Waterville. Oh MY!

[David Ober]

Just got back to our rented home after playing Waterville. Can't post much without being rude to my friends and the wives. I'll only say this for now: Shot values galore; quirk with "fairness"; green speeds that permit multiple pin positions; plenty of tee placements and angles; amazing views; friendly staff and club members; and, finally: great shots feel heroic, good shots are rewarded, mediocre shots (often) leave recovery options, and bad shots are punished severely.

I played it with rented clubs (all of ours were lost by Aer Lingus) and I had a BLAST.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Glad you enjoyed Waterville, but I don't understand people's love for the course.  I don't find it all that good. I only have played it three times but the course never played fast and the first few holes were just boring.  The back nine is pretty good but the first nine is forgettable.  

[Mark Pavy]

If you have the time, go to the other end of town and play Skellig Bay, lot's of fun and great views.

[Ben Hollerbach]

I played there with my brother and father there a few years ago. The weather was bad, and the wind was howling but it was a great day. Our caddies said the wind was backwards but the course still played amazingly well. It was unanimously agreed that Waterville was a better test than Ballybunion and Lahinch but we'd rather play Lahinch every day.

[Tim_Weiman]

Glad you enjoyed Waterville, but I don't understand people's love for the course.  I don't find it all that good. I have only played it three times but the course never played fast and the first few holes were just boring.  The back nine is pretty good but the first nine is forgettable. 

Tommy,

I agree with you. Would much rather just play Dooks if I'm headed down that way.

[David Ober]

Just got back from playing a "competition" at Dooks. What an amazing course Dooks is. Similar to Waterville in many ways, in my opinion, but different all the same. We played the white tees for the competition, and it didn't play very long. I'm guessing the back blue tees (6600ish?) would have been the perfect length for us to play from. Honestly, it's difficult for me to pick either course. I loved them both and can't wait to return to Ireland to play them again.

Tomorrow is Tralee and then (hopefully) an afternoon round at Ballybunion and then our final round at Lahinch on Wednesday.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts David.  I'm a little surprised you saw so much similarity between Dooks and Waterville. To me there's great contrast between the more intimate Dooks and expansive Waterville. At the former the fairways ripple and the later they expand.

When you get up the hill on the back 9 tommorrow you enter yet another country! Good luck getting on BallyB (worth jumping through hoops for) and enjoy Lahinch, which for me has yet to be topped.

[David Ober]

David, what time are you teeing off tomorrow? I'm home for a couple of days, may sneak out for 9 later...

Thanks to a wonderful gentleman that we met at Dooks today, we had our tee time moved up at Tralee tomorrow to 9:30ish so that we might be able to get on Ballybunion at 3:00ish. We are a three-ball and the member would play with us, I believe, so that would be a four-ball at Ballybunion. At Tralee, though, we are only a three-ball. Were you thinking you would join us at Tralee or at Ballybunion?

[Ally Mcintosh]

I was down at Waterville on Thursday... I wasn't overly familiar with the course so it was good to return...

- The Fazio routing changes around 6,7,8 are a definite improvement - 7 is an excellent hole.
- The course has more width to the fairways than almost any other course I've played recently in Ireland. Very playable from that point of view.
- Each hole has an individual identity but can't help thinking that too many of the rebuilt greens demanded the same kind of approach shot - not too much grade level stuff.
- Definitely there is an argument that the course is over-bunkered, especially on the front nine... Some seemed superfluous... But there was also bunkering used to really good strategic effect in many places.
- Course is certainly developing a fescue sward much better than had been reported in previous years.
- Creation (presumably by Fazio) of a few too many artificial mounds / mini-dune ridges detracted on a couple of holes.
- Could have done with a few more greens tying to surrounds and a few more unusual micro-undulations left in place. But these have gone since the year dot.
- Overall a hugely enjoyable course. If I were to rank it in a tier, I'd have it in my 6-10 category in Ireland.

[Ulrich Mayring]

This course has improved leaps and bounds and is now clearly better than Dooks (especially conditioning and Dooks has a three-digit greenfee now as well) and not that far behind Lahinch anymore. While I don't know how the green complexes used to be, they are very good now and closely shaved all around, so I claim there is no chipping at Waterville. Yes, it is that firm and fast. And there is no pond or stone wall on any hole.

And it's still the only links course I've seen that is surrounded by a ring of mountains - truly spectacular.

The back 9 has always been strong, but I don't mind the front 9 at all.


4th hole, par 3

Ulrich

[jeffwarne]

I've always loved Waterville


my first intro to links and I played it many days in a row.
I went expecting(wanting) it to be worse after the reno but it's better


Not my kind've place with the fees, tourism etc. but always a great course and time in a spectacular setting
last there in 2012 I think
Dooks with a 3 digit fee?
wow-think it was 6 Irish pounds when I first went