Waterville - Kerry - Ireland

Waterville is golfing heaven. Has been that for decades. A great links and a great manager, one of the best in the world, in Noel Cronin and a marvellous professional in Liam Higgins. A two ball rating is impossible to understand. This is a place and a game to die for and it is always a thrill to play there.

Pat, Noel may well be a "great" manager but we lodged a polite complaint about the greens last week and have heard nothing back. Noel wasn't on site in the height of summer (we were there two days) and there was no one to represent him. If Noel or yourself would like to speak with one our team to discuss please give me a call on +44 (0)7900 211620.

Dear Pat, I am not sure if you have played Waterville recently but I assure you that the condition of the course when we played it was far from heaven. I have photos of every green which resemble a field that's just been ploughed. Happy to send these to you, I am currently trying to upload them to the site. I think the remaining negativity from the two other recent comments are as much directed at the treatment we received from the staff and ambiance. For example, it would be deemed courteous to alert us to the state of the greens, whilst potentially nececessary short term, prior to arrival; this didn't happen. Upon alerting the staff (reception) to the state of the greens we were aggressively dismissed and management over the two days were nowhere to be found. We have subsequently tried to get in touch for three days now and have not been received or replied to. Therefore I can not share your faith in the customer service adopted at this course. I do however think two ball is a little low, the course is simply in disrepair. If you want links, go to Aberdeen and play Trump for less money. Thanks Three ball rating reviewer

EPIC FAIL REVIEW. Where do I start? As it is mostly a customer service review, it is impossible to comment on, especially as we say in the business "the customer is always right". The only item really missing here is factual context. Waterville has been one of the most heavily invested golf properties in Ireland in the last 10 years, but the owners chose to invest in the golfing asset first. To that end they retained Tom Fazio for a renovation of the links, and I can say I have never seen him do bad work. I know the members at Augusta National are very happy with him. I agree Waterville does not have an opulent, uncommercial trophy asset for a clubhouse, but I bet most golf facilities now finding themselves in negative equity wish they did not have them either.In relation to course conditioning I can only assume it was one of those "perfect storms" of coincidence. Waterville has been performing one of the most technical long term migrations back to real links turf that I am aware of, and over-seeding is part of that, and yes in the interim there can be less than perfect conditioning, but not at the level inferred in the review, and perhaps the fact that the course is referenced for 2.5 lines of the 17.5 line review is indicative of its credibility. Additionally the quip about owners greed is a disingenuous comment and totally untrue, Opex for the golf industry has increased on average 35% in the last 5 years, and fees\dues have not increased in proportion to this, that is ignoring the considerable Capex of in excess of €7m that the "greedy owners" committed to.

The latest reviews have very helpfully flagged up an issue which is of great concern to golfing consumers: how does one assess, in truly objective fashion, the playing quality of greens? Not just for one day, but across a whole year? Apologies now for a long reply.

This is a problem which has vexed me for years; I first wrote about it in Golf Monthly in 1984.It is, of course,completely dependant on the type(s) of grass found in the sward. In essence, there are three parameters of " ball behaviour " to track : speed, firmness and trueness. Speed is hugely overrated as a measure of quality, and recent research has also shown that the Stimpmeter is simply not fit for purpose. However, speed is still a useful number to monitor regularly, and a new ( reliable )tool will soon be available. Firmness is related to moisture, but crucial in determining the effects of spin on the green. It is measured at least quarterly by a Clegg meter. Which leaves us with the real bugbear : trueness.

Now, I must declare an interest as a member of The R&A Golf Course Committee which has worked to solve this problem. The first step was to build a machine which measures trueness(lateral deviation) and smoothness(vertical deviation). This was developed by the STRI and is regularly used by them ( and by The R&A during The Open). But it does not solve the monitoring issue for the wider game. It is too expensive for most clubs to consider. So we have developed a simple tool which allows replicated putts to be made from distances up to about 12 feet. We have also developed a protocol which is based on replicating 10 successive putts from ( usually ) 6 feet. 10/10 is a perfect score for "reliability" and any club wants to see that 365 days a year. Not always possible, but if the sward itself is of high enough quality, then the test rarely fails. Remedial work on such surfaces e.g. overseeding or aeration may look unsightly on a good fescue/bent sward - but it still passes the test. I have plenty of film to prove it! On bad swards ( usually meadow-grass dominated ) we have often found scores of only 6/10 from 6feet. For 8 months of the year!Imagine playing your golf regularly on such surfaces: 4/10 of your perfectly-hit putts will miss from 6 feet because of defects with the surface. This tool is currently on test in various countries/climates and (subject to results ) The R&A expect both the tool and the protocol to be widely promoted to greenkeepers and clubs early next year.

Now: this is not an attempt to blind with science.I have every sympathy with customers who feel they have not received value for money at a golfing venue. But, as consumers, we are all much better at judging the quality of the chips or the temperature of the beer. What golfers have lacked - for far too long - is a way of judging if they are getting value for money from the putting surface. The reverse of the coin is that club/course managers need to know that they are actually delivering such quality. Subjective comments from golfers who have an off day are about as unhelpful as the guy who wins the monthly medal on greens which are like pegboards. He says the course is wonderful - but we all know it was just his turn to fluke a lot of putts. The only way forward is objective and regular testing of surfaces, with results ( or even film ) which clubs can publish if golfers want to see the evidence... continued below. 

Having communicated directly with a few of the golfers in the visiting group who were unhappy with the condition of the greens and also to Noel Cronin, the General Manager of Waterville, the matter is now closed. I am now drawing a line under this particular issue, even though it has raised many interesting points. Due to the wettest summer on record, the greens at Waterville were recently aerated and sanded, which was the main point of concern. This process happens at every club at various times of the year and is a necessary agronomy procedure. The visual impact of aeration or scarification can be quite startling and the effect of sand and the aeration scars will challenge even the best putters. I believe it would be helpful if clubs advised visitors, as well as the members, that this essential maintenance is taking place so that golfers can choose in advance whether or not to play during such works. Thanks to everyone for their posts both negative, positive and technical. As always, it’s your views that make this website live. Keith Baxter – Editor-in-Chief

Definitely not fair to the course, you got that dead right!!! Bad day from the staff maybe? Been there a couple of times and service was always superb...