Last Minute Ireland trip. Questions.

[ziqch]

I am planning last minutes Ireland trip. It will me and my 17 yr old son and 11 yr old daughter. Will be there from Oct 16th to Oct 22nd. It will be mostly myself and 17 yr old playing full courses. So far I am looking to book following.

 

Oct 16 Monday ------- Corballis

Oct 17 Tuesday ------- Portmarnock

Oct 18 Wednesday ------ Open, need suggestion.

Oct 19 Thursday -------- The Island

Oct 20 Friday ------- County Louth

Oct 21 Saturday ------ Laytown and Bettystown

Currently do not have any 36 holes planned which maybe difficult anyways so will wing it and maybe replay same course if up to it. I would like to know some suggestions for Oct 18, looking for links and something not too expensive. Also would like some suggestions for some short par 3 courses around where we can play with my daughter. I may have her play one course if not too busy but do not think she can play a lot of full courses.

 

Thanks for the help.

[jvincent]

I'll give a recommendation for Seapoint for your open day. The first 6 holes are inland but then it turns into a links.

[El Gringo]

Royal Dublin is in the same area as your itinerary, but I think it's expensive. Portmarnock Links may be open, don't know if the redo is finished. Arklow is good. It used to be about 30 Euros, probably double that now. It's about 1:15 away on the other side of Dublin. There is a 9 holer called Sutton in your itinerary area. It's pretty expensive for what it is. 

 

Pitch and Putt is popular in Ireland. There are loads around Dublin. One is near Portmarnock. Beware, it's a different ball used. Heavier to hold the tiny greens. 

Edited September 20, 2023 by El Gringo

[Malvern]

Have a day off, like the 18th, it's a wonderful place, go do something other than golf.

[ziqch]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will look at sea point, guessing champions club will be expensive and hard. Any more suggestions for pitch and putt courses, I like to play those and my daughter will surely enjoy them. Or should I just search around and go with whatever.

Have been to Ireland and Dublin a few times, never golfed so focusing on golf this trip. Also keeping 18 a day to keep rest of day open for exploring.

Thanks again.

[puttnforthe8]

2 hours ago, ziqch said:

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will look at sea point, guessing champions club will be expensive and hard. Any more suggestions for pitch and putt courses, I like to play those and my daughter will surely enjoy them. Or should I just search around and go with whatever.

Have been to Ireland and Dublin a few times, never golfed so focusing on golf this trip. Also keeping 18 a day to keep rest of day open for exploring.

Thanks again.

Portmarnock has a P&P course.  

 

For your open day - consider a parkland course (Carton House O'Meara, Mt Joliet, KClub) - the colors of the leaves on the courses are an great setting.

 

 

[ziqch]

I ended up booking Arklow for the open day. A bit of a drive but not bad and course looks really good and cheap as well.

 

Thanks everyone.

[hammergolf]

On 9/21/2023 at 6:49 PM, ziqch said:

I ended up booking Arklow for the open day. A bit of a drive but not bad and course looks really good and cheap as well.

 

Thanks everyone.

Arklow is a hidden gem! Great itinerary and you’ll have a GREAT trip. Look forward to hearing your review.

[Chanceman]

There is a wonderful song by Van Morrison called The Streets of Arklow.

Listen to it before playing. I would put it here but no tech know how.

[st1800e]

2 hours ago, Chanceman said:

There is a wonderful song by Van Morrison called The Streets of Arklow.

Listen to it before playing. I would put it here but no tech know how.

 

[tad950]

On 9/19/2023 at 7:18 PM, jvincent said:

I'll give a recommendation for Seapoint for your open day. The first 6 holes are inland but then it turns into a links.

Now I understand why some of the pictures that were taken at County Louth with my phone showed their location as Seapoint. Next door neighbors. I enjoyed County Louth. I would imagine Seapoint would be similar. 

[tad950]

On 9/20/2023 at 12:39 AM, El Gringo said:

Portmarnock Links may be open, don't know if the redo is finished. 

 

 

There were still a couple holes left to redo when I was there this past June. It didn’t affect play much though. I was told by a caddie in our 4some that Portmarnock Links was a popular destination for cruise ships. So more tourists. Which meant longer rounds. It certainly was the longest round, time wise, of our trip. Ireland and Northern Ireland was jam packed with international visitors like us. Pent up demand for sure. 

Edited October 10, 2023 by tad950

[sabram]

22 hours ago, tad950 said:

Now I understand why some of the pictures that were taken at County Louth with my phone showed their location as Seapoint. Next door neighbors. I enjoyed County Louth. I would imagine Seapoint would be similar. 

Seapoint is not in the same league as County Louth

[sabram]

On 9/19/2023 at 8:08 PM, ziqch said:

would like some suggestions for some short par 3 courses around where we can play with my daughter. I may have her play one course if not too busy but do not think she can play a lot of full courses.

Sorry I didn't see this until after your trip. Sutton would have been a good option for your round with your daughter. It's a 9 hole course with a forward set of tees.The first few holes are links, you then exit through s gate to a few inland holes and then go through the gate agun to finish with a few mire fun links holes 

[ziqch]

On 10/10/2023 at 10:02 PM, sabram said:

Sorry I didn't see this until after your trip. Sutton would have been a good option for your round with your daughter. It's a 9 hole course with a forward set of tees.The first few holes are links, you then exit through s gate to a few inland holes and then go through the gate agun to finish with a few mire fun links holes 

I am actually leaving this Sunday and will be there next week. Thanks for the suggestion. I will give it a look.

Thanks everyone for their suggestions. Hopefully weather holds. Will report back when back from the trip.

[hammergolf]

5 hours ago, ziqch said:

I am actually leaving this Sunday and will be there next week. Thanks for the suggestion. I will give it a look.

Thanks everyone for their suggestions. Hopefully weather holds. Will report back when back from the trip.

Have a great trip!

[ziqch]

A bit late to post trip report. We did following.

First day Corballis. Kind of difficult course to play for the first time, lot of blind shots, narrow fairways and punishing rough very close to fairways. We actually ended up playing two wrong greens from fairways. I am sure course gets better once you play it more, however we were not big fans, esp for a jet lag round. Excellent sunny day though.

Second Day Portmornock. I thought this would be highlight of the trip. It was okay, not too special regarding set up or views. We enjoyed it but definitely not the best. Rain stayed away so that was good.

Third Day Arklow. The view down from the club house is so good, Just want to stand there and keep looking:) Fairways were punched so course played slow and very long. We enjoyed it though, fun course to play. Towards last 4-5 holes, it started pouring down and with punched fairways, became impossible to play, we skipped last two holes. But still excellent course to play.

Fourth Day The Island. Started off gloomy and rainy, but after 3-4 holes, opened up and actually ended up sunny and very nice day. I think this is the most eye pleasing course we played. Funneled fairways, excellent views. good but fair test. I think this was our best course.

Fifth Day, Wash out. Rained like anything with very high winds, ended up rescheduling round for that day, could not do much that day due to constant rain with no break.

Sixth Day County Louth. I am glad we ended up playing this next day as it was sunny and excellent. I think this is the most playable course in our trip, open fairways, only one blind shot, excellent links like views around green. Not much views in term of sea but we really liked it, Great weather helped as well.

 

Overall great trip. County louth and island pretty close for our best ones.