Ardglass (Northern Ireland) - Photos

[Anders Rytter]

The Irish open at Royal Portrush made me go through my pictures from my trip there. I also "Found" a lot of pictures from Ardglass, a course further south, fairly close to Newcastle and Royal County Down. I couldn't find a picture tour here so event though i haven't got too many pictures i figured it would be better than nothing.

Ardglass is a small fishing village on the east coast of Ireland. Not much going besides commercial fishing and then the golfcourse (atleast that what i saw when passing through).

The clubhouse of Ardglass golf club is an old "Castle" and is supposedly the oldest house used as a clubhouse in the world. (see picture under hole 18 below). The club dates back to 1896 but the current layout of the course is not as old. I don't know the details but the last alterations were as late as 1998.

The first tee is a few meters from the clubhouse. The course is situated on a cliff top with some extremely scenic holes but also some inland holes that are rather flat as there are only few dunes on the property. The turf is very firm, fast and bumpy although i found the fairways to have a lot more contours than the greens.  Hole yardages are from the tips.

Hole 1 (335yds) is a relatively short par 4 with a teeshot over a very rugged piece of coast on the left. the first and 18 fairway/semirough area are connected and hence there is little lie-penalty if you miss right.

1st Tee


The 2nd shot on first is semi-blind. you can see the stick, but not the green. The green sits on a slight right to left angle to the fairway, if the pin is not on the far right the golfer is punished for hitting down the hazard as you both have to carry the bunker but also has less green to work with. i might be missing something.

1st from Fariway


The green location is pretty cool.  Looks like it has been there forever.

1st green from right-front


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2nd hole (167 yds) is another very scenic hole, a par three over the cliffs. Again a lot of room right, would have liked a tougher recovery if bailing out right, I think the green is tilted right to left, but its not to severe.

2nd tee


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3rd hole (334yds), a drive in the same direction as 1st and 2nd but the cliffs are not too close. I think there is a gully in the driving zone that catches balls to far left. left side of the fairway is the place to be as the green is protected by two bunker.

3rd fairway


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4th (375yds) is my favorite hole on the course. The teeshot is very scenic and the prefered side of the fairway is as close to the hazard as you dare.

4th tee


If you miss right a dune left of the green blinds your second shot and also makes it quite a bit harder.

4rd hole from right of fairway


from the middle or left side of the fairway the 2nd shot is more straight forward

4rd hole from middle/left


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5th hole (151yds) is the last Cliff hole for now, a short par 3 with nowhere to miss.

5th tee


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The next three holes are on the flatter part of the property. Here is a shot the fairway of the 6th to give you an illustration, i didn't take to many pictures on these holes.

6th, 2nd shot


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10th hole (205) is a downhill par three,

10th tee


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11th hole (488) is a cape hole dogleg right. Miss right and you are in the ocean, miss left and the gorse await you. There is ample room though.

11th tee


there is a burn across the fairway but having to keep the ball straight is more than enough.

the green area is protected the same way as the rest of the hole

11th approach

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12th (198yds) is another downhill par3

My pictures didn't  turn out very well, heres is one i found online.

12th tee


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The 13th (397yds) has a blind tee shot and blind approach. The only forced blind shots, as far as i recall.

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17th (361yds) is inland but the fairway is quite undulating. If you hit the wrong yardage from the tee you risk a downhill lie to an uphill, firm green.

17th from left fairway

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18th (345yds) is parralel to the first. its quite a bit downhill and has a a significant left to right sloping fairway. If you keep the tee-shot left you dont have to carry the rigth greenbunker in you approach.

18th tee



Hope that some one finds interest in this brief tour. Atleast it will show up in future searches.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Looks lovely Anders.

[Bill_McBride]

Some weak holes as indicated by the lack of photos, but well worth a play on the way from Newcastle to Portrush just for the holes along the water.   

[Carl Johnson]

Thanks for the great photos.  I played Ardglass last year (along with some of the biggies) and it was my favorite.  The tee shot on number 2 is the most visually intimidating tee shot I think I've ever played.  (Because I gave up before I hit, I hit a great shot - no pressure.)  One of my friends who had played Ardglass on an earlier outing fom the USA to Ireland said, "Yea, but it's only an optical illusion."  Well, isn't that a key aspect of golf course architecture?

[Jim Tang]

Thanks for the tour.  Now I wish I had stopped at Ardglass on the way from RCD to Portrush.  The terrain reminds me of RCD just a bit.

[Anders Rytter]

My wife liked Ardglass better than the other NI course we played, including RCD and Portrush. After 5 holes it was about to agree but some holes in the middle of the round are not that strong.

Both hole 1 and 2 have VERY intimidating tee-shots, must be scary if the wind is blowing from the sea and you have to start the ball way left.

I didn't think of a tour when i was there but just took photos when i found something of interest. Hence i have very few shot of the flatter part of the property and also few green-shots besides the 1st.

We kept the day open for golf until we got there, i asked the guy in the proshop at RCD where he would go for a game, thats why we ended up at Ardglass. Next time i'm in the area i will definately go back.

[ward peyronnin]

Ran. Ted S and I played there in 2006 and the classic line we heard standing on the first tee was "play away boys. All of Ireland is to the right of you.

Thanks for the great photos

[Bart Bradley]

Thanks for the tour.  Now I wish I had stopped at Ardglass on the way from RCD to Portrush.  The terrain reminds me of RCD just a bit.

Jim...no.  The photos are deceiving if that is the case.

I was at Ardglass two weeks ago.  A pleasant mostly playable course.  Flat greens, shallow bunkers, no dunes.  Nice vistas, very few good holes.  I would recommend it for those wanting to have rocky coastal views but the quality of the golf is marginal. 

Nothing at Ardglass reminds one of RCD.

Bart

[Jim Eder]

Anders,

Thank you for the pictures.  I haven't played here for 16 years and your pics brought back memories.  I don't remember it as a great course and I haven't thought about the need to get back but your pics sure reminded me that it is a lot better than my memory would suggest. Thank for posting, I am going to play it again next time I am back there.

[Anders Rytter]

Play it for the couple of holes that are nice. But agree, it's not RCD. I get what you mean when looking through my pictures but when there it appears quite flat besides for the cliffs and a few holes.

[Anders Rytter]

Anders,

Thank you for the pictures.  I haven't played here for 16 years and your pics brought back memories.  I don't remember it as a great course and I haven't thought about the need to get back but your pics sure reminded me that it is a lot better than my memory would suggest. Thank for posting, I am going to play it again next time I am back there.

They made some alterations to the course between your visit and mine (in 1998). I'm not exactely sure what they did but I think some of the holes were re-routed. Maybe 10th and 11th, i think, the guys in the clubhouse told me before we played, but i can't recall exactely.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Thank you Anders. I haven't played it since the 1960s, and I remember it as great fun, but in those days it was not always apparent where a hole went on the tee shot. I lost a number of balls through ignorance. It doesn't look as if that trouble has persisted - perhaps something cleared up in the alterations.

[BigEdSC]

we played Ardglass on our recent trip over to Ireland.  We were told by the golf staff that if you birdied the frist hole from the tips, you won a free membership for a year.  I was going to take them up on the challenge until I found out that the tee was on top of one of the turrents to the castle, and it would of been a risky move to even attempt it.

[Jim Eder]

Anders,

Very interesting, I did not know that.  Thank you!! I'll have to find the old strokesaver and see what they changed.  It is funny because when I see your pics I remember those shots.  Thanks for posting and bringing back the memories.

[Anders Rytter]

Jim,

Do you also recall 10th and 11th? If i had spoken to them after the round instead of before i would probably recall more. You might be mistaking 10th for 12th?

Would be very interesting to hear what you find out if you get hold of the old course guide. I've spend some time searching the web without any luck.

[Bart Bradley]

I believe 10, 11 and 12 are the new holes.  At least that is what our group was told 3 wks ago.

The new holes are on more scenic property but have about the same architectural merit.

Bart

[Ed Oden]

I played with Bart a couple of weeks ago and afterward actually went to Google Earth to try and get an idea of what they have done since you can still see remnants of old holes on the ground.  According to the club's website, the original course (1896) was only 7 holes, but expanded to 9 holes within a couple of years.  If I had to guess, I'd bet those early 9 holes went something like this...



Approximately 1970, they acquired additional land and expanded to 18 holes.  Again, my guess is that old 18 hole course went like this...



In the 1990s, the club acquired the land across from Coney Island.  As best I can tell, they used the new land for the current three hole loop of 9-11, eliminated the three holes marked on the following image in black and, at some point, built a new 2nd hole over the cliffs...



It looks to me like they also adjusted some other holes to a lesser extent.

[James Boon]

Anders,

Thanks for the photos.

I played Ardglass a few years ago with fellow GCAer Ben Stephens. The opening three or four and closing couple of holes were excellent and great fun and we got a great welcome. Unfortunately there were quite a few flat and dull holes, and the new holes weren't any better, though the setting for the par 3 10th was very nice and drop shot 12th also not bad.

I sort of felt afterwards that if it wasn't so close to RCD, it wouldn't get much of a mention.

Ed,

At the time we played the clubs old website had a plan of the old and new holes which it doesn't anymore. I don't recall any mention of the original 7 or 9 holes, but your plan of the course for approx 1970 seems about right, with the lost holes the old 15 and 14 running through the middle of the course, though I don't recall the 2nd changing as I think that might have always been a practice green you have it playing to? The old short 17th looked a very nice hole and a pity its NLE.

Cheers,

James

[Bill_McBride]

I think I saw one of the NLE greens when we were there in 2007.  It was on the other side of a nice old stone wall, and was in good shape, probably used as a turf farm. 

[Anders Rytter]

I think I saw one of the NLE greens when we were there in 2007.  It was on the other side of a nice old stone wall, and was in good shape, probably used as a turf farm.  

This is the green you are talking about. i believe they use it for chipping etc.


Its the NLE hole Ed marked as 8th. wall and all. it's was played from right of the picture.

[Bill_McBride]

I think I saw one of the NLE greens when we were there in 2007.  It was on the other side of a nice old stone wall, and was in good shape, probably used as a turf farm.  

This is the green you are talking about. i believe they use it for chipping etc.


Its the NLE hole Ed marked as 8th. wall and all. it's was played from right of the picture.

That's it Anders, thanks.  I really liked the look of that green nestled in the dunes, much better than several they kept!

[Jim Eder]

Ed,

Great job on the routings etc.

James,

Great addl info and confirmations.

Anders,

I could not find the strokesaver or my playing card for the day (my guess is they are somewhere together). I did find a blank card from that trip though.

White Tees
#1 297 metres
#2 147 m
#3 305 m
#4 332 m
#5 123 m
#6 452 m
#7 470 m
#8 369 m
#9 200m
#10 401m
#11 130m (but written by someone else on the card is 180yds) So maybe the change happened just before Aug 96?
#12 363m
#13 349m
#14 448m
#15 358m
#16 330m
#17 109m
#18 315m

There is no routing on the card sadly.

[Anders Rytter]

Thanks Jim, much appreciated.
You very likely Played the old 17th then.

I read somewhere that the new holes where made in 1998, also the  9th is now a par five, 10th a par three and 11th a par 5. Looks like you haven't played the new holes. But i would assume that "your" 9th would be the current 7th, Ed's routing might contain the right holes but in another order.

Bill,
I might have a better picture of the old 17th, but don't think so. will have a look.

[Jim Eder]

Anders,

Yes, I remember the little hole, 17. I wish I had a picture of it.

Are the new holes 9, 10 and 11? or are there 4 new holes including 12 or did I play 12?  12 seems kind of familiar.

1-5 seems like the holes I played. I remember a structure I believe that is near 7 and 8 now. 6 seems kind of familiar but I am not sure where the routing went from there. On my card 11 was lengthened so I wonder if 11 was the beginning of what is now #12. 8 now I think was 10 in my play so that would suggest my #9 is now #7 and you say. But where is "my" 7 and 8 the par 5 and the par 4? 13 today I think is my old 12. 14 is my old 13. 15 is my old 14. 16 is my old 15 I think. 17 is my old 16. My old 17 is gone.  18 is my old 18.

I am missing something in that my 6-8 holes area. I wonder if "my" 8th is now the 6th. But where would "my" 6 and 7 have been? Or are they the current 9 and 11? But those have to be the new holes.

I just can't figure out exactly where it was.  Ughhhhhhhhh.
It was 16 years ago when I played and I just don't remember it all sadly. I wish I could find that strokesaver.

[Bart Bradley]

I think the new holes are 9,10 and 11...I mistakenly said 10-12 in an earlier post.  Ed corrected me, as is usually the case.  My memory for holes is very good, for the number not so good.

Bart