Short Tour of Dublin North: THE ISLAND GC

[Ally Mcintosh]

It's tough to lose the 7th green. Does the change have something to with the combined 8/9?

Ciao

I believe so.


When this plan was first mooted by Hawtree about 12 years ago, I assumed 7 green would remain (excellent hole) and that the access road was going around the far side of the practice area, allowing 8 and 9 to be somewhat combined from the current 8th tee site.


Maybe that was never the plan. Maybe - because it would have still left an up and over tee shot - it was deemed too quirky or maybe the road access wasn’t feasible. Or maybe M&E have just changed that plan to their own liking.


Either way, my main concern is that individual features will have been removed for more of that championship feel. Maybe that’s a trade-off worth making with this course. Can’t wait to see it either way.

[Ira Fishman]

The more I ponder the changes, the more I wonder about the motivations. Yes, it is unusual to have 8 Par Fours in a row on the Front Nine. Yes, Number 9 is the weakest hole on the course. But what a wonderful, special place. And the opening Eight holes are one of the reasons. If the membership is in favor, it certainly is none of my business given that I probably will have the pleasure of playing only twice. But we appreciated the course so much that we built a second trip to Dublin in order to play it again.


Ira

[Sean_A]

It's tough to lose the 7th green. Does the change have something to with the combined 8/9?

Ciao

I believe so.

When this plan was first mooted by Hawtree about 12 years ago, I assumed 7 green would remain (excellent hole) and that the access road was going around the far side of the practice area, allowing 8 and 9 to be somewhat combined from the current 8th tee site.

Maybe that was never the plan. Maybe - because it would have still left an up and over tee shot - it was deemed too quirky or maybe the road access wasn’t feasible. Or maybe M&E have just changed that plan to their own liking.

Either way, my main concern is that individual features will have been removed for more of that championship feel. Maybe that’s a trade-off worth making with this course. Can’t wait to see it either way.

I guess my take is that it is often dubious to make changes for championship convenience/pro preferences. Altering a non-championship course to obtain a championship feel is extremely dubious. The rush toward design and presentation conformity which it seems the ruling bodies and pro tours want from host courses is an alarming trend. If this trend continues, at the very least many more archies should be thrown into mix. Relying on a few archies is not enough to ensure the integrity of design diversity.  Unfortunately, most clubs don't think this way.

Ciao

[Adam Lawrence]

The Island is installing the Ecobunker solution in its bunkers, but they are not going fully synthetic -- the bottom half dozen layers of the wall will be Ecobunker, which will      establish a firm footing and ensure that the bunker wall doesn't move, even though those six layers will not be visible to golfers as they'll be covered by sand. From there up they will be natural -- but rebuilding the bunkers will be much easier as the base of the wall will stay in place.

[John Mayhugh]

I guess my take is that it is often dubious to make changes for championship convenience/pro preferences. Altering a non-championship course to obtain a championship feel is extremely dubious.

The road to mediocrity is paved with good intentions.