Okay folks, here's the lowdown on Dooks & Caragh GC, which was formed in 1889 and affiliated to the GUI in 1903. For 100 years the links remained a quirky, 9-holes monument to those early days as the members resisted all efforts at modernization. In 1970, an AGM agreed to expand to an 18-holes circuit. Ignoring convention and good sense, responsibility for designing one new hole was given to each member of a 9-man committee. A surprisingly acceptable result was the outcome. As the Club entered its second century, Martin Hawtree was engaged to fine tune the ‘uneven’ outcome of those ‘homemade’ efforts. Hawtree changed ‘everything’ while managing to provide the feeling that he had hardly laid a hand on the place. Some of the best courses have a dullish ‘link hole.’ At Dooks, it’s the 1st but as soon as you walk over the hill to the 2nd tee, the stunning setting will catch all of your attention. By the time you get to the par 3, 4th hole beside the beach you had better be into your A-game. The 368-yards, 7th is arguably the best hole on the course requiring an arrow-straight drive through a gap in the dunes before swales and bunkers have to be avoided to produce a ‘negotiable putt’ on a tilted green. However, my favorite hole is the 16th; conceived by the most gifted golfer on the famous committee of 9 - Dr. Billy O’Sullivan of Killarney fame. The drive has to fade around a strand of wind-blown trees while staying clear of tangly scrub before a precisely weighted second shot to a shelf green is undertaken. These days, a game at Dooks is just as good as playing at many, far more famous venues. Anybody who says Dooks is a 'dog' is being 'catty.'