I must be the only golf enthusiast with coeliac. Absolutely nothing in terms of gluten-free or allergy information. You get told to ask the staff at the different eating venues - guess what? Not a single one I asked provided GF& I asked several. So thanks for leading me to believe there would be at least one place that would cater for GF as opposed to NONE! If you don’t mind starving all day it is a great day out! PS if there is a GF food seller then maybe [they] should have made that clear - no wait maybe I was supposed to ask every single food seller right?
Poor organisation from the start! The "opening ceremony" was a shambles! Asking for more money to attend was an utter disgrace and no wonder it was empty! What was the Queen tribute all about? Cringe worthy. No buses from Estepona even though it was the nearest big town! Everything went from moneybags Marbella!
The course was ridiculous to walk and not well signposted and I got lost trying to find my way back to the Plaza (seating area and big screen)
First day I went I had my water taken off me and no food was allowed either so we had to buy ridiculously priced water and basic food. It was €4 for a small froth filled beer.
Hardly any shade or seating for the many fans tired from walking the hilly course.
The final day was boiling hot! Again hardly any shade and you had to PAY an upgrade to obtain a wooden seat that took 2 men hours to put into place. Which should have been done earlier in the day or night before. Loads of faffing about by staff moving chairs and large potted plants whilst we tried to watch the matches on the one screen in the entire venue
Had to leave early on the last day as we knew we wouldn't be able to get back due to lack of transport to Estepona.
Overall an expensive underwhelming experience! A cash cow for the organisers from start to finish.
Would have liked some occasional bleachers for general admission tickets
The golf course was not at all fan friendly . It is a playing course not a walking course . No consideration for fans of all ages who spent a lot of money to support The Solheim Cup .
2023 was awesome
Great day out, well organised from a park and ride perspective. Catering prices a joke and people should he limted on beer if it turns them into 10 year olds shouting out on every shot and littering the place.
More lines to more P&R buses
Covered seating for watching the big screen in the event of rain as this year
More lines for bag checking which was so ineffectual…. no search of bags; could gave carried a gun through!
Excellent day out, highly recommended.
Brilliant day
Great day
The tournament was pretty good, but I found a great place to stay right across the street on Redweek which provided easy access.
Went to the see the golf on Saturday with my son. He left his car in the park & ride.
Excellent day at the event in Straffan. Staff friendly and courteous. Would go again however when I left early and returned to the park and ride where my wife was due to pick me up a young garda on traffic duty would not allow her to turn into the park & ride to turn even though the stewards on duty told me she could do so. This left a dangerous situation for my wife as she had to turn further up the road and pick me up from the road. Pity, as it ruined an otherwise excellent day. Maybe a better plan re-drop offs and pick ups at the park & ride
The event was very well organized. Communications was always very timely if there were any changes. The volunteer staff was extremely friendly and helpful. Overall, a great event. The golf was absolutely phenomenal. The golfers were professional and still personable and took time to engage with the crowd!
A great experience from start to finish. We went to KClub on Friday and Saturday. The event was well sign posted to Park and Ride. Plenty buses around to ferry people to K Club. Entry was quick through security and ticket checker. There was a variety of food outlets in the The Village. Also a bar, Coffee etc Van and Ice Cream van. All that we used were quick and efficient. Plenty staff in all places. Other facilities there for children and a Putting Green for donation to Make A Wish. An information stand and we were assisted by a very good lady. Toilet facilities there were well attended and always clean when I used them. There were more food and beverages trucks at different holes on the course. Also Toilet facilities around various holes. We had a lovely 2 days going around the course watching golf. A really enjoyable 2 days. Would recommend to snuone to go even if not a golfer. Will be back in 2025. Please God we will be there. Thanks to all the organisers. Well done.
Relaxed atmosphere, reasonable amount of spectators, good food (fries, pizza), multiple points for refilling your waterbottle, sale of summer clothing at the golfclub
Fabulous location and great day out. Knowledge of Security Staff and Stewards re certain locations of hospitality areas was not very good. Perhaps in future a detailed plan of each location could be available to them.
It was obvious that a lot of effort went in the organisation of this event. Well done to all concerned. Three improvements I would suggest is to have more scoreboards and all groups must have a scoreboard with them.
Secondly, the queue for food later in the day on Friday was so long that we thought our friend who had gone for it was lost.
Thirdly, more transfer coaches needed for going back to the car park in the afternoons.
The Park and Ride route requested was difficult to follow, in particular the L1010 road noted to be used on the route requested. It didn't have a sign confirming this road as being the one for the Irish Open Park and Ride. The L routes aren't as well marked, and as you were not supposed to use you Sat Nav, as it would take directly to the venue (which you were not allowed to do), the missing yellow sign turned into a big problem. It cost us an extra hour and a half to at last find the Park and Ride car park. That left us frustrated and missed out on the starts we wanted to see. The frustration colured the days enjoyment. As we had booked a hotel in Lexlip we then decided to go the shortest route the next day and we were parked and on a bus within 16 minutes, a big difference!
I paid for a stand ticket on the 18th. A wast of money as there was only the one stand and only half of it for pre paid ticket holders. The stand was also very far back from the 18th whole, making the extra paid ticket unnecessary. I don't think I'll bother purchasing another stand ticket in the future . I have purchased them in the past and they were a much added bonus on different courses.
Food purchase - I'm a celiac, gluten free, you can purchase snacks like crisps gluten free but no sandwich/rolls or meals. I'd like that to be included.
Map of the course - This was a biggie, although I'm very into being green and recycling, the no paper policy which stopped the distribution of a course map was an extreme let down. Yes you could take pictures of the large course map displayed in a couple of places on the course or view it on "Your Tour" option of the Horizon site. However it was hard to read the detailed information on a phone. The course was a little complicated to find the crossings. It also had a couple of "cul de sac" tee to greens. Meaning you would be trying to follow a group and find you had to go back the "long" way to find a crossing/route, and hopefully pick them up further on down the course. It made it hard to navigate and to be honest at least a good paper map, which used to be given out at the "Information desk" would definitely have helped. We ended up emailing a screenshot of the course map to our hotel reception and they printed one out for us for the 2nd day. It help enormously with several people asking where we got our map! I'll remember that in future. We've attended several Irish Opens and I'm sure this won't be our last.
A lovely sunny day. Golf entertaining on the day.
First and foremost: great to have the tournament in Holland. Information to spectators could be improved. F.i. more scorekeepers per flight, leaderboard, course-outlay also on paper instead of only online etc.