Dunmurry Springs Golf Club

Tired of turning into random driveways at 11pm thinking they were the entrance to some out of the way clubhouse we set off for Dunmurry Springs armed with a brand new sat nav. We arrived at 9:30pm, still bright daylight at this time of year, so the sat nav did it’s job well. We had a brief chat with some of the lads who were just coming off the course. They gave us the low down on why the clubhouse wasn’t finished yet (they were still operating out of a few prefab huts in the car park) and told us about their sky high joining and annual green fees. We counted ourselves lucky that our fee is under £600 a year. Sean, one of the guys who works at the course, suggested we could take in a couple of holes before the light faded but we decided against it on account of being tired and disappointed that there’d be no Guinness tonight.

Opened in 2006 Dunmurry Springs is an 18 hole parkland course in Co. Kildare, not far from Kildare on the road to Rathangan. For a new course it looks incredibly well settled. Fairways were fine, there were some huge greens that were difficult to read, plenty of water features, crazy long rough and some great views over the course from 4 or 5 nicely positioned tee boxes on the hill. There are a couple of great par 5s and at least two par 3s over ponds, made all the more tricky by the weird weather we had. We were pelted with some heavy showers and blustery winds as the rain approached. Having to put wet gear on at this time of year just makes things uncomfortable.

We were accompanied today by Anto, an army man from Dublin just recently back from Chad where he had to suffer temperatures in excess of 45C!! He was having an on and off game today - a bit like to two of us - but he was good company and it’s nice to play with a guy with a standard comparable to our own.

Thomas says:
Very much enjoyed playing Dunmurry Springs - a course in great order and likely to improve with time. Things started well for me as I chipped in at the first for par, but then it all went wrong for about 4 holes before I managed to gather myself and play like normal. Really impressed with the layout of the course and the quality of the greens, though had they been faster they would have been perfect. Also impressed with the par 5s - the first of which is a sharp dogleg right with out of bounds over rocks on the right and a slope away down the left side. Plenty of water to keep an eye out for too and loads of bunkers - I found at least four of them! The rough was a killer. The grass was very long but not thick lush grass - it was tall and sparse enough that you could find your ball but you had to sure to hit a strong shot out of it.

Great start to this four day tour.

Clive says:
I must say that I was very surprised when we arrived to find no club house - this may have been a first. However, with the recession biting in the Republic, it’s not so unusual. But our welcome was extremely friendly. We slept and waited for the day to dawn.

It was a blustery day - just 3 days from midsummer’s day - it could only be Ireland! But I was immediately impressed by the layout. Every part of the course was in tip top order and those greens! - very hard to read although each of us eventually sank a decent putt or two. They have a couple of what they call ‘amen corners’ - the 6, 7 and 8 and then the 10, 11 and 12. They were quite tricky. I particularly liked the par 5 10th which had a nasty bit of water just as you arrive at the green.

We have, in the past couple of years played a lot of these new and fancy courses mainly in the general Dublin and Kildare areas. Some look just the same but Dunmurry Springs’ holes were lovely. There were lots of narrow entrances to greens and the greens were testing. As ever Thomas and I enjoyed seeing the various birds, the waterhens and their chicks, the odd swan and lots of young swallows ducking and diving everywhere.

Anto was a great golfing partner although he said he didn’t see any golf courses in Chad - which is hardly surprising. We wish this course well and hope they get their clubhouse soon. Marks out of ten - a good 8.

See our photos of Dunmurry Springs.

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