The price is right: Why many top golf courses are offering incredible domestic deals

Summer green fees at the world famous Old Head would normally top out over €300, but now offers a special domestic rate until the middle of July of €130 a head.

From the Old Head to Royal Portrush and all points in between, Irish golf courses and resorts, even the top-shelf ones, are realistic enough to recognise that an unprecedented industry crisis demands both creative and pragmatic solutions.

In the matter of regaining footfall to the country’s magnificently-manicured links and parklands, the name of the game this summer is filling tee-times and slots — especially the heralded tracks that rely on overseas visitors for a healthy percentage of their annual income.

“Realistically, there won’t be an overseas market until late July into August and a lot of places will be offering competitive domestic rates,” explained Jim O’Brien, the general manager of the renowned Old Head links outside Kinsale in Co Cork.

The upside, of course, is seldom-to-be-repeated green fee rates at a number of elite courses for those with an eagle eye for value — and the nous to ferret out the deals on social media and other marketing tools.

The Old Head itself is a prime example. Summer green fees would normally top out over €300, but now offers a special domestic rate until the middle of July of €130 a head. Better still for those with a nose for value and an eye for class is the overnight rate at their stunning five-star suites. Bed and breakfast for two at €300 per night is around half the normal rate until the middle of next month — the stunning ocean view from every suite included.

O’Brien and the team at Old Head have undertaken a significant investment in the course and clubhouse over the past five years — building a new cliff-edge par-three No 13 and lengthening the par-five 6th (pitching a new elevated green alongside a beacon lighthouse which dates back to 1814), the 8th and most recently the 10th.

It is a similar story at the K Club in Straffan, Kildare, where the newly-installed director of golf Conor Russell head a new team promising “fresh eyes” and is overseeing the rollout of a number of innovations at the 2006 Ryder Cup and 2016 Irish Open venue.

A general view of 18th green at the K Club, Straffan, Co. Kildare. Picture: Matt Browne

“Aside from investing in new machinery and additional greens staff to restore some sharpness to the definition of its Palmer and Smurfit courses, we’ve opened The Palmer restaurant in the clubhouse with an outdoor terrace accommodating 120 golfers under a retractable roof,” Russell said. “We have a new halfway stop, The Snack-Bar, and a new concept called K Golf World, an indoor golf simulator experience with eight bays and a food and beverage offering that is open for bookings.”

Up on the Antrim coast, the memory of Shane Lowry’s 2019 Open victory remains alive with Royal Portrush general manager John Lawler offering golfers the chance to retrace the Irish hero’s footsteps on its revered Dunluce Links.

“We pivoted as quickly as we could when bookings started to move from 2020 to 2021, as it was then, and introduced what we call ‘148 Days’. We picked eight days across the course of the summer to celebrate the 148th Open Championship and for £148stg (€172) — the normal green fee was £240 — we set the course up with the final-day pin positions from The Open, provided lunch beforehand, goodie bags, practice balls and use of the Trackman suite prior to rounds. So it was a chance for people to experience the conditions of the last day of the 14th Open Championship for £148 (€172) and they were very, very popular.

We’re running more of those this year and have introduced a Golf Ireland rate which we didn’t have, which is £500 (€581) for a fourball with certain limitations around it in terms of booking ahead and it’s fourballs only. So we’ve been looking at doing different things for the domestic market on the island of Ireland and there’s a market there, certainly.”

Ireland's James Sugrue watches his shot on the first tee box during Day One of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush in 2019. Picture: Brendan Moran

As chief executive of SWING Golf Ireland, which works with courses primarily bringing overseas golfers onto the island to play its best courses, Bernard Keogh echoes the view from Royal Portrush.

Tralee-based SWING has a specific focus on the South West with member clubs from Lahinch to Waterville and Dingle to the Old Head.

Normally arranging incoming golf packages for between 500 or 600 groups, usually from parties of four and up, SWING, in line with their industry counterparts, were forced to wipe out 2020’s business when the lockdown closed Irish courses and pushed many of those bookings back to 2021. Now those bookings for the first half of this year are being pushed back to 2022.

“Practically all the big courses and clubs are taking Irish business and offering good rates and discounts. A lot of clubs are constantly monitoring this July 19 reopening date (for international and incoming travel) and some are only offering this up to a certain date for Irish business.

“That might be the end of July or early August but the Irish clubs are all amenable to Irish golfers and business and are selling to them.

They're offering good discount rates on green fees between 30% and 50% to avail of the opportunity of playing these courses. That may sound condescending in one way but it’s a fact of life.

“A small handful of people might say ‘oh yeah, they want the Irish to stroll up and fund the clubs because there are no overseas golfers’ but most people will treat this as an opportunity and say ‘look, we can play these courses for half price.”

Keogh says tour operators have also had to adapt to the circumstances.

“We’re booking staycation packages around Ireland from people wanting golf in different places and there are some good Golf Ireland rates to be had if you are a club member (and therefore affiliated to the new, unified governing body).

“We’re getting a lot of inquiries for packages from groups of home golfers and some of the hotels are coming in looking for that business as well. Some of the best offers are in midweek and on the SWING Golf Ireland website you can see some of the packages including rounds at Ballybunion, Tralee, Waterville, Dooks or wherever with local hotel accommodation, or Cork Golf Club with Old Head with an overnight in Kinsale or Cork City, that type of thing. It works quite well for people who like to have everything arranged for them in a package.”

Whether you organise it yourself or book a package through a company, Keogh said: “There should be plenty of space on golf courses this year to avail of a good holiday. And with fine weather coming, there’s no better place.”

Flexibility and adaptability have been the watchwords for golf club managers and secretaries approaching this summer’s timesheets with Tralee offering a green fee of €120, further discounts for additional rounds, and joining forces with Ballybunion offering three rounds, one apiece at Barrow and BallyB’s Cashen and Old Courses for €270, all subject to availability.

The same applies at Cork Golf Club which has a Golf Ireland rate of €85 from June 21, when it opens its gates to visitors, €40 cheaper than the normal green fee, while you will be able to Dingle (Ceann Sibéal) Golf Links with Golf Ireland membership for €60, a third cheaper than normally while their secretary/manager Steve Fahy is also staging extra open competitions.