I played The Island Club near Dublin on Friday. This par 71 course has 13 par 4s, three 3s and 2 par 5s. The first eight holes are par fours, with the front nine finishing with a par three. I'll add that a few of those fours effectively play as par fives, but who's counting?
TIC is the narrowest links course I have ever played. The rough is up everywhere in the British Isles this year due to all the rain, but it was exceptionally brutal here. I'm not a great fan of searching through high grass for golf balls and there was a LOT of this action at TIC.
I understand the desire to challenge golfers to hit the ball straight, but there was no letup anywhere here... miss any one of the very narrow fairways and you were probably going to be punished with the death penalty. It was a tough slog. Most of the 12 guys in my group were worn out and drained when they finished their round. Not supprisingly, no one suggested we play an extra nine!
On a positive note, there is a wonderful variety of designs with the par 4s and each is unique... no cookie cutter stuff here. The par threes are also particularly interesting and challenging.
The course has had a good number of changes over the years. Does anyone know about its history? There is not much on the website.