Portmarnock Golf Course, Ireland

Ireland golf course Portmarnock, Country Dublin.

Portmarnock in Ireland has been acclaimed as one of the most beautiful places to play golf on a fine summer's day, surrounded as it is by water, with a view of the Mountains of Mourne sweeping down to the sea in the distance. And yet when the wind blows the course can become as tough and demanding as any seaside links.

The course was founded by two local men, W.e. Pickeman and George Ross, who rowed across the estuary to make a golf course. Pickeman and Mungo Park, the 1874 Open Champion, made the first course in 1894 and it was extended by Fred W. Hawtree in the 1970s. The two finest holes are the 14th which, though only 385 yards (352m), is played out towards the sea to a plateau green surrounded by bunkers and slopes. This is followed by the short 15th which Arnold Palmer called the best short hole in the world.

Portmarnock has played host to many championships, including the Dunlop Masters, the Canada Cup (now the World Cup), the Carroll's Irish Open and the British Amateur Championship. The most memorable day in the history of the course was at the Irish Open Championship in 192 7 when all the tents were blown out to sea and only one player, George Duncan, broke 80 in the after­noon to win by a shot from the great Henry Cotton, who had consecutive rounds of 86 and 81.

In contrast, when the weather is benign, the Irish rain has fallen to soften the greens and the winds are light and balmy, the course offers little defense to the best modem professionals. Bernhard Langer's highest round in the 1987 Carroll's Irish Open was 68 and he beat par by no fewer than 19 shots.