Gender question only part of the story as Portmarnock and The Island host Amateur Championship
The 15th at Portmarnock
Mention Portmarnock Golf Club to non-golfing folk and you may well hear sighs about its status as a men-only club.
Mention it to keen golfers of any sex and talk is almost always of the quality of the course, the fairness of the test and the list of great champions who have triumphed on its springy turf from Arnold Palmer and Seve Ballesteros to Phil Mickelson, Christy O'Connor, Bobby Locke, and JB Carr.
Add to that list the likes of Rhona Adair, Janet Jackson or Philomena Garvey and it's a who's who of Irish and world golf and a new chapter in its 125-year history will be written later this month when it hosts the Amateur Championship for only the second time.
Change may well come to the club soon as it looks deeper into the whole gender question but when asked to describe the essence of Portmarnock last week, the club's President summed it up as a golfer only could.
"I would describe it as a pure golf club," said Gavin Caldwell, a former captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club. "People come here to play golf. I don't think I would put it in a more complicated fashion than that. There isn't a big social side to Portmarnock, being 12 miles from the city. People come to play golf and then go home. And they invariably enjoy it."
A grand total of 418 players entered the Amateur this year but just 288 made the field for the event which begins on Monday, June 17 with two days of strokeplay qualifying at Portmarnock and The Island before the matchplay stages begin on Wednesday and new champion is crowned on Saturday, June 22.
They range in age from 15-year old Englishman Josh Hill to 57-year old American Gene Elliott and with the winner earning a spot in The Open at Royal Portrush as well as next year's Masters and US Open, it's one of the most coveted prizes in the game.
It will be the last major R&A event held at the club unless there is a change to its rules and women become members in the years ahead. But while that issue is dealt with over the coming months, the course remains one of the great tests.
Just ask the Links Manager, Gary Johnstone, a Scot who was manager of the links at Carnoustie early in his career and now resides at the top of the driveway that leads to Portmarnock and spends his days giving the course the loving care it requires.
It's a links that has undergone significant improvement over the past decade and following a major audit by course designer Martin Ebert, the addition new mounding has given holes like the first, ninth and tenth more definition, while six cleverly situated new bunkers encourage players to tackle the challenge as it was designed to be played or pay the penalty.
It is likely to be one of the most testing Amateur Championship venues of recent years with the new fairway bunkers designed to stop the big hitter in his tracks and think before letting loose.
"If you hit the fairways and have a good short game, you will do well," the Angus native said over tea in the clubhouse last week. "The better player should win here."
It isn't just the new bunkers that have kept Johnstone and his 16-strong grounds staff busy preparing for the amateur but also the newly redesigned practice ground, complete with indoor bays.
"We haven't lengthened the course, just made some of the championship tees bigger to accommodate more people," he said, looking out on what doubles up as a nature reserve, teeming with precious wildlife.
His job is to allow the links to shine as brightly as possible and there are few better examples of his handiwork than the world famous, par-three 15th where the path on the right now sinks out of view and the pines beyond the green now removed to give you a better view of the dunes beyond.
With the fence and buckthorn on the right also gone, the strand is now exposed in its golden glory as you stand on the championship tee facing a 204-yard challenge that Ben Crenshaw jokingly described as "the easiest par-5 in the world."
"We are up there with the best but we could always be better and we will strive for that," he said. "We have a staff of 16 but we will have 13 or 14 volunteers coming in for the Amateur from neighbouring clubs such as Royal Dublin and Portmarnock Links as well as other from Killeen Castle as well as the US and France."
There is excitement too at The Island, which is planning major changes to its course in the months and years ahead but happy for now to welcome the game's top amateurs.
Club President Mary Quinn said The Island was "very honoured" to be invited to play its role in hosting the event.
"I think for any club, it smartens you up to have an event like this. A lot of work has been done in the background and our General Manager, John Lawler, has been wonderful.
“We also welcome Portmarnock’s new manager [Andrew Whitelaw] so along with John, we have two young men who I am sure will be working closely together in the years to come.
"As a mother of five sons, I won't labour the point, but Portmarnock is what it is. The Island is different. There is a social aspect to it. But we tend to play our golf and enjoy it in a different atmosphere. Maybe the differences will bring us closer together in many ways.
"I have absolutely no problem with all-men this and all-men that. I have had the same poker club of pure women for 40 years so there are advantages and disadvantages and I think it is up to Portmarnock to run their club the way they wish to and The Island to run The Island the way they wish to.
"We are very different but there is a huge amount that brings us together rather than divides us."
The Island is set to undergo some major changes after a recent approval of a course improvement plan that could cost up to €1.2 million to implement.
The Island Golf Club
Architect Martin Ebert came up with four proposals to develop the front nine at the north Dublin links and the members approved the club council's preferred option at a recent Special General Meeting held at Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links.
The approved plan was devised to resolve a safety issue with the current eighth hole and a winter par three, 4A, will now be incorporated into the course.
The current fourth will be played as the new fifth from tees behind the green on 4A to new green located near the site of the existing chipping green.
The fifth will become the new sixth hole with a new back tee added while the seventh, eighth and ninth with will be replaced by two new holes.
The new, par-four eighth will tee off from an area close to the current seventh tee and dogleg gently right to a new green located in the dunes.
The new, par-four ninth will tee off close to the current seventh green and dunes between the current seventh and eighth will be reshaped to allow for the creation of a new fairway.
With the existing ninth green set to be turned into a new short game practice area, the project is designed to make The Island an even more outstanding links.
Ebert is one of the game's leading architects with the two new holes he created for The Open at Royal Portrush already regarded as an outstanding success.
