LESS than 12 months after the installation of a new, state of the art irrigation system, Portmarnock is beginning to look its old self again. Indeed club officials are justifiably delighted with progress in their 10-year restoration programme for the celebrated, North Dublin links.
The immediate target is the Men's European Amateur Team Championship which they are playing host to on June 25th to 29th. For that event, competitors will face a layout lengthened by 200 yards through new championship tees at the second, third, 14th and 16th holes. And by the end of March, work will be completed on the revetting and realigning of 50 bunkers.
Portmarnock's reputation has generated tremendous interest among the competing nations. For instance, while fairways at Reykjavik were in the grip of Arctic conditions, the Icelandic team travelled to Portmarnock for practice sessions before Christmas. Since then, similar bookings have been made by the Swiss, French, Dutch and Scottish teams for April and May.
Meanwhile, there is no doubting the commitment of the club's members to a radical restoration policy, forced on them through the prolonged drought of 1995. Apart from closing the links to visitors for a period of five months in 1995/1996, no play has been permitted off the fairways this winter.
During a recent visit there, I was supplied with an astro-turf mat on which to place my ball for a fairway shot. Alternatively, I could have played it from five yards into the rough. "We're delighted with the results," said club honorary secretary, Moss Buckley.
He went on: "A complete audit of the links was carried out by the well-known golf course architects, Hawtree and Son, and we also engaged the services of Walter Woods, who retired in 1995 as links superintendent at St Andrews. They agree that the traditional characteristics of the links should be retained."
The overall plan included a thorough aeration of greens and fairways and the planting of traditional marram and gorse to increase the premium on accuracy off the tee. Everything should be back to normal in little more than a month; after that, spring growth should do the rest.
Meanwhile, it is intended to protect the links on an ongoing basis by limiting green fees to 12,000 per year - 4,000 of those for members' guests. As Buckley concluded: "We are conscious of our responsibility to pass on to future generations of golfers a links of which they can be proud." Just so.
"You might as well praise a man for not robbing a bank." The great Bobby Jones, on being asked what he thought of a golfer who called penalty on himself.
FOR the benefit of its readers who might be having difficulty in understanding the US national debt, the "Washington Golf Monthly" put it this way. They pointed out that the increase in the debt on just one day - the sixth of last month - would buy four dozen golf balls for every golfer in the US, all 25 million of them. The cost? A cool $1 billion.
Meanwhile, a Denver-based company, Strategic Marketing Management, has targeted four USPGA Tour events this year for its new GolfWatch programme. Its what? To you and me it means exclusive and, consequently, rather pricey spectating.
Starting at next month's Nissan Open in Los Angeles, rich, corporate executives can avoid mixing with the riff-raff by using so-called express walking lanes along the fairways. The cost? A giveaway $1,500.
FIVE businessmen have come together in an ambitious golf course development near Carrigart, in north-west Donegal. One of them happens to be Michael McGinley, a popular figure in Leinster golf and a former non-playing captain of the Irish Boys' Team. So we shouldn't be too surprised to learn that the course will be designed by his son, Paul, who is currently competing in Australia.
"It's a marvellous site, near Rosapenna and only a 40-minute drive from the new Donegal Airport," said McGinley senior last night. "The long-term objective is that the club, to be called Sheephaven Bay, could become a major boost to tourism in the area.
Having been born in Dunfanaghy, where he is a past president and past captain of the local club, his enthusiasm for the project is entirely understandable. "We bought a 200-acre site of which about 140 acres is magnificent duneland," he said. "The idea is that Paul should design the course in collaboration with Declan Branigan.
Barring any setbacks, the new, Paul McGinley links should be playable next year. By that stage, it will enhance the tourist appeal of an area boasting the complementary links terrain of Ballyliffin, Dunfanaghy, Rosapenna and Portsalon.
TOURNAMENT golfers become decidedly edgy when they hear the typically incisive observations of television pundit Johnny Miller. Their problem is that Miller's record permits him to speak with authority.
The point gains rich emphasis in an analysis of performances in the Phoenix Open, currently in progress at Scottsdale. When successfully defending the title in 1975, Miller shot a 14-under-par aggregate of 260. More significantly, runner-up Jerry Heard was 14 strokes adrift, giving Miller the second largest winning margin in USPGA Tour history.
Ben Hogan also won by 14 strokes at the Portland Invitational in 1945, but the record is held jointly by non-Americans. Australian trick-shot artist Joe Kirkwood (1924 Corpus Christi Open) and Bobby Locke (1948 Chicago Victory Championship), each won by 16 strokes.
Miller was past his peak when he lost an eight-hole playoff at Phoenix in 1983, sharing second place with Mark O'Meara and Rex Caldwell behind Bob Gilder. Meanwhile, the Phoenix Open retains a special significance for Arnold Palmer insofar as it was there, in 1955, that he made his tournament debut. An aggregate of 281 gave Palmer ninth place behind the winner, Gene Littler.
The decorations may be down but the Christmas spirit remains with us. So it is that we're offering readers a rather special treat - the chance for two people (maximum handicap of 20), to play a round of golf with Christy O'Connor Snr, followed by dinner.
The occasion will be the Esso-sponsored Links Society Outing at Portmarnock Hotel and Links on February 13th. All you have to do is answer this question. Christy had only one tournament victory on the neighbouring Portmarnock course: what was it? Answers to: Esso Links Competition, 22 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
IN BRIEF: Paddy Governey of Sporting Concepts Ireland, informs me that his company have secured a £750,000 contract for course reconstruction at Douglas GC. Under the supervision of architect Peter McEvoy, all 18 greens will be rebuilt to USGA specifications over the next six months, while areas of the course will also be lengthened ... Following on the success of the inaugural event last year, the Ulster Bank is to continue sponsorship of the All-Ireland Ladies Fourball Championship. This year's event gets under way in May and will have the national final on October 4th. Details from (01) 2830088 ... Ciaran Cosgrave, who describes himself as a peak performance coach, has devised a programme for golfers. He can be contacted at (01) 2839973 or 2604394.
TEASER: In a match, A, believing he has won a hole, picks up the coin marking the position of his opponent B's ball. In fact B had a putt to halve the hole. Should the picking up of B's ball-marker be considered a concession of B's next stroke?
ANSWER: No. In equity (Rule 1-4), A should be penalised one stroke. Therefore, under the second paragraph of Rule 2-2 - "When a player has holed out and his opponent has been left with a stroke for a half, if the player thereafter incurs a penalty, the hole is halved." - the hole is automatically halved.
N.B. I had a very curious phone call this week from a west of Ireland reader about goings-on in Munster. It seems that a member of a Connacht club, which remains his handicapping authority, joined a Munster club which decided that he must play to a lower handicap imposed by them. The player is exasperated by the apparent refusal of this club to accept that under Rule 13 of the SSS and Handicapping Scheme, he can have only one handicap. Can GUI officials, who are aware of this case, enlighten them?
