The tournament was played at Adare Manor (RTJ Sr.).  I thought it was interesting to hear the commentary on how they thought the hole should be changed for the tournament next year.  While one suggested adding trees or perhaps bunkers close along the right side of the fairway off the tee the other suggested making the fairway wider providing an opportunity to take driver off the tee and challenge the green in two.

The 18th was aesthetically beautiful but an architectural disaster in my opinion.

i'm glad i agree with these comments... all i heard from the commentary team on irish television (including alex hay and dougie donnelly) was how magnificent a finishing hole it was and that RTJ had considered it the best 18th he had ever designed...

in it's favour, it was very windy... in normal conditions i guess the risk reward of taking on the green in two would be much more of an option... however the green complex looked so surrounded by trouble that i wouldn't fancy it myself...

why oh why do we not see the irish open on links courses anymore?... ok, we have seen it at baltray and portmarnock recently enough but still... it's a shame...

 I started a thread with this exact thought . I'm glad to see other gca ers picked up on the silliness of this hole. Maybe RTJ. did not intend the trees on the right.

 RG,

   #18 at Paxon is much better then this hole. At Adare these good players intentionally aimed into the rough on the right because the slope of the landing zone would just propel their ball into the water. If they went too far right then they had a line of trees that thwarted any attempts to advance the ball down the right side of the fairway. I think there is plenty of flat area at Paxon for the drive. One can CHOOSE to take the dangerous route down the left near the water. Plus the trees on the right are quite far off line.

   The second shot at Paxon does have that severe left to right slope , but it doesn't cause a bouncing ball in the fairway to head into the water hazard. #18 at Paxon is a blast because one believes they may be able to get far enough up near the green to be beyond the most severe part of that slope.

  #18 at Paxon then ends with that great two tiered green.

    Adare #18 seemed to require a 6 iron layup from the right rough that could hardly be stopped in the fairway.


   They are quite different---Paxon's rocks! Adare's sucks!


 BTW this comes from someone who only shot par once in his life, at Paxon. And I bogeyed #18 !

i play paxon 18 with a 3 or 4 iron off the tee and then a layup with anywhere from a 5iron to a 7iron, so i can hit the approach from about 120-130 out.  

most people take the bait with the second shot and try to get too close to the green where the left to right slope takes them into the right rough with a tree and bunker between their ball and the hole.  could this of been what happened to you mayday?

why oh why do we not see the irish open on links courses anymore?... ok, we have seen it at baltray and portmarnock recently enough but still... it's a shame...

The same could be asked of the Scottish Open (although I remember a rumor that it was going to be moved from one Lyle Anderson course, Loch Lomond, to another, Dundonald).  

I recall that the Irish Open was played at Ballybunion not that ago and was less than a success--bad weather, poor crowds, and not a marquee winner (Patrick Sjoland).  I'm sure logistics and attendance has a lot to do with why links are now disfavored.  

It is too bad though.  I'd much rather see a tournament played at Portmarnock, Baltray or another links course than one at Adare or Carton House.  I will say that I attended an Irish Open at Druid's Glen several years ago and, while the course looked only okay, it was a very pleasant setting.  

I too wish more links courses were played on the EPGA.  I'm definitely watching this year's Dutch Open because it's being played on a links.  I may even tape it so I can watch it over and become more familiar with the course.  I very rarely watch the European tour (mostly because I'm not around in the mornings) and unless the tournament is exciting or on a great course I don't watch the PGA Tour anymore either.

The remark about the spectators not walking around in the dunes is probably a main reason that the great links courses don't want the tournament.  In a thread about what great courses we'd like to see host the Open, somebody pointed out the RCD wouldn't want it because the whins would get trampled.  I agree that this was probably a good reason.  The Walker Cup crowds will be much smaller than an Open.

There are other courses that could host this tournament that don't have to worry about large dunes and whins, but are still great links courses.  Rosses Point comes to mind, as does Castlerock (it's the Irish Open, not the Republic of Ireland Open) and although I haven't played it, Murvagh would seem to fit the bill here as well.  And with Baltray and Portmarnock already hosting sucessful events, I would think that you could have a rota of these courses along with a mix of the parkland courses and have a very exciting tournament every year.  It would also spread the tournament around the country which it should, because again it's the Irish Open, not the Dublin Area Open.