Corballis Links Golf Club Course Review

Corballis Links Golf Club Fact File:

• Location: Sits 10 miles from Dublin Airport to the north of the city centre. Next-door neighbour of The Island
• Year Established: 1906
• Par: 66
• Length (yards): 5,050
• Green Fees (weekdays): €30
• Signature Hole: Let’s go with the 103-yard 6th hole which is played towards the sea from a slightly elevated tee
• Website: corballislinks.com

To look at a map of North Dublin one particular stretch stands out for the sheer density of courses in such a small area. Your immediate eye will go to The Island, a top-10 course in the country but then next door you have Corballis Links which is beginning to pop up in several places. Then, across the road, is Balcarrick and then you have Donabate a mile away.

Golf at Corballis dates back to 1906 when the original holes were laid out by employees of a nearby hospital. In 1928 Donabate was established and Corballis extended to 18 holes before moving to it current site 11 years later. It would run up until 1968 when the land was bought and the club reformed as Forrest Little GC. But three years later Dublin County Council bought the property for £95,000 and here it broke new ground, according to one newspaper article.

"A new approach to golf at Corballis where the aim is to make the game accessible to all. The 18-hole links will be the first golf course in Ireland open to members of the public to pay and play."

Dublin County Council explained: "We felt that there were a great number of homeless golfers in the city and county of Dublin. Long waiting lists for membership and high green fess make golf a very expensive pastime for golfers. We felt that there were a lot of people who just couldn't afford to play golf."

Corballis will be open to the public seven days a week with green fees of fifty pence on weekdays and a pound at weekends. Initially, just the golf course will be open to the public but there are plans to open the clubhouse as well."

It was passed to Fingal County Council in 1994 but the green fees remain similarly affordable.

Corballis Links GC Review

So how did the current course come about today? It was renamed Corballis Links in 2004 and in 2007 Ron Kirby, who had worked on Old Head, was brought in to elevate things. Gone went the old holes at 4, 13, 14 and 15 and the American oversaw a new and spectacular run of holes from the 4th to the 7th. These make the very most of the terrain and Donabate Beach and affords views of Lambay Island which is famous for its colony of wallabies. Yes, you read that correctly.

A look at the scorecard here and you'll be licking your lips at the prospect of driving a handful of par 4s, taking advantage of the one par 5 and flicking in a collection of wedges to the short holes. Then you play the 231-yard par-4 2nd and you appreciate that it's more likely a very short iron followed by an even shorter one.

Off the very back tees there is one par 4 over 400 yards, there are seven par 3s, none of which will require more than a mid iron, and it all adds up to a tiny bit over 5,000 yards and a par of 66.

It's rugged at Corballis and understandably very popular given the prices but it's a rare treat in terms of the quality of its greens. 

This is a brilliantly story to reflect that. Bernhard Langer, who would later put his name to what is now the Jameson Golf Links, would come here at the start of an Irish Open week in the area to work on his short game and putting, such was the quality of the surfaces. The German would win twice in four years as well as losing that famous play-off to Seve Ballesteros at Royal Dublin.

On the back nine the 11th is a brilliant risk-and-reward short 4 before the only par 5 on the property which features an S-shaped hole and then you have a par 3 to a raised green without any bunkers. 

In truth it tails off for a couple of holes with the addition of 15 and 16, which run alongside one another, but you can forgive it that and things return to normal ie firm links turf with the closing two holes.

Don't come here and expect a practice ground and the usual comforts that we're all spoilt with but do come here with an open mind and you'll be very pleasantly surprised.

Final Verdict

Supposedly the film maker Erik Anders Lang is set to put out a film on Corballis Links which will certainly put the course on more golfers' maps. When you travel to Dublin you will certainly head to the more well-known tracks which we've talked about above but there is so much scope to fit in a trip here. 

The most obvious one is price which will bring down your average spend per round in a flurry but there's also the time aspect of tackling a course that measures 5,000 yards. Thirty-six holes of championship golf can be pretty exhausting tiring, starting or finishing the day here makes it very doable (and keeps you out the pub).

Cookie Jar Golf did a specialist podcast on Corballis Links, speaking to Darragh Garrahy, which is pretty much unheard of for a course that charges so little for 18 holes. 

One of many interesting aspects of their chat was the possibility of trimming courses to fewer holes which has been a trend in the past few years. Here it would appear to make perfect sense in that it offers exceptional value already with the added bonus of improving what is already there to make the most of the land. Would you rather play 14 outstanding holes or 10 great and eight ordinary ones? The bigger point is that we're talking more and more about these types of courses which is a very good thing.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

For more information, please visit the club's website here