Mark - delighted you loved it! It's one of those course that is just different to anything else - and can't really be viewed in terms of its position in the rankings. I will say that I don't care if I ever see Rosses point again but I will make a special journey to go back to Strand Hill.
Enniscrone a dud??? What?? Elaborate please! How about Carne, did you play it?
Forget my late and brief response gentlemen, I am on a hotel computer with a dodgy keyboard.
Brian, I feel the same way you do about Rosses Point and Strandhill. I was last one out at Rosses Point, so had a pretty good look around. It does have a great routing, but is pretty bland otherwise.
Enniscrone
feels like a Greg Norman course - with a few exceptions, the holes are all perfectly adequate, but you come away feeling that they should all be better, and the three or four pretty good holes should be great holes. The stretch from 5-11, with the exception of 8, is as dull as they come. Three of the par fives are basically the same hole.
I played Carne twice - I liked it a little less the second time around, but it is a pretty good course. Some of the greens are pretty bland, but there are also more than a few with some good movement and slope. I am amazed they have what they do there with the number of members they have and what they pay in subs. Bottom line is that golf needs more courses and clubs like Carne than it does Trump Scotland or Castle Stuart.
I'm surprised anyone would call Enniscrone a "major dud." That requires further comment. I too saw Strandhill, Rosses Point and Enniscrone on the same trip. I thought Strandhill was quirky with a couple of wonderfully rumply fairways that resembled the surface of the moon.
However, all three in my party (which included two golf architects) thought Enniscrone was a significant surprise and really warrants more attention. Donald Steel's work was intriguing and the dunes are some of the best in the game. It does, however, have the worst logo in golf.
I played this course yesterday, and Rosses Point today.
I would agree with Sean on a couple of things - 9 and 17 are fairly bland holes, but I thought 7,9 and 16 were fine holes.
It is also MILES in front of both Rosses Point, which has perhaps the most boring set of greens I have ever encountered, and Enniscrone, which was a major dud.
Strandhill may lack a few things, but it is a fantastic course - I'm glad Brian, Sean and Ally said not to miss it.
I was going to give Mark a chance to come up with some reasons why Enniscrone is a dud. Its clear he didn't play Sligo, maybe he didn't play Enniscrone either - tee hee.
Ciao
I know you are a big fan of Enniscrone Sean - I look forward to a hearty discussion in a couple of weeks. And yes, I did play Enniscrone - twice
Tom - maybe you should actually play these courses instead of just walking them.
Ally - I look forward to meeting you next week. May the good weather hold...