Doonbeg

[CongoTerp]

Anyone played Doonbeg in Ireland, thinking of playing there over some other options and was hoping someone could review it...

[banistr]

Best conditioned course I played in Ireland...bar none!!! Doonbeg was "VERY" Americanized as well...from the proshop staff to the bar staff. The course has bent fairways, tees, and greens....and definantly the best shape of the courses we played...

 

Courses we played...

 

 

We played the following

 

1) Adare Manor- Site of that years Irish Open...course was nice and very "American" not links

2) Tralee -This is a must play..very good condition and the views were incredible

3) Kilarne- (Kileene course) Nice course and in great condition..alot of long par 4's Not LINKS golf.

5) Ballybunion (Old and NEW)- We played both courses on Saturday..and I must say that I wasnt too impressed with the condition of either. They both had spectacular views, but fromn all the hype..I was expecting alot more. I would definantly rather play Tralee.

6) Waterville-Very nice nice links course and in great condition. We flew by Helicopter to this one, so the ride over probably enhanced the trip, but still a great course.

7)Doonbeg- This is a must!!!!! The course was by far in the best condition than any we played. Bent grass greens and fairways were awesome. This course was Americanized in every way....from the proshop staff to the starter..they were all American. Greg Norman did a good one with this.

8) OLDHEAD- Dont really know where to start with this one....course was 100 times better than Pebble Beach in every way except hospitality. You must PREPAY for the wole round (not a deposit) and if the conditions are unplayable....as they were for us, they do not

refund your money. The winds were 60+ which didnt allow us to fly into Oldhead and the balls would not stay on the greens. You could not putt...chip...or even stand with two feet on the greens without getting blown over. The starter informed us they have ony closed the course ONCE...and that was for only an hour. So this is definantly a crap shoot on catching the wheather in a condition that is enjoyable. This was going to be the highlight of our trip and trned out to be the biggest dissappointment.

9) Ballybunion Old - Yea I know I said this was my least favorite....but one of the guys we went with was a member here and we had a free day before our flight back...so he got us on during "members time" on Thursday....It was still in the same condition!!!

 

 

Here are some pics at Doonbeg..

 

[CongoTerp]

Thanks for the thoughts, that helps.

 

I would like to say something regarding your comments about Old Head: I showed up there to play in June 2000 and it was a bright sunny day, UNTILL i drove onto the Old Head rock, which was completely covered in fog. i had an 11:00 tee time, and everyone was sent away when the fog refused to leave, some to other courses or others issued rain checks. I couldn't play any other time, so they gave me a full refund and let me go out at 4:00 to try and play 9 holes. I played the back nine w/ no visability beyond 20 yards. Between the 3 of us, we lost only 2 balls. The owner who was sitting in the bar witnessed me birding the 18th hole and when I came into the bar he congradulated me on doning something that none of the famous American 7 pack had been able to do (Tiger, Stricker, Stewart, etc who played there the previous year). I thought the staff was very accomodating, but maybe they've changed?

[CongoTerp]

In October i played a private course in Kiawah Island that is affiliated with Doonbeg or possibly has the same owners. They bring the Irish caddies over from Doonbeg to do a stint at in the US. Sort of a roatation for some I think. We had one who had only been in the US for several weeks, and was very very good at caddying (as well as playing they said), and his accent was quite a treat. That place in Kiawah was as good a golf experience as I have ever had, rivaled Pine Valley. If Doonbeg is any way close to it's Kiawah cousin, I'm there. :clapping: Thanks again

[lc4jlc4j]

[size=2]I've seen a number of positive reviews of doonbeg on this forum, so I thought I'd post a dissenting opinion. But before I talk about doonbeg, here's the list of courses I've played in the UK, in order of preference.

Royal county down

Royal portrush

Lahinch

St andrews

Portstewart

ballybunion

Carne

Turnberry

Ballyliffin

Waterville

doonbeg

enniscrone

Carnoustie

As you can see, I'm not a big fan of Doonbeg. Why? Yes, I agree it's in very good condition, probably the best condition of all the courses I've played in the UK/Ireland. But it's not like the other places were like a local muni, they just weren't quite as good. In my book, this doesn’t make up for the fact that doonbeg lacked character. Yes, there are a few very memorable holes, such as 18 and the short par 3 around the mound. But overall, the greens/bunker complexes were way too ordinary. Too tame. Too sterile. Too… modern. You can see this in the photos - they bunkers are mostly just perfect little circles, and mostly fairly flat. Compare this to the ones at Lahinch or RCD, for example. Especially at RCD - the bunkers are natural rugged and just gorgeous.

If someone is in the area, I would recommend doonbeg as a filler course, but only at a discount. I think they have reasonable twilight fees. But would I go out of the way to play it? Certainly not.

And in case anyone is wondering if a bad round at Doonbeg skewed my opinion, no. I shot 79, with about a 1 club wind. I'm a 6.

Lee

[/size]

[marky1979]

I would agree with above post, Doonbeg is not really a true links and is quite sterile and is TOTALLY overpriced in IMHO! Old Head Links is the same.

There are much better links that can ge played for a fraction of the price, although given the current economic climate Doonbeg & Old Head and courses of a similar price bracket are dropping there prices in order to survive.

For the price of a round in doonbeg you could prob get 2 rounds of golf inc Lunch around most championship links. Rosses Point, Enniscrone, European CLub (THis is a BEAST, plus only go mid week!), Baltray & the Island are great well priced courses with freindly club atmospheres. Pormarnock (Old Course, Not to be confused with the links) is a fantastic course but is extremely expensive.

There are also plenty of parkland courses around too in case the links gets too tough!

[Andrew Rice]

I absolutely love links golf and I love Doonbeg. I have been to Ireland 7 times and have played just about all the courses more than once and the more I play Doonbeg, the more I like it. The only hole I do not like is the 12th with the silly bunker in the green, but every other hole is memorable and unique. here is a link to a few photos i took in October 2009:

[url="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40432&id=1386612666&l=b43d51fb04"]http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4043...mp;l=b43d51fb04[/url]

I will admit that the first time I played the 'beg I was not a big fan, but with each successive round I have grown to appreciate her more and more.

And if you are looking for luxury in Ireland, there is nothing quite as good as the Lodge.....(what a bed!)