Sea of change in sunny south east

During the Smurfit European Open on the August bank holiday weekend, I happened to meet Tony Pierce on the practice ground at The K Club. In the space of no more than a few minutes, our conversation had ranged from Christy O'Connor Snr to Wentworth and, almost inevitably, to Pierce's beloved Rosslare.

"You must pay a visit to Rosslare and see the great work being done down there," urged this highly knowledgeable man of Irish golf. After extracting from me what must have seemed like a fairly anaemic promise, we parted.

Eight days ago, shortly before my departure from Boston after the Ryder Cup, I met up with Eric O'Brien whose main claim to golfing fame was to be beaten 2 and 1 by Joe Carr at Killarney in 1963, in the last 36-hole final of the Irish Close Championship. But he had another distinction: he won the Rosslare Scratch Cup in 1962.

Now, we're all familiar with the remarkably small world which golfers inhabit. So it was no more than a mild surprise for me to discover that O'Brien's victory at Rosslare came after an 18-hole playoff with R A Howlett of Tramore and who else, only the bold Tony Pierce. After a 36-hole score of 145, O'Brien shot 73 to Pierce's 74 and Howlett's 77.

Needless to remark, Pierce had ample compensation for that setback before the demise of the tournament in 1978, by which stage he had won it on four occasions - 1966, 1969, 1970 and 1973. Incidentally, Rosslare's event was the country's oldest scratch cup, having been launched in 1925, when it was won by local man Willie Ffrench.

Anyway, in between meeting Pierce and O'Brien, I paid a visit to Rosslare. While there, I took the opportunity of savouring Philip Walton's creation at St Helen's Bay which, since my first visit at the end of the construction stage, has developed into a charming holiday course with particularly impressive short holes.

My visit to Rosslare was on a Saturday, when 99.99 per cent of the country was subjected to the fiercest of storms. That was when I discovered the truth behind that holiday slogan much loved by Wexford people, about the sunny south-east.

The morning started so badly that it seemed the height of lunacy to even think of playing golf, much less put on the wet gear. But, in the company of two other lunatics, I did. And by the time we had left the sodden green of the short second, the rain had begun to ease. One hole later, the sun had broken through, miraculously.

I would later discover that Rosslare was probably the only course in the country where it was possible to have an enjoyable game of golf that day: golfers flocked from all over Wexford to take advantage of the freak weather. And in my middle years, I came to believe that the sunny south-east was not a figment of the imagination.

Out on the course, development work was in evidence, especially at the wonderfully testing fifth hole, where I got my first full view of the strand. With a large, idle track machine standing sentinel, one could get a close-up view of the remarkable rock revetment work being done in an endless battle at containing the forces of nature along the club's one and a half miles of coastline.

Secretary/manager Jim Hall, later explained how they had sought advice from the Hydraulic Institute in Wallingford, England, before embarking on this process of protecting their boundaries. It is work which has cost Rosslare GC more than £1 million since it began in 1982.

Initially, they tried gabions (rocks held together by wire mesh) as Ballybunion have done, before concluding that their life-span was no more than about 10 years. So they turned to the revetting process whereby individual rocks, from half a tonne to one tonne in weight, are stacked in position, just like sods of grass at the back of a bunker. The current work started last spring.

Then there is the work on the course itself which, when completed, will extend its overall length to 6,760 yards. A mile down the road, an extension of the New Course from nine to 12 holes, will be officially opened next April.

This nine-hole stretch has been in play since 1992 and is proving to be a tremendous asset to the club. In fact it will deliver green-fee revenue this season of about £100,000 at modest rates of £10 for nine holes and £15 for 18. Revenue from the main course will run to £180,000 at £22.

"It's extremely popular with our visitors, especially those from Wales," said Hall. The secretary/manager then explained that with the new, rapid sea crossings, it is possible for a Welsh golfer to leave his home in the valleys at about 8.0 in the morning, travel to Rosslare, play 18 holes of golf, have a few pints and an evening meal, and be back home in his own bed that night.

But Laura Davies would not find it to her liking. Laura who? Well, it has no bunkers and it will be recalled that the leading British woman professional created quite a fuss during the recent Donegal Irish Open because of the absence of sand traps on the Letterkenny course.

On the main course, where Paddy McGuirk beat Peter Townsend by 3 and 2 to win the last staging of the Carrolls Irish Matchplay Championship in 1982, extensive work is being carried out. And to splendid effect. Indeed only last week, work got under way on raising the green at the par-four ninth, where mis-hit approach shots will fall victim to a hollow to the front.

Elsewhere, new greens and tees have been constructed at the first, third, eighth and 16th; the greens at the fourth and seventh have been upgraded and modifications have also been made to the tees at the second, ninth, 12th and 14th. Work on the sixth and 15th tees is scheduled for later this year.

Then, of course, there's the splendid restructuring job that has been done on the clubhouse at a cost of £750,000. All of these developments are with a view to showing themselves off to best effect when the club celebrate their centenary in 2005.

It should be quite an occasion, not least in view of the many friends Rosslare have made over the years. Friends like Joe Carr, who won their Scratch Cup for the first time in 1950; completed a three-in-a-row in 1952 and went on to capture it for a fourth time in 1954. More recently, it was won by Bryan Malone (1964), Martin O'Brien (1965, 1967 and 1976), Raymond Kane (1972) and Michael Burns, who won the last staging in 1978.

Writing about the early years of Rosslare GC in The Irish Field on April 3rd, 1926, J P Rooney of this newspaper wrote . . . . "Following the preliminary meeting which was held in Wexford and of which there is unfortunately no record available, the first general meeting took place in Whites Hotel Wexford . . . . The work of planning the links and laying it out was entrusted to Mr Pettigrew (the honorary secretary), who showed a thorough knowledge of the game and of golf architecture."

He would be pleased that his legacy is in safe hands.