Avis de Leonard de The Island Golf Club.

The drive to the Island (about half an hour north of Dublin) is very nice. Especially the last part where the water is just right of the road and you see the clubhouse in the distance. The clubhouse itself is not very interesting but the golf course, designed in 1890, is extremely nice. We played it on an exceptional hot day in June and enjoyed ourselves tremendously. Every hole is different and it takes straight drives to stay out of trouble. But if you hit it straight or bump and run it on the fairway it goes for miles. I loved the long (195 meter) par 3 (hole 13) towards the water with the view on Malahide and the very tight short holes that followed. One of them is even the most narrow fairway on a Irish links course. As every where on this course the right place to land, bump and roll your tee-shot is eminent to shoot a decent score. The diversity of the holes at the island is amazing maybe only the two holes on the edge are similar but the rest are all different. The finishing 421 meter (from the green tees) is brutal; you need a 260+ meter drive and a 160 bump and run to reach the green I did just that in two and then 3 putted this stroke index 1 hole... If there is one point that can be improved, then it's the clubhouse. I think it was built in the 70's and it just misses the atmosphere you would expect at such an old club. But hey, I have played many lousy courses with great clubhouses. I'd rather have it this way. The staff was super friendly, plenty of trolleys, but just so many buggies so call in advance if you really need one. The Island is definitely my favourite in the Dublin area and I would love to play it with serious wind because I think my 30 stableford points would probably be halved...

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