PHILIP REID gives a few pointers to readers who rise to the challenge of submitting their all-star composite Irish links
IMAGINE THIS: the great golf course designers, of the past and present, are given a blank canvas. Imagine if Simpson and Colt and Hackett and Ruddy and Old Tom and others were asked to use what Mother Nature had provided and then add their own ingenuity to create Ireland’s greatest links course. What would be their creation be like?
Imagine the conversation around the round table, as Pat Ruddy explains to Harry Colt how he came up with the par 4 seventh hole at The European Club; and Colt countering with how it was the 14th hole at Royal Portrush evolved into the mammoth par 3 that it remains to this day?
In any dunes system, there are natural holes all over the place. The trick is to find them, and – fortunately for us – many of the world’s top course designers ensured that many of the world’s great holes have been created here.
Ireland is blessed with arguably the finest links terrain to be found anywhere in the world. In all, some 30 per cent of all links courses in the world are to be found on this island, and – whether the earth was moved by horses and cart in bygone days or by modern machinery in more recent times – the upshot is our seaside courses have an unparalleled quality of links golf holes.
Our idea is to turn those great holes into the ultimate links, an eclectic course featuring the very best of the best. And readers are asked to put on their design holes to submit their selection – holes 1 to 18 – of what they believe constitutes the greatest links holes in the country.
A similar exercise to find the best 18 parkland holes will be conducted in June.
For now, though, it is all about links holes.
One of the criteria is that the hole selected must occupy that position on its home course.
A panel of golf writers from The Irish Timeshas selected a list of their favourite holes to give some guidance, but a "wild card" choice is also available if you would like to chose a hole not suggested.
Readers are asked to send their eclectic links course to bestholes@irishtimes.com
The front nine of The Irish Timeseclectic links course will be announced today (May 12th), with the back nine announced next Tuesday.
How do you go about it? It’s up to you. There is no magic formula, no requirement to have a par of 72 or a necessity to have a course that features 10 par 4s, four par 5s and four par 3s.
Don’t worry if there are back-to-back par 3s or par 5s. After all, they already exist on Ballybunion Old. No, the only requirement is to come up with Ireland’s greatest 18 holes of links golf.
The beauty of golf is that different people see and expect different things, which is why there is so much debate as to where and what are the great holes of golf.
Beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder, and the challenge that each holes presents to the golfer standing on the tee varies from hole-to-hole and place to place. Some holes are brutishly long. Others are drivable par 4s with their own challenges. That is the beauty of links golf, that there is no sameness and that the wind one day is different the next.
The variety of links holes is extraordinary. Some are set amidst towering duneland and massive sandhills, others are to be found on relatively flat terrain. Some have the backdrop of mountains, others are positioned along cliff edges and so close to the sea that you can taste the salt in the sea’s spray.
We want you to create the ultimate Irish links course, an eclectic layout that covers the island. Use your creativity. Debate it with your friends. Give us Ireland’s 18 Greatest Links Holes.
Your Dream 18: Create the ultimate Irish Links
1st
(a) Enniscrone (Par 4)
(b) Portstewart (Strand) (Par 4)
(c) The Island (Par 4)
(d) Doonbeg (Par 5)
(e) Connemara (Par 4)
(f) Wild Card choice
2nd
(a) Waterville (Par 4)
(b) Portsalon (Par 4)
(c) Tralee (Par 5)
(d) Ballybunion (Old) (Par 4)
(e) Old Head (Par 4)
(f) Wild Card choice
3rd
(a) Royal County Down (par 4)
(b) The European (Par 4)
(c) Arklow (Par 3)
(d) Tralee (Par 3)
(e) Lahinch (Old) (Par 4)
(f) Wild Card choice
4th
(a) Rosapenna (Sandy Hills) (Par 4)
(b) The Island (Par 4)
(c) Co Sligo (Par 3)
(d) Royal County Down (Par 3)
(e) Castlerock (Par 3)
(f) Wild Card choice
5th
(a) Royal Portrush (Dunluce) (Par 4)
(b) Lahinch (Old) (Par 3)
(c) Rosslare (Par 4)
(d) Royal Dublin (Par 4)
(e) Co Louth (Par 3)
(f) Wild Card choice
6th
(a) Lahinch (Old) (Par 4)
(b) Doonbeg (Par 4)
(c) Royal Dublin (Par 5)
(d) Rosapenna (Sandy Hills) (Par 4)
(e) Cruit Island (Par 3)
(f) Wild Card choice
7th
(a) The European (Par 4)
(b) Royal Portrush (Dunluce) (Par 4)
(c) Ballybunion (Old) (Par 4)
(d) Ballyliffin (Glashedy) (Par 3)
(e) Narin and Portnoo (Par 3)
(f) Wild Card choice
8th
(a) Tralee (Par 4)
(b) Portmarnock (Old) (Par 4)
(c) Lahinch (Old) (Par 3)
(d) Donegal (Murvagh) (Par 5)
(e) Royal County Down (Par 4)
(f) Wild Card choice
9th
(a) Royal County Down (Par 4)
(b) Co Louth (Par 4)
(c) Ballybunion (Old) (Par 4)
(d) Enniscrone (Par 4)
(e) Portmarnock (Old)
(f) Wild Card choice
10th
(a) Carne (Par 5)
(b) Lahinch (Old) (Par 4)
(c) Dingle (Par 3)
(d) Royal Dublin (Par 4)
(e) Ballybunion (Cashen) (Par 4)
(f) Wild Card choice
11th
(a) Tralee (Par 5)
(b) Royal County Down (Par 4)
(c) The European (Par 4)
(d) Ballybunion (Old) (Par 4)
(e) Waterville (Par 4)
(f) Wild Card choice
12th
(a) Portmarnock (Old) (Par 3)
(b) Old Head (Par 5)
(c) The European (Par 4)
(d) Lahinch (Old) (Par 5)
(e) Waterville (Par 3)
(f) Wild Card choice
13th
(a) The European (Par 5)
(b) Royal County Down (Par 4)
(c) Dooks (Par 3)
(d) The Island (Par 3)
(e) Royal Portrush (Par 4)
(f) Wild Card choice
14th
(a) Co Louth (Par 4)
(b) Royal Portrush (Par 3)
(c) Rosapenna (Old Tom Morris) (Par 3)
(d) Portmarnock (Old) (Par 4)
(e) The European (Par 3)
(f) Wild Card choice
15th
(a) Portmarnock (Old) (Par 3)
(b) Lahinch (Old) (Par 4)
(c) Doonbeg (Par 4)
(d) Ballyliffin (Old) (Par 4)
(e) Enniscrone (Par 4)
(f) Wild Card choice
16th
(a) Waterville (Par 4)
(b) Portmarnock Links (Par 4)
(c) Carne (Par 3)
(d) Ballybunion (Old) (Par 5)
(e) Co Louth (Par 4)
(f) Wild Card choice
17th
(a) The European (Par 4)
(b) Co Sligo (Par 4)
(c) Ballybunion (Old) (Par 4)
(d) Carne (Par 4)
(e) Tralee (Par 4)
(f) Wild Card choice
18th
(a) Laytown & Bettystown (Par 5)
(b) Portmarnock (Old) (Par 4)
(c) St Helen’s Bay (Par 4)
(d) Seapoint (Par 5)
(e) Waterville (Par 5)
(f) Wild Card choice
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