Golf clubs in Co Antrim

typhoon

Hi there
my other half is looking to join a golf club, we live in Newtownabbey so ideally somewhere local, he is pricing Allen Park in Antrim and Greenacres in Ballyclare at present (has to be 18-hole, preferably with driving range)

Does anyone have any first hand experience of the above clubs, or any information on any other decent courses not too far from Newtownabbey?
thanks

miserly_mum

How about Ballyclare Golf Club. Is on the outskirts of Newtownabbey so not too far to travel.

Has a very good reputation and a lot of my friends hubby's belong to it. Great Club House and facilities aswell

bingo_bango

Was looking into this recently.

Best website I came across was the Golfing Union of Ireland (covers NI also). Loads of info on courses, prices for a round, membership etc, etc.

wesd

Haven't played greenacres but I've played Ballyclare and I'm a member of Allen Park. Greenacres is likely to have the cheapest fees, followed by allen park; I tried to join Ballyclare 7 years ago but they wanted £1200 for the first year.

Of the 3, Allen Park's biggest advantage is it's ability to cope with our weather - it'll be open when most other courses are waterlogged so your partner will be able to play all year. (You might have other ideas! ). From what I remember, Ballyclare can suffer when there's heavy rain (though this could have changed with drainage work since I last played there).

I'm not sure what size the membership is at Ballyclare/Greenacres but Antrim is a fairly small club (the golf course is called Allen park but the club itself is Antrim Golf Club). This means that anybody with an interest in playing for the club in regional competitions like the Ulster cup has a realistic chance of being selected for a team. In older clubs, this can be impossible for a newcomer due to competition for places or just plain snootiness.

Your partner should play all 3 courses as often as possible over the winter to get a feel for which one will suit best and then join in the spring (assuming membership is available). Everybody's game is different so no course will suit everybody.

typhoon

:beer: thanks everyone for your help and advice. I think he is swaying towards Allen Park, he has played there before and I think it was a couple of hundred cheaper than Greenacres. He currently plays a public course in Lurgan but is sick of the travelling now and fancies a change. I might not be able to keep him away from the golf course but at least the travelling time will be cut out now!!!