The BEST 'cheap' golf course in the world!

We ain't going anywhere, we ain't leaving. Okay, this is a different one today. In a couple of minutes we're actually going to be driving onto that little ferry and going across Loch Foyle from basically we're in Northern Ireland and we're going to head over to Ireland. Instead of going the long way, we're going to take a shortcut because the golf course we're playing today is just on that little bit of land and actually I'm excited. However, the weather is absolutely awful. This golf course today is a bit of a hidden gem. It's very reasonably priced and hopefully we can play some golf today. But first, we need to jump aboard that. That little bad boy. Has he got a name? Fraser Stankford. We're jumping on Fraser. Let's us. You're very welcome. Thank you for coming. It's a nice little place. Yeah, it's cool isn't it? It is a shame about the weather. Yeah. But I suppose we're in Ireland. Absolutely. So we expect a little bit of wet weather. We've been very lucky actually on most of our trips. But today it's cloudy, it's wet and it's not looking like getting much better. So we might not be able to play all 18, but would you be able to show me maybe five or six of the best holes here at Greencastle? Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to. Where should we start? We will start by driving through the trees from the second onto the third. Okay. And then I would love you to play five, six, eight, 12, 18. I like that. One unique feature about this golf course. I mean, one, already the glimpses of the views we've seen are phenomenal, but also like compared to a lot of other golf courses in Ireland, Northern Ireland, what's the actual green thing here? To come as a guest, you mean? Yeah. Only €50 for a non-member to come and play here. And to be honest, what's really unique about here is we pretty much every single hole you can see the sea from. It's very unusual. I love that. Right, without further ado, let's get to the fifth. Wow. Oh, this is mega. Look at this. There's our, there's our ferry crossing from earlier today. I didn't realise it's quite literally just across the bay there. So we jumped out to the fifth. Like I say, I wish I could play all 18 today, but one the weather's horrendous. It's been terrible all morning. It's looking like it's going to get much worse. We've got a pocket of window to play the best five holes. We're going to play five, six, eight, 12, possibly 13, possibly 18, and then yeah, finish off five or six holes. This is stunning. Fifth hole, par three. It's actually a kind of slightly blind shot. You kind of go over the hill and it's right on the beach. I'm guessing the beach is inbounds, right? Yeah. It's inbounds, so you can hit on the beach and you can play it. This side, anyway, this side. The far side is out of bounds. Not that I'm aiming for that. Long is out of bounds, but short is good. Right. Let's go and smash it up. I'm going to hit a five, actually. Just to warn you, the video I did last night, I did with the big jumbo grips on. Oh yeah. I played nine holes with them on, and now these feel like pencils. I proper feel like this is going to go left. Okay. Let's play some golf with this hidden gem. Oh, that could be very nice. Start off with a little hole in one. Why not, eh? Why not? That's really nice. To be honest, two things here. Look where it's pitched. How it's not run out a bit more, I don't know. Then look at that. The old hole, last week's hole, it would have gone in. Beautiful view. Look at the views. The ferries crossing. Thank you very much. I like this place. I like it a lot. Jeez, flag nearly got me. Okay. Strong start. Okay. Six-hole, look at this. Cool little drivable part. Well, I'll say drivable. It's 300. What's it off this tee? 324. Yeah. This is cool. Look at this. You're driving it over the bay, and the flag's just over there. A real pointy rock, which you guys would say looks like a shark's tooth. Simmer down. Oh, it's bouncing. That's actually all right. I didn't catch it. It's over the bay. It was bouncing towards the thick stuff, but I think it stayed dry and stayed safe. I don't know how far I hit my golf clubs. They go a different distance every day. I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. Stop stressing everyone. 55 yards. Safe. Nice line in from here. A little bunker to carry. Let's get another birdie. Oh, it dug its feet in. We've got another look, though. Another look for birdie. Yes, please. I like this place a lot. This might be my favorite ever golf course. Okay. Two under through two. Okay. We've jumped over to the eighth hole again. It's a shame because the weather's kind of lucky and promising, but it's going to get bad. We've jumped over to eight. Two under through two. The holes we've played, the two holes I've played are fantastic. Kind of come in the land a little bit now. We've jumped over to eight. A bit more park land, but then you've got still the ocean view and actually a lighthouse view as well. Par four, 376 yards. Let's rip it down there with driver. Keep your head up. Oh, just short of the real thick stuff. That's fine. A little bit left. 80. I need to say, I didn't say 80, right? 80. 80. That was really good, actually. Jeez. 86 yards. I've actually judged it to perfection. I'm going to be studying the horrible stuff, but my actual ball is quite nice. Just in this little bit of rough. 86 yards over the old wispy tree on top of the hill. I think pins at the front, so I'm just going to try and land this about 80 yards. Ooh, nice. Yeah, it looks good. We're not going for three birdies here, are we, in a row, Gemma? I don't want to do that today. Oh, come on. Not today. Then you go away with a great feeling of Greencastle. That is true. You're like, oh, I want to come back here. I'm even surprising myself right now. I've stuck it to here. This is for three birdies in a row. Up the hill, a little bit left to right. Ouch. Ouch. I think I just hit it a bit too hard through the break. That would have been nice anyway. Beautiful hole. We're going to jump over to now the signature hole at 12, which is really nice. I saw it from the clubhouse before. Sorry, Gemma, I let you down. That's okay. That's okay. Don't It's really nice. I'm so glad it's cleared for this window. I know. You've just been telling me, we drove past one of the beaches, and you've just been telling me how you go for a sea swim every day. Yeah, every morning. Four past seven. I love it. I love it. I'm kind of somewhat jealous, but also probably wouldn't do it myself. If you were here for an extra couple of days, I would get you in the sea. Next time. Next time. Okay. I've had a glimpse of this hole already, but honestly, you know what it was? So the weather's really set us back today because the plan was to come here and do 18 holes, but we misjudged the time of the ferry. Not our fault. It was really, really wet. We got delayed teeing off. We've got a ferry to catch going back, actually back to England. It was on a tight schedule anyway, and then the rain just made it super tight. So I'm glad we could come out here and play a few holes, but maybe a return visit is necessary because this is, wow, this is really nice. The 12th hole. I mean, look, he's even got a lighthouse in the background. I mean, come on. This is 50 euros to play. You'd be daft not to. If you come over to Ireland and play all these fancy courses, come and play here, because for the price, it's absolutely fantastic. I mean, it helps that I'm playing so well too, but where am I aiming? You are aiming... At that white disc in the fairway? Or even, see the bench to the left? So if you get on the bench, you're going to kick right, so then you end up down in this hollow down here in the right then. Where does the ball actually finish if I have a good drive? Is it on top of the hill or not? Yeah, you could make it up on top. It just depends. Yeah, with wind behind, you could make it up on top today. Okay, so near that white disc slash the bench. Yep, that's good. Good little kick. Okay. Oh, it's just a tiny bit left of my line. Unbelievable here, but I'm going to be in the left rough again. Oh, I was a bit scared of the water and I absolutely struck it pure. Just 15 yards left of where I was going for. It was about 85, Sam, right? Yeah. Yeah, 84. I've come a different line in here. What hole is this, Gemma, that I'm on? This is the 12th. Okay. No, as in, what hole am I on now though? Oh, this is the 13th. Yeah, that's part five. Okay, so I've decided to come down the other side and I can't see the flag. I can see the lighthouse. I know the flags. I can just see the top, top, top bit of it. Similar distance to the last pitch shot. Let's see if we get the same result. That should be really good. Very good. That should be very good. Yeah. It's peppering the pins. Let's see how close we are, hopefully. Hopefully really close. This is my, sorry I don't drop, but this is Green Castle Boat Tours. They do see safaris out round here. Oh, nice, the drones following it. And you see the dolphins jumping up beside the boat, yeah. Look at the drone. Oh, that's cool. Oh, that's class. This is really stunning. I love this little lighthouse. I was just saying to Gemma, it's a shame they can't do something with it. That'd be so nice if they could. Right, we've hit another nice shot. Dialed in at the moment. That would have been right over the flag. I reckon it, I reckon it would have pitched quite close. Finished there. Where did it pitch? Oh, there. Yeah, it's run on a little bit. Coming out from the rough, I suppose. I'm really, really disappointed with my par on the last hole. It's not acceptable. Oh, that's a good putt. It was a good putt. In for par. Can't birdie them all, eh? All right. So, do you want to play this one? Yeah, please. Yeah. I'm going to do this one. I mean, it's looking like it's going to stay now, annoyingly. This is class. Brilliant. Not annoyingly, it's just like, I'm annoyed that it wasn't like this at 10 o'clock when we arrived. I could see the tears were starting and then... Okay, we ain't going anywhere. We're playing more golf. It's looking like the weather forecast was wrong. We're still not going to get all 18 in, but we're going to play more golf and just get a later ferry back to England. Par five, dog leg around the corner. Green, green hook. Yep. You know, it's funny though, Gemma, if I was three over now, I'd be like, let's just play one more hole. I know. The fact I'm two under, it's like, let's go. Yeah, you don't want to go home now, yeah. Green hook, little fade. Every driver shot's gone left. So, let's see if we can actually hit one straight. Yes. I think it hit the top of the bunker and bounced over it. I actually think it's over it, yeah. Nice. Well done. Better drive. You're getting a lot of luck today, isn't he? He's getting so much luck today. He's going to join. This man's going to join here. There's no luck involved, thank you, Gemma. Okay, after a great drive around the corner here on the par five 13th, I've got 169 yards left into the pin. Wind's off the left, eight iron in hand. Unbelievable back drop. Let's stick one close. Help it wind. Looks very good. Is it? Yeah, pin hay. Lovely. Nice, nicely on. I thought the wind was just going to help it a bit more. Yeah, it just stayed into it. Never moved at all. Struck very well, though. Okay, great drive, good eight iron, eagle opportunity. It's absolutely pin high. Up and over the hill, then down the hill, slightly falling to the left. You like that, Gemma? Gemma's getting involved in the action now. I think it's inside right. Inside right, okay. Kind of goes both ways, but I think it's inside right. For eagle and somehow to get to four on the par. Actually, I'll tell you what, that was actually left, right? No, it was good. Started that outside the hole. I mean, I'm glad the hole got in the way. Right, eagle four under. We ain't going anywhere. We ain't leaving. Gemma, what have we got here? You have a 398 par four called the plateau, so the landing area for the members would be kind of just up in this plateau here, but it goes down, and then you're up. So you'd be aiming directly at the pin or slightly right with that wind today. At the lighthouse? Yeah, just inside the lighthouse. Yeah, great drive. Yeah, good. Yeah, it's fine. Very good. It's proper teaching about to playing as a kid this. I used to literally, it didn't matter the weather, I almost always played in waterproof pants. Always. It feels like a proper throwback. So how many members are here, Gemma? 600. Yeah, it's a nice wee number actually, to be honest. We're a wee bit backward. We're very slow at moving forward, and I'm trying to drive it now. I'm trying to do a bit more on that end of things and get the Americans in, get it all set up so we can deal with them and just a wee bit more professional. Otherwise, we're just going to be left behind, you know what I mean? There's a lot of Americans that come to Ireland playing golf, isn't there? Oh, 100%. Even if we got a 1% or 2% of that, sure, we'd be flying. Absolutely flying. We're not looking for a big, we don't really have an awful lot of tee times to allow for that. Yeah, yeah. Stayed out the thick stuff. If you're American and you're coming over here to Ireland, Northern Ireland, get involved with this place. Come and see Gemma and the team, because it's like you say, for the price, it'd be daft not to. 135 yards, playing 138. I've got somewhat lucky. I didn't know what was down here massively. I'm two yards away from the real thick stuff, just in this nice lie again. Listen, sometimes luck's got to go your way. I'm going to hit a soft nine iron just in between the lighthouse, the top of the lighthouse and the flag. Get down. Oh, I took a firm bounce. Just pulled it. Missed green, I think. It's all right. It's an up and down. This just goes to show how much rain they've had overnight and this morning. You said they never get puddles here, Gemma. No, never, never. Okay, just off the side of the green. Just got to land it on, let it run out. Gave it a chance. It's always just going a little bit right. Nice. Keep the bogey free round going. It's a nice little up and down that. Perfect. Stunning. The views, the views. We just look around even this side here. Another lighthouse on top of the hill over there as well. And then if you look back, you can see the furthest point of the course right up where we played earlier. Oh yeah, where we started. Yep. Right up. Yeah, really nice. That beach there that you see is dog hole. Right, 112 yard, par three, wind off the left, slightly downhill. I want to land this 105. It's going to spin right and just go straight in. Wind. Shot. I mean, it's a lovely golf shot and it's perfect distance. I was just hoping it was just going to come in a little bit. Yeah. It's a good saying though, if it doesn't move in the wind, doesn't it? Yeah. Okay. Really nice golf shot there. Left myself another makeable birdie putt down the hill, right to left. Oh, the eagle putt scared me on the other hole. Good feet. I could have give that a run. I don't know why I'm complaining. Thanks Gemma. Putty four on the par. Time to hit a big boy driver shot. Absolutely. Yeah. Par four, straight down bunkers, left outbounds, right? Yeah. And there's another bunker tucked into the right hand side as well. Got a funny feeling I might favour the left side here. Keep coming. Keep coming. Did it get over? It's over the first bunker, yeah. It is over. Oh yeah. Good. Yeah. I think so. Yeah. Good. Good. I don't know. It's perfect. I thought it was, yeah. I definitely carried it. After a good drive, carried that bunker just in the first little bit of rough, but I said I was going to favour this left side, 130 yards on the nose to the flag. I'm just going to hit a gap wedge. I feel like it might shoot out of this rough a little bit. For some reason, whatever club I'm going to hit, I feel like it's going to go long. What have you got? I've got a gap wedge from 130, which I normally hit my gap wedge 120, but I feel like it's going to go long. Yeah. You're going to get a flare possibly. I'm going to try and hit 100 yards or maybe 110. 110. Kick right. Yeah. Agri chop. Yeah. I just didn't quite get it on line, but not bad. Middle of the green. Got a bit of swing. Did swing. It did swing. A bit scared of hitting that too far past. I've not made a birdie for ages. I'm getting a bit annoyed now. Joking. Thanks Gemma. This is driveable. Over the trees? Yeah. A fade from the, see the small tree? Yeah. Just around there. Okay. This tee box isn't giving me fade vibes. I'm going to aim at the other flag and then fade it into that. Yes. Good. It's doing its best. Well done. I didn't quite nut it, but it'll be towards the front of the green. Really nice shape. This is gorgeous. This is gorgeous. I'm so, so, so glad the sun's come out. It wasn't forecast. It was forecast to be horrible today. Yeah. The golf gods have shined down on us. Yeah. I'm really enjoying the course. It's got lots of unique features. It's kind of quirky in its almost innocence and its simplicity. I'm really enjoying it. See if we make another birdie. Enjoy it even more. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Good drive right into the fairway, 40 yards to the pin. Let's see if we can stick one close and make another birdie. Very good. Very good. Gemma, that's excellent. That's exquisite. That's phenomenal. That's very good. Give me something. That for me is as good as a... Did you try and draw then? I used the natural contours, Gemma. Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. I saw there was a slope there. I thought you were out there. I was just thinking, yeah. This is it, Rick. This is the birdie you've been chasing for the last couple of holes. Yeah. Just enough to drop in. Let's go. Let's go. Let's get all of them in. Let's play 18. You've just told me some devastating news. I know. Sorry. I wanted to play all 18. Well, did you? I didn't even know that. Back in the bar, Gemma's just told me that there is a lady president. Well, it's the president of the club. Well, she can wait. They can move their tea time back the whole day by an hour. There's a shotgun start at one o'clock. So every hole is taken up though? Well, I'll buy them all lunch. They can sit in the clubhouse for an extra hour. So we're not going to get 18 in? I don't think so, no. Okay. Okay. All right. Let's see what happens. Let's go and play the 18th hole. It's a par 3. We will see what happens. Look at this. Unfortunately, this is going to have to be our finishing hole. The whole lady president golf day won't move back an hour and a half for me. I'm absolutely, I'm shocked actually. Last hole, 18th hole, par 3. It's 172, playing 167, but then it's into wind. So probably playing about 175. I'm going to rifle a 7 iron and see if we can make one more, one more birdie. It would be very nice. Big, big pull. Let's see what you're up and down from there, kid. Where did it finish? Left. I know that. I didn't want to play 18 holes anyways. Really enjoyed that Gemma. I think it's the fact that genuinely this morning when we woke up and the weather was that bad, I didn't, I didn't think I'd be, I didn't think I'd be playing golf today. And the fact we've managed to get out, our original plan was to play five holes. How many holes we ended up playing? Five, six, five, six, eight. We've had an amazing time. Five, six, eight, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. Oh, so 10 holes would have ended up doing. Okay. I measured the rock, the wind terribly then. I actually think it was downwind, not into wind. So I've hit this absolutely miles over the back of the green. Let's get up and down. Keep this five on the par. Okay. Once it gets onto that top apron, it'll really roll down the hill, but I've got to make sure it gets over that hill. Cause otherwise it's going to be a hard put. Let's chip this one close. Oh, hit the flag. Hit the flag. It nearly went in. That would have been the most surreal round of golf I would have ever played in my entire life if that would have gone in. Oh my goodness. Yay. Is that good? Are you going to give me that one? I don't know. I want you to have the joy of actually finishing it off. There you go. Thank you. Guys, this has been amazing. Really enjoyed it. I think because we woke up today, genuinely not thinking we were going to be playing golf and the forecast looks horrendous. We have to delay the start. They're only going to play five holes. The fact now we've got out and played 10 holes. The fact I've played so well, the fact that it just chips in on the last has made this a very, very, very special experience. One I won't ever forget. And to finish off with a par. I'll take that. Gemma, thanks for your hospitality. I will be back. Thanks a million. Five under through 10. Awesome. Definitely come and check out Greencastle Golf Club. It's incredible.