I played Strandhill after the 2016 Buda Cup as part of a social gathering the day after the competition. We are all thankful for the work of Ally McIntosh and Robin Hiseman for setting up Buda and associated social gatherings. I am also thankful for the pictures from the round there taken by Clyde Johnson as he played along with my team in a team Stableford.
I am posting the full tour at one time, along with commentary from the previous thread started by Sean Arble. That thread was done in 2008 along with a few pictures, which I am including here. You can tell Sean's pictures as they show the course browning out a bit, whereas the pictures from Clyde show a very green course.
I plan to add commentary from those following this thread, and posting to it, into the posts for the individual holes as time stamped quotes.
... The club have 70 acres of untouched dune land out back but almost all of that land is in the SAC and my proposal does not involve using the majority of it. What it does include is using the dune plateau behind the current 4th green, an area of about 175 yards long by 150 yards wide. The land falls off the back of that plateau in to a huge dune slack called Shelley Valley and I believe if golf is to head down in to that valley, it needs to stay down there for at least 4 holes to provide a cohesive routing. Planning Permission for that is not going to be achieved and I'm not sure the club really needs it, certainly in the short to medium term.
The main concerns were the par-three ninth hole which has been compromised by housing and a car park, resulting in a shortened hole with netting... and also the extremely unsafe tight routing of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th holes... The plans on the table will rectify those situations and improve the holes by getting rid of the 9th and redesigning the area around 2,3 and 4 by using that plateau behind the 4th green.... To answer your question, the permit has not yet been granted for this work but initial meetings with the council and NP&W have been positive. They can see that we need the land, that it will improve the course and most importantly that we are committed to working with the lightest of touches.
In the meantime, the focus is on a new bunker scheme for the entire course. There are 63 bunkers at present and they've been thrown down haphazardly (and not in a varied or good way) at different points in the clubs history. We'll put in a new scheme that should add some life - and strategic choices - in to some of the holes. I expect there to be some interesting positions. We start that by tackling the first three or four holes in February. By the time we've finished that work in a year or two, there will be a few less bunkers in total but hopefully they will provide a lot more thoughtful choices for golfers.
Aside from that, I've suggested other little tweaks that the green staff will carry out themselves.
Strandhill is a cracking course. I really think that it's just a nudge away from being recognised as such by the wider international community.
Furthermore, I hope Ally will provide updated pictures for changes that happen to the course. Certainly there are already pictures from last September that are out of date since Ally is actively updating the course. At the end of the tour I will post Ally's proposed routing for the future of the course, and if I can manage to keep up with them, I will update this thread to show the deveopments as they are ongoing.
The measurements in the aerial views are taken from Google Earth. Unfortunately the aerial view on Google Earth for this property quite unclear, making taking measurements very difficult. So treat the measurements as reasonable approximation, but not very exacting.
... To be honest with you, I think Strandhill could be an absolute cracker with a little budget and previous mentioned moderations behind it. The ground game is alive and well there, that's for sure.
I played this course yesterday, and Rosses Point today.
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It is also MILES in front of both Rosses Point, which has perhaps the most boring set of greens I have ever encountered, and Enniscrone, which was a major dud.
I went out of the way to see Strandhill with one of my interns back a few years ago when this thread came up. We didn't get to play because of a competition on the day, but I was underwhelmed from our walk around. There were some interesting bits but the holes that played up over the side of the hill seemed pretty awkward. Rosses Point may not have as good a set of greens but I would still choose it over Strandhill most any time [price not a factor in the Doak scale]. To each his own, I guess.
I have to agree with Mark on this. I played all three, and find his assessment to be dead on. I really found Rosses Point to be somewhat easy and somewhat boring compared to the barrel of fun at Strandhill.
... Strandhill is a club that seems to operate on small budgets and is none the less for it.... lessons to be learned !!! The club has investigated the options of moving into the dunes but as the area is SAC (Special Area of Conservation) a major planning struggle is inevitable...
While living in Sligo for c. 10 years I played lots of golf at Strandhill. It is a wonderful golfing experience snd they also have the friendliest pro shop in Ireland with Anthony and Cyril welcoming all with a genuine "Cead Mile Failte"....
The club is fortunate to have Jason Kelly, a young greenkeeper, full of passion and enthusiasm driving the course forward.
I have really fond memories of Stranhill and encourage all to expore her...