David,
I was at St. Patrick's Tuesday and Saturday of last week.
Obviously, I had HIGH expectations for St. Patrick's. knowing Tom and team's work, and having been on the property before when the two previous St. Patrick's courses were there-which were over very cool terrain but pretty rugged(Hackett and O'Haire).
I must say those high expectations were matched, if not exceeded.
As David mentions, there are some tough green to tee walks.
The course is spectacular, and clearly a course where you need multiple plays with multiple winds and pins to see all the nuances and angles-with a lot of chances to play creative shots.
There is plenty of width to exploit those angles, and plenty of width to allow one to stay ON the course-which is welcome compared to the MUCH improved Sandy Hills, where there is far less width.
I was quite disappointed we had little to no wind for our entire trip, but when it blows hard,I promise you St. Patrick's will be especially the go to amongst the three courses.
I will say it seemed a much tougher walk the first day we played it, not knowing which way the next tee was.
Both days, we played it as the first leg of a 36 hole day, though after our first go round our second round at Old Tom Morris was played at alternate shot-which was a blast-honestly, I could see St. Patrick's as a great venue for Alternate shot with the fairway width and avoidance of hill climbing for 1/2 the team.
The second day seemed far less tiring and we played 18 more at Dunfanaghy, a relatively flat walk.
Highlghts of St. Patrick's
some amazing greensites-many in fact-cool bowls, sideboards etc.
Very hard to tell where the green began and ended-very natural feeling transitions into and around greens
Views-stunning.
width
semi blindness-mitigated by sideboards or angles or both
undulating natural appearing fairways
I need some further reflection, but despite the green to tee walks, this might be my favorite Doak course, but then I'm pretty biased for Donegal in general.
EDIT: I see some commentary from rankings media about the raw condition, and there were multiple signs at the course suggesting move the ball a club length "through the green"
We played 2 four balls over 2 days and never once did anyone touch their ball, nor see any reason to, nor a complaint-with quite a few euros on the line.
Sure one guy hit it into a hole and had to take an unplayable in the marram, but that could happen on the most mature of courses.
I'd say only the greens need a bit of maturity, but they still were wonderfully unique in their continuation of fairway into green-something quite unique in any part of the world-hope it can continue.(and I'm not really a huge fan of pure fescue greens-so far)
I think any discussion of St. Patrick's also needs to be in context of what's already there at the resort.
I have always been a huge fan of the Old Tom Morris course, with small reservations about the continual changes it has had the last 10-20 years. The(now) back nine is one of my favorites in golf, and the(now)Ruddy/Doak front nine seems better every time I return. IMHO a must play at Rosapenna, and I have played it probably a dozen times since my first time there in '97, when you checked in at the Carrigart Inn, when the Old Coastguard 9 was in play and #1 was up where there is now housing.
Over the years, I have previously only played Sandy Hills three times, as its difficulty made bringing mid handicap member groups there very difficult, so I would take them to OTM but generally not Sandy Hills on my trips to Donegal.
BUt they have made great strides at Sandy Hills, cutting back the knee high marram grass, creating far more width.
Many holes look tighter than they are, and often what looks like a pinched fairway opens up quite a bit over a dune.
I only lost one ball, losing my footing trying to hit a 4 iron from eye level like a baseball-toe shanking the ball 100 yards deeper into the marram.
In short, it is far more playable than it used to be and has many, many, great holes and views.
I have to say, it was my biggest surprise of the trip and provides a great compliment to the other two courses, and hopefully continues to improve .
We played the blue tees(they weren't tipped out) at Sandy Hills and my 60 year old assistant shot two under 70, and together we shot 66 as a BB two ball(and we're not that good) so it is far ,far more playable than I remember.
Having St. Patrick's as the marquee, and the continued improvement of OTM and Sandy Links make this a phenomenal three course destination, complete with a great hotel. (we stayed in an air bnb because the hotel was full-despite the courses being virtually empty-but we did have lunch and drinks several days at the hotel on the deck overlooking OTM and the bay-stunning)
The town of Downings also has a lot going for it with three great well known pubs nearby(at least) with The Singing Pub, The Harbour Bar and the Glen Bar all reasonably close to the town.
St. Patrick's seems the perfect compliment to the other two courses, which are destinations themselves.
I used to base in Dunfanaghy(good pubs),Bucrana(good pubs) or Portsalon(just because I love the course and scenery)-Now Downings, in the center of all, is a no brainer, and Rosapenna a core portion of an itinerary.