It all began with four men in a boat. The year was 1887, in
the small village of Malahide just north of Dublin, Ireland. The crew was comprised of a
lawyer, a brewery owner and two bankers. They were good friends, this intrepid
foursome, confirmed bachelors and golf addicts. For some time, each had gazed
longingly across the estuary from Malahide towards a vast wilderness of sand
dunes situated on a peninsula of land just half a mile in the distance, and
wondered if it might be possible to create a links course on the spectacular
looking site. Naturally with this group, curiosity won the day.
Perhaps back thenthere was nothing bizarre in the notion of
men rowing across a sometimes choppy estuary in order to play a round of golf
(by land the journey was difficult as well as lengthy). Yet only in
Ireland could such a mode of
transport continue as the normal means of access to their course until
1973.
From the instant they set foot on their island sanctuary, the
pioneering four realized they had discovered something special. Six kindred
souls were let in on the secret and in 1890 it was this group of 10 men, calling
itself “the Bachelors,” that founded the club. Within a few years, however, the
inevitable happened: Several of the cast got married, so the group restyled
itself as “the Syndicate.” A club membership developed and the Island became visitor-friendly. It was this elite body and
its appointed successors which ran the affairs of the Island Golf Club for more
than 60 years.
Geographically, The Island is situated close (and is
metaphorically overshadowed by) Portmarnock and Royal Dublin; physically,
however, the land has much more in common with the rugged links of southwest
Ireland. Rather flatteringly, the
Island has been described as “the Lahinch of
the east coast.”
It certainly possesses more than a hint of that great
course’s majesty and, yes, its quirkiness, too. Towering sand hills dominate
much of the terrain and when they aren’t in evidence, great swathes of marram
grass and tangling scrub run amok. The founding bachelors had no means and
possibly no inclination to tame the landscape, thus they built their course
among—occasionally routing over—the dunes. The Island, more than any other links
course in Ireland, simply evolved.
In 1973 British architect Fred Hawtree was commissioned to
“reorganize” the links. His mission was liberal in scope, for though it required
him to retain the distinctive character of the course, he was invited to make
whatever changes he considered necessary to “modernize” it. Nothing ever happens
in a hurry at the Island, and it took the
better part of two decades for all the changes to be implemented.
In addition to some subtle tinkering, seven new holes were
constructed. On the front nine the variety among the par 4 holes is exceptional.
The glory of the back nine is the sequence between the 12th and 15th, a run of
holes which tours the tip of the peninsula. It comprises a strong dogleg left to
a fiercely defended and sharply sloping green; a superb, long par 3 played over
humps and hollows to a green perched precariously on bluffs overlooking the
estuary; an arrow-straight par 4 of little more than 300 yards but where the
landing area of the tee shot is all of 13 paces wide—possibly the narrowest
fairway in golf—and a marvelous roller coasting par 5 that twists and tumbles
its way towards a green backed by a range of massive sand hills known as “the
Andes.”
Boatmen, bachelors and golfing purists—be forewarned: The
myriad charms of the Island await your
discovery.
