Dooks Golf Club

[Brad Fleischer]

I don't think anyone would say dooks is bad now. It's just that it may have lost some of its charm so to speak. If you never played it pre renovation I fully understand why you may not feel that way.


I was lucky enough to play it before and after. It's like going back to your high school reunion and seeing the girl next door . Pre renovation you had no idea how hot she would turn out to be with her baggy clothes and nondescript look but after a couple of drinks and getting lucky wow look at what I discovered. Post renovation it's the girl that was always cute but never quite wowed you who shows up in a skin tight dress and leaves nothing to the imagination. Yea she looks good but doesnt make you feel like you discovered anything anyone else doesn't already know 


That's the best way I can put it. Still a must play if your over that way probably a must play even if your not . It's a great walk in the park .

[Tim_Weiman]

I also agree that Dooks was a wonderful round of golf.  And as Thomas mentions, since I had no frame of reference of what the 13th was pre renovation, I could only enjoy what was there and take Ed's word for it that the original must have been a beauty.  I also was lucky enough to have a spectacular day with sun playing with clouds and a spectacular fall day.  I was paired up  with a woman who was a public attorney in Toronto and her retired Canadian Forces boyfriend.  We shared a spirited conversation at the 19th hole and agreed how much we enjoyed the round there.  I observed that I could see how Dooks was remodeled into a more modern style due to the earth shaping around greens etc.  They were not into architecture, just enjoyed the results.  I mentioned to them that I was headed to Ceann Sybil (Dingle) in a few days and heard it was even more pure.  We made no plans to meet there, and they were tramping around day to day with no specific itinerary.  But as I arrived at Dingle, there they were already playing one of the holes next to the entry road.  We caught up in the clubhouse after rounds, and they agreed that Dingle seemed more natural. 

I think Dooks probably did the right thing to remodel and as Ed speaks of the intense grounds maintenance regimen to an upgrade to more modern aesthetic given the location on the heavy tourist track of Ring of Kerry.  Like Waterville, it commands a more pricey green fee.  But, they are not extravagant and I think they have it just right.  I'd play it again in a heartbeat.

Dick,


Happy to see you made it to Dooks. It is one of those few places that isn't about analyzing golf course architecture. It is just a piece of heaven.

[Charles Lund]

The Dooks was the first course I played in Ireland, on my first trip back in 2009.  It seemed like a soecial place, in a beautiful setting and embodied some of the best aspects of Irish golf culture.   The course was the result of persistent efforts by members to develop a playing environment and included a lot of donated labor and commitment to developing an enjoyable place to play.  The approach to visitor play was welcoming and friendly, with little evidence of a regimented approach to dealing with prosoective players.

On my day there, I encontered drizzle on the first hole and it quickly lifted.  The sun came out through broken clouds and the area was quite colorful.

I am on my ninth trip to Ireland now.  The Dooks offers good craic, like many Irish courses I have come to enjoy. 

The sense of pride communities have in their courses and clubs and the donated time from early course designers like Eddie Hackett, along with donated labor in course startups like at Carne and Ballyliffin are remarkable to read about. 

I was lucky to find something at the Dooks that served as a quality introduction to what I value about the Irish golf culture and exoerience that draws me back.

Charles Lund

[Thomas Dai]

"....a piece of heaven" - great words Tim - if there were such a listing as the Top-100 Golf Courses in Heaven then Dooks ought to be way up there on the list. It just ouse's charm.

To answer Eds query, as fans of remote, rural, rustic courses we hoped to play Ceann Sibeal and Castlegregory but unfortunately lack of time prevented us from doing so......so we slummed it instead by heading up the road and playing Tralee, Ballybunion Old and Ballybunion Cashen! It was little Dooks however, that won our award for charm. What a fabulous area, place and course.


Dooks would seem to pretty much have it all for quality member/amateur golf. Terrific terrain, a wondering routing, easy walking but still with elevation changes, appropriate length and degree of difficulty, sufficient width, lack of notably weak holes, interesting firm green complexes that are not too easy to hit and hold and provide a challenge to short-game and putting skills, soil characteristics and a maintenance regime that permits the playing of the ground game.........and then there's a location and scenery to die for.

While playing I took the opportunity to look out over not just the potentially golf desired Inch peninsula but also at the land immediately adjacent and to the north of the course itself and pondered about another 18-holes. Later I was told that the club acquired this area of land a few years ago. I wonder what the chances are?

Atb

[Tim_Weiman]

"....a piece of heaven" - great words Tim - if there were such a listing as the Top-100 Golf Courses in Heaven then Dooks ought to be way up there on the list. It just ouse's charm.

To answer Eds query, as fans of remote, rural, rustic courses we hoped to play Ceann Sibeal and Castlegregory but unfortunately lack of time prevented us from doing so......so we slummed it instead by heading up the road and playing Tralee, Ballybunion Old and Ballybunion Cashen! It was little Dooks however, that won our award for charm. What a fabulous area, place and course.


Dooks would seem to pretty much have it all for quality member/amateur golf. Terrific terrain, a wondering routing, easy walking but still with elevation changes, appropriate length and degree of difficulty, sufficient width, lack of notably weak holes, interesting firm green complexes that are not too easy to hit and hold and provide a challenge to short-game and putting skills, soil characteristics and a maintenance regime that permits the playing of the ground game.........and then there's a location and scenery to die for.

While playing I took the opportunity to look out over not just the potentially golf desired Inch peninsula but also at the land immediately adjacent and to the north of the course itself and pondered about another 18-holes. Later I was told that the club acquired this area of land a few years ago. I wonder what the chances are?

Atb

Thanks, Thomas. The Top Heaven list wouldn't be so easy to compile. Certainly wouldn't include a place like Oakmont, but something like Elie in Scotland makes it.

[Ed Brzezowski]

Thanks for the great post. Playing it on July 3rd and now cannot wait to see it. Booked it on a whim to get away from the big tourist traps. How is Dingle?  Playing that July 5th.

ed

[Norbert P]

In James Finegan's book,  Emerald Fairways and Foam-Flecked Seas,  beginning on page 239, beyond the brief report of the course, he tells a mythic tale of gratitude to the intrepid  Alphie Ward-like passions of its members' bold and sometimes quite competitive energies that contributed to much of its character and lore.  Thanks, of course, also go to the saintly Eddie Hackett. 

Bill Murray's Cinderella Story also has some interesting Dooks mentions.




As an aside . . .   I owe Jim Finegan a thank you, though belated, by proxy . . . for it was his writings that put the golf ball on the tee for my, and other dreamers, ventures to Ireland and Scotland, etc.    . . .Article on the late great James W Finegan
http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/legendary-golf-writer-jim-finegan-passes-away-85

[RJ_Daley]

Thanks Mr. Slag Bandoon for that link.  I am also one of the pilgrims that sought to visit "The Links of Heaven" very much encouraged by reading one of Mr Finegan's books.  I am very happy I got to play a few of Eddie Hacketts designs, and there will be a few more to come this year! 

But Slag, you shouldn't make yer self so scare! 

[Norbert P]

Dick,  please,  my father was Mr. Slag Bandoon.   
 
Curiosity about the GCA BUDA cup trip is what "pulled me back in".   I did the northwest Ireland trip and it is one of the great trips of my life.   I never got down to Kerry but I always enjoyed the stories of others, e.g. Tim Weiman, Finegan, various GCA agents, et al, and have always longed for the experience.