Galgorm Castle

Second stop on our trip of Northern Ireland and a second attempt at playing Galgorm Castle for me. I’d had a round booked in a couple years prior but sadly due to heavy rains it was called off on the day of our intended play. A 45 minute drive north west from Belfast to a town called Ballymena, Galgorm Castle sits neatly just outside the town and is a beautiful resort. A very grand entrance of stunning old stone walls and a wonderfully manicured lawn leads you up towards the golf course and hotel and the grounds don’t only have these two features, there is plenty else to do here. A former Irish Open host, as recently as 2020, it is clear to see that Galgorm is a great golfing destination with excellent practice facilities. After a quick warm up on the range, each bay accompanied by its own monitor, and a quick chip on the perfectly manicured chipping green it was time to head to the first hole. What looks to be a fairly gentle par 4 to begin with is actually a huge dog-leg to the left and with the usual first tee jitteriness most would take an iron leaving a long approach to the green when in reality there is plenty of room to cut the corner. The 2nd is a very pretty hole and a driveable par 4 around 250m long but with two bunkers protecting the entrance to the green. The next three holes are neither long nor narrow and kind of give you a false sense of security on what remains to be a very tricky, challenging course. Tight in certain areas with plenty of streams, bush and out of bounds to contend with. Around the 8th is where it really starts to tighten up. The fairways start to weave through thick tree lines, requiring absolute accuracy off the tee, Moving onto the back 9, the par 5 10th is generously wide fairway leaving a green approachable in two but don’t too far offline as there is plenty of trouble and no easy approach as the fairway leads to the left of the green then cuts back sharply leaving anyone going directly at the pin and coming up short in the rough. 11 and 13 are two narrow par 4’s, streams running down the right will gobble up any errant shots. The flow of the course continues to follow in the same fashion, a flat course with fairways that move, weave and sharply change direction that could easily be narrowed or widened depending on the greenkeeper's mood on the day and all in very good condition. Grateful that I finally managed to come and play Galgorm Castle and it definitely lived up to my expectations, a fun but very challenging course.

De keuze viel op deze parkbaan omdat hij een hoge score kreeg en er een aantal tournooien gespeeld worden en omdat de omgeving, het hotel enz. iets speciaals uitstraalde.

Normaal is de green fee € 200.00 pp dankzij golf amore kregen we 50 % korting. De baan is mooi, de fairways zijn prachtig.

De baan heeft een moderne met track man uitgeruste driving ranch daar keek ik van op.

Met concurrentie van de vele links banen in de omgeving is het niet makkelijk deze baan populair te maken zeker niet met zo’n green fee.

We werden bijzonder vriendelijk geholpen met een oplossing voor het opladen van de auto. Het clubhuis is in vergelijking met de traditionele Ierse clubhuizen een verrassing.

Met zoveel linksbanen in de buurt weet ik nog niet wat ik de volgende keer zal kiezen. Ook moet ik wennen aan het enorme prijsverschil voor een Ier/Engelsman en iemand uit de rest van de wereld zoals men het noemde.

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tuve la suerte de jugar este campo después de vivir la experiencia del Open británico y tengo que decir que a pesar de ser un parkland en tierra de links es un campazo. lo estaban preparando para una prueba del tour y el rough estaba imposible pero con una manicura espectacular. si puedo vuelvo a jugarlo pronto.