drains that run across some of the fairways that are marked as yellow penalty areas. You have no choice but to drop out of them as they are too narrow and deep to hit out of. They're usually not in positions to trap your ball unless you hit a bad one.

OEP · 02-11-2021 2:45pm

Faithlegg and Waterford Castle both have houses around the course too I think

prawnsambo · 02-11-2021 3:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118106943#Comment_118106943

Also down that neck of the woods is Gold Coast which also seems to have a good variety of self-catering houses. Haven't played the course there, but would seem to be decent.

OEP · 02-11-2021 3:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118107195#Comment_118107195

The Gold Coast course isn't great. Fantastic location but the condition isn't the best - the worst out of the three Dungarvan courses.

Lots of holiday homes and close the Dungarvan though so good for a trip.

NotCarrotRidge · 04-11-2021 6:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118105366#Comment_118105366

New Forest. They have lodges on site as well as the hotel. Course is excellent and they are great to deal with.

FixdePitchmark · 04-11-2021 8:06pm

I've been looking around and trying to get good deals on the mid range courses. I think people are Iin for a shock for how much prices have gone up

40 to 50 euro for the Irish mid range courses at weekend.

The ones at higher level are now over 85.

Like everything else in life, prices have gone up 25 to 50 %

Kilough · 13-12-2021 8:53pm

I'm captain of a large enough golf society and am trying to find somewhere for our annual weekend away.

Anywhere I talk to are looking for either full payment up front, maybe 1 or 2 months up front. Or if not up front payment, a substantial enough non refundable deposit (up to €3k). We've maybe 50 ppl travelling and around 35 golfers in that.

Am I unreasonable to think that places should be willing to take a smaller deposit in the region of e500? Past captains have never had to pay out a large figure, appears to be common now though. Most ppl will not properly commit till a few weeks away from the date but they generally come and we've had a consistent enough number at the last few weekends away.

We've been on the go 26 years now and I could provide references but reservations managers I'm talking with are having none of it.

golfguy1 · 13-12-2021 9:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118316930#Comment_118316930

not really unreasonable for a hotel to take sizeable deposit or full payment for that amount of potential rooms.

again golf course bookings for weekends especially are in big demand so can't guarantee slots without taking a deposit.

Lefty2Guns · 14-12-2021 9:00am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118316930#Comment_118316930

What golf courses are you dealing with? Pre-Covid I never had to pay a non-refundable deposit to any golf course. At times I have arrived on the day with €5k in cash to cover the course and the accommodation. Granted the accommodation we generally stay in is the on course lodges and not the actual hotel which may have different policies. I assume that the deposit can be returned if the Government stated that there was no inter county travel allowed.

Kilough · 14-12-2021 10:34am

Just thinking of the scenario for example if two or three families that couldn't come due to covid reasons, wedding/funerals/confirmation etc. then we could be down 6 or 7 people. If this happened, we'd be out €1-2€ with no recourse. Even though we'd still have a large group on-site spending a lot of money! I can see where the hotels are coming from but our committee won't handover such a large deposit so I'm kinda stuck.

I'm asking the question now of a couple of hotels RE lockdown or no inter county restrictions. Don't think it'll come to that again (hopefully) but want it written into contract that we're covered in the eventuality.

Ideally I could have my credit card on file and have free cancellation for rooms up to 24hr (or 48hr) in advance, like a standard booking.com hotel booking?

Or failing that, a smaller deposit could work for us.

Kilough · 14-12-2021 11:21am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118318373#Comment_118318373

One course in the midlands, another in Wicklow. Both have hotel & golf course on site. Both 4/5 star & courses are both top notch IMO.

Third_Echelon · 11-03-2022 12:52am

Have to say, really enjoyed a weekend up in Bundoran a few years ago for a stag... it was for all the older uncles, dads, cousins etc. Lovely course there right along the coast and hotel was decent!

Think we had around 20 playing golf.

Golf weekends away on a budget

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