Seapoint - Louth - Ireland

The tough part in being located immediately next to a superstar course is sometimes the comparisons can cause an unrealistic expectation on the merits of the other. Not many situations mirror the likes of Shinnecock Hills and National Golf Links of America being side-by-side!

In my first visit to the immediate area my initial round came at County Louth. Naturally, I was smitten and a few of the folks there suggested I schedule a round at next door neighbor Seapoint.

Seapoint is a split personality course. There are clearly holes of interest, but to be fair, there are also holes where you are simply biding time to get to the ones that really are memorable.

One needs to wait till you arrive at the par-4s at the 4th and 5th holes -- with water to be avoided on the approach shots. I also enjoyed the dog-leg right 7th. However, the qualities of the course really start to happen with the inward side.

The stretch of par-4 holes from the 12th thru the 14th is very good. You then reach the ending trio located nearest to the sea. The short par-4 16th is quite sneaky. The hole invites the big tee shot but it pays to finish on the left side of the fairway for the best angle into the green. The par-3 17th is well done -- bolstered by a lengthy narrow green that is quick to dismiss anything short of top tier execution. The concluding par-5 also tries to seduce players into a reckless gambit. The fairway necks down considerably and missing to either side can mean a struggle to escape with a par.

The issue with Seapoint is having far too many vanilla holes -- absent serious details especially with the greensites. It's too bad because the need for such details would really add a good deal to one's time there. The course is a fun layout for the masses but for serious architectural bloodhound there's little doubt you'll be spending more meaningful time at its renown neighbor next door.

M. James Ward

There has been some discussion on the site about the authenticity of Seapoint's links claims. My view is that only holes 3, 4 and 5 are not links holes. As a result the vast majority of the holes are links with at least 6, firmly in dunescape. If the front 9 was as good as the back, Seapoint would be be in the 3rd quartile of the top 100 in GB&I. Holes 7, 8 and from 12 in are outstanding with the 18th up there with memorable finishing holes. This is a substantial golf course which tests your long game. The greens range from flat to moderate contouring, which personally is what greens should be (especially when the route to the greens are challenging). Good course which is definitely worth a play.

I played Seapoint for the 2nd time recently, on a fresh winter morning. Despite the 3 year gap between those rounds, I came away with an almost identical opinion: it's a fine course, superbly maintained and genuinely interesting - but the major nuance is that despite their marketing drive, this is not really a links course at all. It's a parkland course with some heather and pot bunkers on show, that finishes with a short stretch of links holes. This in no way makes it a weak course; holes 1, 2, 5, 7, 13 and 14 would sit comfortably on any parkland track in Ireland. But it's not what is advertised. The linksy closing stretch 16-18 is though phenomenal and worth waiting for. All told it's hard to complain about Seapoint. The facilities are superb, the clubhouse is immense, and the conditioning for December was simply out of this world. It's also a thoroughly pleasant walk. But in my opinion, it is more closely aligned to a Concra Wood or Lough Erne experience than a Royal County Down or Baltray experience.

My son and myself played Seapoint on Tuesday July 26th at 11:30 am. This was after playing The European Club on Sunday and St. Anne's Golf Club on Monday. We were staying in Dublin and Seapoint is north of the city and within about an hour drive. Since The European was about an hour south of Dublin it was nice to go north up the coast of the Irish Sea. Seapoint was opened in June of 1993 and designed by Des Smyth and Declan Brannigan. Smyth won six Irish PGA championships and continues to play Seapoint when not playing the European or Champions Senior tours. Brannigan performed a redesign of the links in 2006. Seapoint hosted the Irish PGA Championship in 2010 and 2011.

Seapoint measures just under 6,500 metres from the blue tees and just over 6,100 metres from the white tees. It has an excellent short-game practice facility as it has a putting green, chipping/pitching green, and another green with practice bunkers to get the short game ready for the course. Seapoint is neighbors with County Louth Golf Club (or Baltray). Baltray originated in 892 and hosted the 2004 and 2009 Irish Opens. It seems like the good genes of Baltray have carried over to Seapoint.

The condition of Seapoint was excellent when we visited. The greens and fairways were very well maintained. The greens had a Donald Ross flavor as several of the greens have a crowned design. It felt like we were on a parkland course early during the round with trees and water hazards. That feeling soon ended with the exceptional views of the Irish Sea later in the round. Views of the neighboring Baltray could also be seen from Seapoint. The links had well placed fairway and greenside bunkers and the course was fair with good shots rewarded while poor shots could lead to trouble.

When making my reservations over the internet, noticed weekends were pretty crowded while weekdays had plenty of times available. It was good to have a nice peaceful setting to play this challenging links. Would highly recommend Seapoint Golf Club to anyone that wants to play an exceptional links with great views at a reasonable price. I don't think anyone would be disappointed. Looking forward to a return trip someday. Jim Brady

Played course at the weekend. i wont write much because if i start i may be here all night. A really excellent course. highly highly reccomend it. but to be honest the front nine dont feel like true links. a great course

Though not as well known or "classic" as neighbors like Baltray, The Island and Portmarnock, Seapoint is a very worthwhile addition to any golf intinerary along Ireland's east coast. A great warm-up round en route from Dublin airport before tackling County Down or Royal Portrush.

Seapoint is a brilliant links course, challenging but fair. A strong wind causes havoc but wide fairways give you some kind of chance! Greens are excellent and watch out for the par 3 17th hole - many a good round can crumble here and float away into the Irish sea...

I played this course for the first time yesterday and it was a fantastic experience. The course is a pure joy to play and the greens are the best ive ever played on - all 18 or them were perfect. the fairways are very well maintained and quite wide but the way the wind was blowing yesterday it was still very hard keeping it on the short stuff. the bunkers are what you come to expect on a links course - deep and unforgiving - and plenty on them too. their position on the course was very cleverly planned and would gobble up any stray drives or approaches. each hole proved very strong with no let up in quality and a few holes even had water/streams on them which added to the experience. best links course ive played by a mile as there is no week hole and as each hole seems to go in a different direction, the wind changes with every shot. also there was only two blind shots all course - one drive and one approach - which is a characteristic some golfers look for in a course. i noticed there were a lot of greenstaff around the place so they take very good care of their course. i also noticed that we were nearly the only ones on the course - no one near us for 5 holes either side which leads me to think that not too many people know about this place....yet. I definatly 110% recommend this place to any level of golfer and if you are within a 10 hour drive of this place it is a must play course!! PS - the green fee is a complete bargain too.