Kerry courses ranked among world’s best

GOLF course ratings are something that I touch on several times a year, purely to see how each of our courses in Kerry rate among the best, and even though the ratings of individual courses differ from publication to publication, there is one constant and that is that Kerry has some of the finest golfing terrain not only in Ireland but in the world.

We’re just three weeks or so into a new year and already there have been three different sets of course ratings published. All three rank Kerry courses rather highly, but differently, depending on which one you choose.

The first one to come out in 2020 is Golf World’s Top 100 in Ireland, so let’s examine those for a moment.

Golf World is a reputable magazine that has been around since the 1960s, but I’m not sure I’d agree with their top ten, which is in order: Royal Portrush, Royal Co Down, Portmarnock, Waterville, Lahinch, Ballybunion (Old), the European Club, Trump Doonbeg, Ballyliffin (Glasheedy Links) & The Island.

I don’t have a problem with the first four, and although I wouldn’t put Waterville ahead of Ballybunion, the South

Kerry links would be in my top five, but my biggest gripe with this list is the inclusion of the two county Clare courses Lahinch and Doonbeg in the top ten.

Lahinch may be known as the “St Andrews” of Ireland and be steeped in golfing history and tradition, but as a test of golf I certainly wouldn’t have it placed in my top ten. And as for Doonbeg, it would make my top thirty, but that’s just my humble opinion. As I’ve always said, the best part of the Doonbeg land is the part that Greg Norman wasn’t allowed to include in his design.

Moving on swiftly, Tralee’s links at Barrow is the next highest-rated Kerry course at 18, which is totally unfair as it should rank much higher and possibly be in the top ten.

You have to travel all the way down to the early thirties to find the next Kerry courses, which are Ballybunion’s Cashen links and Dooks at 32 and 33 respectively. Again I’d disagree with these, as I would rate Dooks the better of the two courses, and an interesting observation I’ve made is that there are no parkland courses in the top ten and just two (Adare and Lough Erne) in the top 20.

Killarney’s Killeen course (once home to the Irish Open) is a disappointing number 38, while Dingle’s links (Ceann Sibéal) comes in at 40 and Killarney’s Mahony’s Point just gets in to the top 100, at number 100.

Make what you will of these ratings and where your course is on the list, but on the positive side, Kerry has two courses in the Top 10, three in the Top 20 and overall eight in the Top 100, with seven of them, in the Top 40.

Next to publish a list this month was the Irish Golfer magazine, a free publication that’s distributed to clubhouses all over the country and their ratings are a little different, to say the least, as their Top 10 reads, in order: Royal Portrush, Portmarnock, Lahinch, Royal Co Down, Adare, Co Louth, Tralee, Ballybunion, The Island and Waterville.

Lahinch ahead of Royal Co Down, Ballybunion and Waterville? I think not.

Dooks fares a little better in this list at 27, followed by Ballybunion’s Cashen at 48, Killarney’s Killeen at 51 and the newly-opened Hog’s Head outside Waterville at 62 with Ceann Sibéal at 71 and Killarney’s Mahony’s Point at 88, the other Kerry courses in the Top 100.

The final compilation is not confined to Ireland and is brought to us by Golfscape, an internet-based golf holiday and travel company, who list their Top 100 golf courses in the world and include Portmarnock (91), Tralee (89) Mount Juliet (80), Royal Dublin (74), Druid’s Glen (69), Adare (38), Waterville (36), Ballyliffin (34), The K Club (25), Ballybunion (9) and, finally, Royal County Down at number 2.

This list, however, I feel is probably confined to courses where Golfscape do business, because how can you have a World Top 100 without mentioning the likes of Royal Portrush, Augusta National and Pine Valley?

Still, as my late father used to say, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” and having your course mentioned in any golf publication or rated in any compilation of the best courses can only be a good thing.

Each publication has their own criteria for ranking courses with test of golf, clubhouse and other facilities, condition of course and even hospitality taken into consideration, while many of those rating courses have never even played them.

What I would dearly love to see is two lists, (a) Ireland’s Top 50 links courses and (b) Ireland’s Top 50 Parkland courses, drawn up by a panel of experts, each of whom must have played every single course rated, and have the list based purely on the test of golf that the course provides regardless of the condition.

Okay, you can argue that in order to be a true test of golf, a course, and especially the greens, must be in tip top condition, but finding a course in Ireland that is in top condition all year round (with the exception of Adare) is next to impossible.

No doubt, as the year progresses more and more Top 100s will be reeled out in print and on the internet, and I will examine them upon publication, as I really do find it fascinating to see how they all differ in their opinions.

Last year, Royal Portrush hosted the Open Championship while Lahinch hosted the Irish Open, so they were in the news quite a bit, which might or might not have influenced their ratings, but I wonder in twelve months’ time if they maintain them for 2021?