The Island Golf Club

Overview

The Island Golf Club was among the first twelve Golf Clubs to be founded in Ireland. There were two unusual features about it's origin for that time - 1) that it had no military connection as other clubs had - and 2) that it was initiated as a private proprietary club. The ten founders became the owners of the Club and only allowed members as annual ticket holders. Most of them were already members of Royal Dublin Golf Club which was founded some years earlier in 1885 but a rule in that club which did not permit play on Sundays was not to their liking. That is why - "In September 1887 four men rowed across the channel which separates the North Dublin village of Malahide from the spur of land to the North known locally as the Island." Their mission was to survey the wilderness and assess its suitably as a golf links. Since then it has progressed into one of Ireland’s top links courses, highlighted by the fact that the R&A continue to use The Island as their Irish qualifying course for The Open Championship. Darren Clarke continues to hold the course record here with a 63 which he set in the Irish PGA Championship back in 1999.