When fairway bunkers are less than fair

UPWARDS of 23,000 rounds are expected to be played this year at the Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links, which would mean green fee revenue in the region of £700,000. The figures reflect the strategic location of a fine, pay and play layout, designed by Bernhard Langer in association with Stan Eby of European Golf Design.

Work is in progress on a restructuring of the old Country Club Hotel which is being incorporated into the £18 million development, owned by a consortium of businessmen including Tony O'Reilly and Mark McCormack. With 105 rooms, the hotel is expected to open in June, on schedule. It was originally the site of Jameson House, where the guests included such notables as King Edward VII, aviator Amy Johnstone and Guiseppe Marconi.

On a playing visit earlier this week, I was struck by the mature look of the course, which was officially opened less than a year ago. Complementing its more illustrious neighbour, it has become a popular haunt for some of Ireland's leading tournament players, including Philip Walton, Raymond Burns, Paul McGinley and Des Smyth.

Christy O'Connor Jnr, who combines splendid design skills with a tournament career, has also played there. When we spoke about the course, I was pleasantly surprised at how sympathetic he was to the problems of the higher handicap golfer. In that context, we concluded that the nature of the bunkering is far too severe.

Most of the bunkers, including those on the fairways, are sufficiently deep to require revetting. This makes them fiendishly difficult hazards. By way of emphasising his balanced attitude to the design, O'Connor said: "It is a helluva challenge for the single figure amateur and for guys like me. Indeed I would strongly recommend it to players who take their golf seriously and are looking for a searching test."

He went on: "My feeling about fairway bunkers is that they can be severe, but only on shorter par fours where a wedge recovery will get the player somewhere close to the green. At longer par fours, however, it should be possible to play a five iron recovery. And I say this as someone who has no fear of bunkers: for instance, I have never failed to get out of the famous Road Hole bunker at St Andrews.

With an overall length of 6,815 yards off the back tees, it is not as daunting as its neighbour, but remains a formidable challenge, particularly in fresh winds. And there is general agreement about the superb quality of the three finishing holes - the 408 yard 16th, which dog legs right off an elevated tee; the 204 yard 17th where club selection is absolutely critical to a plateau green and the heavily hunkered, 449 yard 18th, played directly towards the north.

Director of golf is Moira Cassidy, a former Leinster interprovincial, current Leinster selector and Irish Junior non playing captain. She has already played host to some distinguished sporting visitors including Damon Hill, Gareth Edwards, Ken Venturi and Jackie Stewart. Given the quality of the venue, one suspects that the list will grow impressively during the months and years ahead.

"Usually he wants to sit there until they name the place after him, but he's shown a lot of discipline to walk away this time." John Daly's manager Bud Martin, on his man's prudence in walking away from a Melbourne blackjack table after winning $187,500. Daly reportedly plays as many as five hands at a time.

Arising out of his recent contribution to this column, Dr Henry Hacker, the consultant psychologist at Domingo Hospital, has had the following letter from a West of Ireland reader: "I really love my golf and look forward to regular, club fourballs. But there is this member of our group who drives me demented by humming all four parts of the quartet from Rigoletto, when I'm at the top of my backswing.

"I have resorted to giving him several vicious whacks across the shins with my titanium head, boron graphite shafted driver. So far, it hasn't worked and I'm afraid of damaging the club if I inject greater enthusiasm into the assaults. What am to do?"

Dr Hacker replies: "Dear West of Ireland reader: Obviously you can't change your fourball since to do so would be to admit defeat to this wretch. So, you must learn to relax on the course. Before the round, take yourself to the 19th and spend a couple of hours drinking cooking sherry. Or, to avoid the law, head for the nearest point of relief with a bottle of poitin. By the time you're ready to tee off, you'll hardly be capable of seeing the ball, much less swinging a club. And you will be oblivious to all irritating sounds, however dreadfully you play."

The K Club, venue of the Smurfit European Open has become the location of a more sedate challenge. The Arnold Palmer designed layout is among a select group of courses featured on "PGA European Tour", a computer game which we are assured, reaches new heights of reality with the help of a commentary by Peter Alliss.

Every hill, valley and water hazard of the Straffan layout is featured in 3-D. And to allow the participants to pit their skills against some of the leading lights on the tour, the swings of such players as Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal were filmed on blue screen and digitised into the product, with remarkable clarity.

Digitised sound and speech, along with varying formats of competition from strokeplay to skins, further enhance the game's realism. And she three selected golf clubs are The K Club, Wentworth and the renowned Gut Kaden course in Hamburg, where Langer captured the Deutsche Bank Open last season. The game is a product of EA Sports, one of the world's leading specialists in this field.

Arnold Palmer, who will be 67 later this year, recently received a computer generated letter from the USPGA Tour which would be standard procedure to all members aged 65 and over. It pointed out that if he didn't play 12 events this season, he would be considered retired and therefore eligible to begin collecting retirement benefits. Observers consider this to be highly unlikely, however, given that Forbes magazine estimated Palmer's current wealth at $175 million.

As reigning US Masters champion, Ben Crenshaw was obviously well prepared for the question. We are all familiar with the hardy annual as to how a win for Greg Norman at Augusta is long, long overdue. During a recent interview session, Crenshaw was ready.

"There's no doubt that Greg is odds on favourite for this year's Masters," he said. "By that, I mean that we've seen some really hot golf from Greg over the last few weeks, especially at Doral. Indeed he's been outstanding over the last two years and it is exceptional to sustain that level of play for that long, given the quality of the competition."

Enter Crenshaw the diplomat. "All Greg can do is hope that the right things happen for him at Augusta," he went on. "I honestly believe that with regard to certain, specific strokes, something indefinable happens to decide the destination of a major championship. Certainly it happened in my own case.

"When I won last year I played a few shots where I really couldn't predict the outcome. Golf can be that way. And when the result is positive, it gives you the lift you need; the belief that this is going to be your week. Maybe there will be only two, three or four such shots over the whole week, but to my mind, they really decide, everything. Greg knows that better than anybody."

Meanwhile, Crenshaw - revealed a fascinating treatment for golfers with back problems - hot corn bread poultice. "My father is from Alabama and when he was growing up, there was nothing that this poultice couldn't fix, including a bad back," he said. And what's the recipe? According to the Masters champion, it's a secret to which only Alabamans, such as Jerry Pate, are privy.

Teaser: A player marks the position of his ball on the putting green and lifts his ball. By mistake, he places another ball on the spot from which his original ball was lifted. He discovers his error before playing his next stroke, places his original ball on the spot from which it was lifted and holes out with it. What is the ruling?

Answer: There is no penalty. The player corrected the error and did not play a stroke with the other ball. Therefore, a penalty under Rule 15-1 was not applicable. Further, the other ball effectively marked the position of his original ball. So a penalty under Rule 20-1 (Lifting) was not applicable.