Erik Kolshus

I am clearly not as masochistic as some of the other reviewers here and I found West Cliffs somewhat of a slog. My review may be somewhat clouded by the fact that I carried my bag around the course which was an unedifying experience. I am not sure why the course has been routed the way it is. Whether the plan is to gradually fill in the gaps between the holes with houses (blah) or an attempt to maximise sea-views (I could understand that) I am not sure, but the course fails completely as a walking course. For some people that is no big deal, I know lots of courses in the area are similar but that does not mean its a good thing in my book. I really don't like taking a buggy but I probably would if I was back. Unfortunately the long, uphill walks between nearly every hole is my major memory of the course. Now, there are lots of good things about the course, there are lots of elevation changes, doglegs and a variety of shots needed, although there is sadly not a whole lot of room for the ground game. Most of the greens were sitting up or had to be approached via the aerial route so its target golf on half-linksy terrain. In some ways its like the Cashen Course at Ballybunion. The fairways are reasonably wide and you need to think about where to drive the ball but if you are off the fairway then its quite likely your ball is lost as these areas are covered in ankle height heather / scrub. The good news you will probably find as many balls as you lose. As has been said before the views are indeed amazing. I wonder if in time the natural look will be spoiled by more and more houses (like Praia down the road) so get there while you can. I would say the beauty of the area will become more and more sterile as the place is developed. It is a very challenging course and perhaps the low handicapper will enjoy it more than the average teen-handicap golfer. Take care in choosing your teebox and go at least one teebox shorter than you would normally take. There are 2/3 holes that require very long carries to get to the fairway with certain doom if you don't carry over 200 yards, depending on the wind. Overall I was a little disappointed in the course based on all the other positive reviews but it is certainly worth a visit if in the Lisbon area. Perhaps if I was in a buggy I might have enjoyed it more, but the long and arduous routing for walkers, the target/aerial nature of most of the green approaches took something away from the beautiful views. It's eye-candy golf but not my cup of tea.

Doonbeg certainly seems to split people's opinions and I am not entirely sure what to make of it. I have played it twice, before and after the latest renovations by Hawtree et al. but I am if anything less impressed by it now. There is no doubt this is a good course, but it's competing at the very top bit of the Irish golf menu and I think if I had a choice I would much rather play a second round at Lahinch or Ballybunion rather than Doonbeg.As has been mentioned by others the greens were s-h-o-c-k-i-n-g-l-y bad this summer, I can't really give any justification to the state of them in middle of June - they were the worst I played all year.Apart from the poor greens, the course is also very tough once you are off the fairways, violating MacKenzie;s principle that "There should be a complete absence of the annoyance and irritation caused by the necessity of searching for lost balls". Our group spent a lot of time looking for lost balls, and this was in stark contrast to Lahinch the following day when at least you could find your ball and make a reasonable slash at it. The 14th hole which was one of the most spectacular holes I have seen was lost in the storms and its replacement is good but not on same level.There are a few very exciting holes here, but its difficult to remember them as vividly as at Lahinch or Ballybunion. The review may seem negative but it's more to justify the 5-ball rating, as this is a very good course, but nowhere near top 100 in world.

Portstewart is a sporty links which should be included on an itinerary to the North Coast. As most reviewers have already said, the front 9 are thrilling. Many of these holes are truly memorable, from the 1st, where you hit down, down into a dogleg right with beautiful views from the tee of the beach and the links below you. The second is reminiscent of Enniscrone, <img src="/images/portstewart-strand-golf-course-review-POST089.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Portstewart (Strand) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Portstewart (Strand) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> with a huge dune all along the left and an ever-slimmer fairway to the right. It contines like this for 10 holes or so until you get out to the flatter riverside holes, which are still proper links, just a slightly different character than the front. There are some pushed up greens which add to the difficulty on a couple of the par 3's and the 17th where the approach to the green is truly intimidating.
Portrush may be the 'better' course, but Portstewart is a whole lot of fun, just don't expect bulldoze-flat fairways and accept the odd random bounce.
The kind of place you'd be happy to play again and again as I imagine no two rounds around here would be the same.

Mount Wolseley is a very decent parkland course with a couple of really good holes (4th - short par 4, bordering on a cape hole which the pros could probably drive, 10th - all about approach to the green, a fun hole) <img src="/images/mount-wolseley-golf-course-review-MOUW006.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Mount Wolseley Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Mount Wolseley Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> and the rest are all mostly good solid holes. Conditioning is good, facilities are good. There are a lot of houses around which impact a bit on the enjoyment, and probably impacted the routing with the odd long walk between holes. The 3-ball rating is really meant to be in line with the advice about rating on the site, this is a very good course by Irish standards and an average course by Top 100 courses if you get my drift. Probably a course that appeals more to Irish golfers than tourists, but if you want a solid parkland course this is a step above the average.

Fantastic links playing around, through and in between dunes. The opening stretch seems to get a bit of stick, but between the opening shot with the graveyard on the right, the second hole with a tricky approach uphill between the dunes, then reversing back down hill for a par 3 are very good holes. Perhaps 4,5,6 are not the most amazing, but from then on its really fun golf that will vary in difficulty depending on the wind.The 11th is a great hole that can be played in a lot of ways , and the finish is tough with three shots asking for a draw off the tee (for a right hander)It does get busy here so try and get out early if you can. It's similar golf to Lahinch (old), I perhaps find Lahinch a little quirkier and more fun, but this is still a great sporty links

The Cashen course is always going to struggle in comparison to the Old Course at Ballybunion. I understand that a number of changes have been made since it first opened to make it more playable, but at the end of the day what you have here is genuine big dunes links terrain, but unfortunately greens that don't make sense. The greens are often small with extremely penal areas around them, often with no approach possibility than the aerial route. On a windy day like I played it (and I presume the wind blows here on a regular basis) it was extremely difficult for a high teens handicapper to hold any greens as you are forced to play target golf. I feel if this course had been designed by someone more in tune with links golf / weather conditions the results could have been better. regardless, it was still a lot of fun to play this course, and I usually embrace a bit of quirk over 'fairness' but still seems a bit of an opportunity lost.Would i go back - yes. If I had 3 rounds here, id play 2x old and 1x cashen.

Warrenpoint is a nice enough parkland course, in a pleasant setting between the mountains and Carlingford Lough / Newry River. Like people have mentioned there are 3 par 5s in the opening stretch. The opening 11 holes in general are fairly flat, and fairways are adjacent so even if you are a bit off-line you are not really punished. These holes are a bit difficult to <img src="/images/warrenpoint-golf-course-review-WARE002.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Warrenpoint Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Warrenpoint Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> remember and are reminiscent of your typical parkland Irish course of this vintage. Beware the 9th hole which looks easy from the tee, yet has a winding burn protecting the green and could be in reach for longer hitters.
The last few holes are a different kettle of fish, with much more undulations coming into play, and suddenly if you don't find the fairway your ball may be lost or at least its a chipout, much more fun and thought required on these holes, not just drive and a wedge.
Although the course is not long, the greens are appropriately small, with plenty of dips and interesting places for pin positions. So the finishing stretch is 4-ball rating, whereas the opening bit more of an average rating, thus 3 overall.
You wouldn't travel here for the golf per se probably (unlike Royal County Down and Ardglass nearby) but if you wanted a straightforward parkland course with a few interesting holes you could do worse.

A really enjoyable authentic links experience. This is a very different course to the Championship course but as long you don't expect the absolute topnotch and challenging golf like you would on the main course you should have a good time. This isn't an easy course just because it's short.<img src="/images/royal-county-down-annesley-golf-course-review-ROCU002.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Royal County Down (Annesley) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Royal County Down (Annesley) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer">After a relatively unspectacular start, things get interesting on the 4th hole. From thereon in the holes may be short (par 4s are typically around 250-320 yards), but few of them are really driveable as there is so much trouble around the greens. You therefore end up playing to areas of safety , and then the fun starts. The greens are devilish, and quite small. Therefore on a windy day, target golf is usually not the best option, leaving you the chance to try and be creative, hitting bump and run shots up ridges and banks and using the slopes to bring the ball on to the green.The stretch from holes 4-11 is great, with a driveable par 4 on the 8th, then some holes around the big dunes down by the beach. It really is a lot of fun, and if youre coming from afar you are likely to want to play the main track next door, but if you have the time its definitely worth a round on the Annesley. It's short so you can whizz around fairly quickly and would be especially great to bring the shorter hitter who may be intimidated by the full length beast next door.

Mount Juliet is a good parkland course, part of a beautiful extensive estate with mature trees and general bucolic idyll. Although there are house dotted around they don't intrude much on your game here. Although its star may have dipped a bit from its glory days hosting WGCs the new owners have been investing in the course and the conditioning has now improved. There is a new driving range area opening this year , but sadly the putting course seems to have been dug up which is a real shame.The course is not terribly exciting or unique, but is a pleasant stroll. From an Irish point of view, this is one of the best parklands in the country, but if I was coming from abroad I am not sure this would be top of my list. Although there are some interesting holes with a bit of strategy like number 2, 8, 10, and 13, some of the holes are fairly uninspired, like number 6, 9, 12. There is a bit of elevation on the site, but unfortunately you usually walk / down these to the next hole which ends up being flat. Kind of a shame really. There is plenty of mounding around but it doesn't serve much purpose, I presume it's there to alleviate the flatness of the actual holes but doesn't really work. Despite this, this is still a good parkland track, but does not come close to the character of the big links courses. It does also get quite boggy in the winter. If you are in the Southeast of Ireland its the course to play along with Carlow in terms of parkland.

Corballis is something of a love it or hate it course - I am in the love it camp. This is a short course and breaks plenty of the 'rules' with regard to par and length, but if you can leave that baggage behind, <img src="/images/corballis-links-golf-course-review-CORB006.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Corballis Links Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Corballis Links Golf Course - Photo by reviewer">and just take this course for what it is you will have a great time. It's a municipal course, so facilities / distance markers etc are limited. It's no harm playing this with someone who knows it first as there are some blind shots and hard to pick the best route to the hole sometimes. However, it's this variety which is the appeal here. Quite a few of the holes have no 'best' way of playing it and may well depend on the wind on the day. This is proper links, and its the same terrain as the Island next door, just shorter and quirkier (people might think it's not 'fair' in places). You can leave driver in the bag for all but 7 holes, but this course rewards shotmaking and creativity. Embrace the fun!

Carlow is a great track, and arguably the best parkland in the southeast, possibly even Ireland (not counting links here). After a gentle opening few holes you head up in the hills where the fun really starts. Just hilly enough to make things interesting, great use of the land, and wonderful, sandy turf. Certainly if you are playing in wintertime, this really would be the place to go in the area. This is simply a great track, heathland in character. The club appears low-key (in a good way) and just about the golf rather than fountains and country club trappings.

Played this towards the end of a week of golf in eastern algarve. As others have reported Monte Rei certainly stands out from a service point of view, with American 5 star approach to service from collecting your clubs, getting your cart ready and complementary benefits which actually make it a bit more reasonable in the end. If you are into that then this ticks all those boxes. For those more focused on the golf it is actually pretty special. It is very different from a lot of the other courses in the region, being situated in a pretty isolated area with little development around. They must have shifted a lot of dirt to get the course in play and although there are some houses (and what houses they seem to be) around a few holes in general you really feel like you are in the wilderness. Off the tee there is generally pretty generous landing areas and then as Nicklaus courses usually go it gets tighter and more hazard-filled as you approach the greens. There is perhaps an overuse of large bunkers with white sand that don't really fit in with the scrub landscape around it but there is plenty of fun to be had also with lots of elevated teeboxes and enough variety in the routing to require different shots. There are some badly designed long hops between some holes that means trying to walk this course is unfortunately a very taxing affair so you might as well use the complementary buggies. In summary, I found the course superior to Quinta de Lago South and the Oceanico courses (although the Old course had more charm) . The service, the landscape gets top marks, but perhaps the slightly conventional design drags it down a little, some of the holes looked like they could have been from anywhere and were just transplanted onto the course rather than making the most of a plot of land that is full of enough undulations and natural hazards to bend to what is there rather than the other way around.

Played this course on a windy, overcast February day. I have wanted to play this course for some time having looked at it from the dunes at next door Corballis Links which is on the same peninsula. Like I said, it was a very windy day, used the driver on a couple of the par 3's and still couldn't get to the green but had a great time. Compared to the other links in Dublin, this is more like a Donegal links, it's wild and isolated and I loved it. If you like rugged links this would be the spot in Dublin. The other links like <A href="/golf-course/portmarnock-championship" target=_self>Portmarnock</A> or <A href="/golf-course/royal-dublin" target=_self>Royal Dublin</A> are great courses too, but flatter and less spectacular I think. Having played Corballis next door plenty of times, I thought the Island would be similar but they are very different courses, you need the driver on most holes here, whereas Corballis is shorter and narrower. The sense of space here also surprised me, holes well spread out. Rough wasn't too penal, but it was February and im sure its tougher in the summer, but with the wind I didnt find that many fairways so not complaining. The greens are tough, quite a few undulations, and quite a few were up a hill, so tricky to run them in . The par-4 14th is very, very narrow, but there weren't that many easy holes . Having played all the links courses in Dublin, I think this is my new favourite, but I do prefer the kind of bumpy , rugged links so depends on your preference I suppose. Will come back on a less windy day and see if I can score better!