Course Review - Dingle Links Ceann Sibéal

No Luck of the Irish, but Tremendously Fun Course

by Mike Brandofino

 

With St. Patrick’s Day upon us, I wanted to reminisce about the breathtaking round of golf I played at Dingle Links - Ceann Sibeal in Ireland. If you haven't had the chance to play golf in Ireland before, I highly recommend it. The Dingle Peninsula offers a beautiful setting with rolling hills, seaside farms, and stunning views of waves crashing into the cliffs on multiple sides of the course. 

 

Course Overview:

 Location: Ballyferriter Dingle Peninsula, Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland

 Founded in 1924, this links-style golf course was initially designed by Eddie Hackett. It features naturally undulating fairways that are accompanied by a meandering stream which comes into play on 13 out of the 18 classic links holes. The course provides an ideal blend of playability and difficulty, depending on which tee you play from. It boasted a great mix of par 4s and 5s to keep the round interesting. The course is ranked #43 in the Top 100 courses in all of Ireland. 

Here's a quick rundown of the key features:

• Length: 6,737 yards 
• Par: 72
• Rating: 70
• Slope: 110
• Course type: Links

 

Our Experience:

We were greeted with a warm Irish welcome and a very laid-back atmosphere that was a refreshing change of pace to some courses you can play in the United States. The green fee ran us about $152 USD in August, which was their peak season pricing. Rounds can be played here for anywhere from $65 to $152. The clubhouse staff was very helpful in getting us set up for our round and providing some tips on certain traps masked by the hilly landscape scattered throughout the course.

 

 

Our “Luck of the Irish” was expended giving us a beautifully clear and sunny day to get our round in. The course was so remote in the Irish countryside that it was nearly empty, so the pace-of-play was spectacular. But, where our luck turned darker than a fresh pint was when we finally teed-off. This was a beautiful course, but for mid to high handicappers it was a really tough slog. Full of blind shots, more fescue than you would ever dream of seeing, and a sneaky creek that must have ate about a dozen of my golf balls alone. We couldn’t stay mad though every time we stopped to look around and take in the amazing views.

 

Play Conditions:

For a remote countryside golf course, it was very well maintained and obviously well-loved by it’s staff. We got rare clear skies and sun, but the proximity to the water and the complete lack of trees led to extremely windy conditions. This was most felt on the short par 3s when we needed to get up and over the creek or avoid bunkers that lined the front of the green. The greens themselves were immaculate. They played fast, so we had our hands full getting the right touch on the first couple of holes.

  

 

Final Ratings:

Here is how we would say this club stacked up in various key categories on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. 

• Clubhouse & Staff - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (5)
• Course Condition - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (4)
• Course Aesthetics -  ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (5)
• Pace of Play - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (5)
• Challenge Level - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (4)
• Fun Level -  ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (4)
• Value - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (3)
• Overall - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (4.7)

 

Summary:

Whether you’re just passing through Dingle, or you make it the focus of your next trip, I promise you will not be disappointed with a round of golf at Dingle Links. I really couldn’t ask for more out of a day of golf. I gave a three-star rating for the value only because it was such a remote golf course, I felt like the cost to play could have been a bit lower. We had to travel quite a ways from the town of Dingle to get to the course. But, the views alone were some of the best on my entire 12-day trip to Ireland. Spending the day golfing with my dad, at our own pace, at a course of this quality is something that I know will be few and far between in the US, so it will always be a very special memory for me. 

 

  

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