GO GOLF:Courses around the country are lowering their rates and there are some great deals around – even at the most exclusive of clubs, writes SANDRA O'CONNELL
GOLF HAS long since shed its elitist image but, even still, you’d be surprised what good value some of our best known clubs now offer. What’s more, in winter, they’re even cheaper still.
So, for anyone looking for a cluster of courses with which to devise a great golfing getaway, we’ve marked your card with a few suggestions.
Kildare cluster
The country’s best known golf resort, the K Club, is a byword for luxury and, indeed, expense. But even here the cost of a round has sunk like a good putt, particularly if you’re canny about when you play.
Right now the online visitor rate for its Palmer course is €305, but if you call up the golf shop to book a tee time, you can get it for €210. Even better, there’s a twilight rate before the long nights close in of €140.
On its Smurfit course the rate advertised on the website is €220, but they were offering €160 when we called, with an early morning start of €95.
If you fancy staying and playing, one night’s BB plus a round of golf on a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday costs €220, based on two sharing. Or stay two nights BB and play a round on each course, plus one dinner, for €490.
And, now that you’ve your accommodation sorted, head over to the Jack Nicklaus course at Killeen Castle in Dunsany where green fees have fallen by around €25 in the past year. Visitors can get a round of golf in for €100 midweek, and €125 at weekends. A package including a half day at Killeen’s Dave Pelz Scoring Game School, plus a round of golf, now costs €199.
Alternatively, spoilt for choice as you are in this neck of the woods, choose a golf package at Carton House in Maynooth. An overnight stay here including golf on either of its championship courses starts at €130 per person.
Or just turn up and play with midweek green fees of €75, with an early bird rate of €55, as long as you’ve teed off the first before 9am.
WEBSITES
kclub.ie
killeencastle.com
cartonhouse.com
North of Dublin
During winter golfers migrate to the coasts to avoid getting bogged down inland. Head north from Dublin – one of the driest parts of the country anyway – for a cluster of seaside links courses, including Laytown Bettystown Golf Club in Co Meath. Built on sand, with great greens and green fees from €50.
From there head further north to the links at County Louth Golf Club, known as Baltray, where green fees are a more hefty €100 on weekdays and €135 at weekends this month, but fall to €65 in winter.
And from here it’s literally a short putt to Seapoint Golf Club next door, host to the 2010 Irish PGA Championship this week – so it must be good. Yet despite this you can get a midweek early bird tee-off here from €20 before 9am and, between 9am and noon, for €30. The standard rate is €40, rising to €45 at weekends.
For accommodation, check out stayandplay.ie, a golfing promotion which can get you two nights’ BB in a range of hotels, including Drogheda’s D and the Crowne Plaza in Dundalk, for €175 per person, including three rounds of golf.
WEBSITES
landb.ie
countylouthgolfclub.com
seapointgolflinks.com
South of Dublin
Alternatively, head south to the Garden of Ireland for more top notch courses than you can swing a four iron at.
To get you started, Powerscourt Golf Club is running a special early bird (tee-off before 10.30am) offer of golf followed by a two-course lunch for €75 per person. Or, round up a four-ball for a twilight tee-off that lets you play as many holes as you can followed by a 10oz sirloin steak for €70 each.
Finally, if you have the stamina you can play two rounds at Powerscourt on the same day for €99 per person.
Next, head south to enjoy sea views from every hole at Blainroe Golf Club, just past Wicklow Town, where rates are back to 2003 levels. Offering some of the best value to be found in Wicklow, you can play as many holes as you like in one day for green fees of €50 (weekdays) and €60 (weekends).
In between the two is Druid’s Glen. It is offering a three-course “garden golf route voucher” that allows you play Druid’s Glen, Druid’s Heath and Arklow Golf Links for €199.
Of course, to get from Druid’s Glen to Arklow, you’ll pass the European Club at Brittas Bay, another links course. Indeed, some holes play along the beach. For its winter season – November 1st to March 31st – visitors can play one round, any day, for €100 and two rounds, on the same day, for €150.
Accommodate yourself handily at Hunter’s Hotel in Rathnew, which is offering €160 for two nights B&B plus one dinner, and will book your tee times at all of the above courses for you.
WEBSITES
powerscourt.ie
blainroe.com
druidsglen.ie
theeuropeanclub.com
Atlantic coast
Choose Sligo as your base and there is any number of top class clubs to enjoy, including the championship links of County Sligo Golf Club at Rosses Point. Green fees here are €60 (weekdays) and €75 (weekends), with discounted fees of €45 for those out before 9.30am or after 3pm.
Enniscrone Golf Club, with panoramic views of Killala Bay and Bartra Island, is another terrific course offering not just the championship links course “The Dunes”, but also a good nine-hole course, the Scurmore.
And right now you can get a discount package that allows you play for Rosses Point, nearby Strandhill and Enniscrone golf clubs for €118 – and if one of the rounds is rained off, the voucher is valid for a year.
It’s not too much of a stretch either to take in the magnificent links at Carne in Belmullet, in north Mayo, its winter rates start at €25 in January and February.
Alternatively, drive north to Donegal Golf Club at Murvagh, a links course designed by Eddie Hackett with green fees of €50 for 18 holes on weekdays and €65 at weekends.
If you’re looking for somewhere to stay, check out the Diamond Coast Hotel in Sligo, overlooking Enniscrone. It is running golf breaks of €114pps for one night’s BB including a round of golf at Enniscrone, both midweek and weekend.
WEBSITES
enniscronegolf.com
countysligogolfclub.ie
carnegolflinks.com
donegalgolfclub.ie
Western ways
Over in Clare the five-star Doonbeg Hotel and Greg Norman-designed golf course offer top fairways. What’s more, prices here have fallen more than 10 per cent over the last year. This winter you’ll be able to tee off for €75 (midweek) and €85 (weekends).
The hotel – voted European Golf Resort of the Year this year – also makes a great base to travel either half an hour north to Lahinch or 90 minutes south to Ballybunion – two of Ireland’s best known clubs.
Golfing getaways at Doonbeg start at €220pps and next year all three are bundling their offer to launch the Great Irish Links Challenge – so steal a march by taking them in this winter.
There’s more value still to be had at Lahinch right now with rates for its Old Course reduced by €65 to €100 this year. It is also offering a two-for-one deal wherein you can play its Old Course twice in a seven-day period, weekdays only, for €165.
The green fee on its Castle Course, meanwhile, has been reduced to €30 per person, from a previous rate of €55. Play the two for €110.
WEBSITES
doonbeggolfclub.com
lahinchgolf.com
ballybuniongolfclub.ie
Cork courses
Down south Fota Island Golf Club offers golfers three challenging championship courses, the Deerpark, Belvelly and Barryscourt, with green fees of €65 on weekdays. Or stay at the resort with a one-night package, including breakfast and a two-course meal, plus two rounds of golf, for €150pps.
If you have time pair it up with a trip to Cork Golf Club in nearby Little Island, where green fees for its championship course cost €85 (weekdays) and €95 (weekends). It also has a nicely late (10.30am) early bird discount that brings the price down to €50 on weekdays.
When you’ve that done, get back in the car and head for Old Head Golf Links, near Kinsale, built on what must be the most spectacular setting for any golf course, on a promontory jutting two miles into the sea.
Most of its clientele fly in from the US to play here, which is why the entire course shuts down at the end of October.
If you’re quick however, there’s a two-week window at the end of October that can see you play a round on the course and stay one night in one of its luxury member suites, for €150.
Given that the package would ordinarily cost €350 it’s a significant discount, especially when you consider that green fees for visitors who just want to play are €200.
WEBSITES
fotaisland.ie
corkgolfclub.ie
oldhead.com