Without wishing to get into a debate over causes, I believe it's commonly accepted that polar ice is melting and sea levels are rising.
Thus tidal surges will get larger and there's more water for wind to push around. Anecdotally we do seem to be seeing more of these problems.
I read in an Irish paper on Friday that there was flooding in Portmarnock but the course itself wasn't mentioned. It is fairly low lying and similay courses like Aberdovey would be my first concerns. The West Coast courses of Ireland and Scotland mostly sit behind huge dunes but it wouldn't be wise to underestimate the power of the sea.
http://www.irishgolfdesk.com/
Interesting that people are arguing that the council should find money to protect a major tourism earner. In most places any money is rightly being spend on protecting the populace. At Deal they are raising the sea wall and the work appears to stop at the Golf Course.
To be continued...
Sounds quite bad at Rosses Point.
The large gabion walls installed at Lahinch probably saved it from serious damage. The water seemed to mainly penetrate at the low lying areas around the third tee where the promenade and car park was washed away.
Portmarnock was fine on Wednesday but I'm not sure about Friday - The Irish sea coast has been accreting for a few years so there shouldn't be damage to the course around the 15th. Years gone past saw the low lying areas of the 5th and 6th effected but drainage works undertaken there a couple of winters ago should be effective. The main erosion concerns would be on the estuary side around the 1st and 3rd but by its nature, the water would be less violent there.
I've seen enormous lakes at The Island before so I wouldn't be surprised to see it out of action.
Plus you'd have to worry about some of the historically erosion prone courses of Donegal... North-West, Narin & Portnoo etc...