Under the heading Memories of a Would-be Course Architect, Fr Micheal O'Doherty from Killorglin has sent me a delightful piece about the extension of Dooks from nine to 18 holes. The great change occurred 30 years ago, so it seems appropriate to use it now, before the year draws to a close.

Fr O'Doherty, who is chaplain to Tralee General Hospital, has been a member of Dooks for 40 years and once enjoyed the sweet experience of playing off nine. But he remains no less enthusiastic about the Royal and Ancient game, now that he has eased out to 15. Incidentally, he is also a life member of Ballybunion.

Here is the piece, which carries the sub-heading How the North-west was Won.

"In March 1968, three important events took place. Donagh O'Malley died, an Aer Lingus Viscount disappeared mysteriously over the Tuskar Rock . . . and George McAuliffe blistered.

"Many years of talk had taken place about adding another nine holes to Dooks and eventually it happened. On a cold Sunday afternoon, the new course design team, otherwise all the 15 active members, walked the land and decided where to play a new tee or a new green. The leader was the vastly-experienced Dr Billy O'Sullivan and our wise role consisted of the frequent and prudent use of `Yes Doctor'.

"The area available to us was the wild and unknown territory to the northwest of the third fairway. So the new nine slotted in after the old third green, which lay near the present 12th, and rejoined the 13th tee. The area was wild, full of sandhills and had many stony valleys. The future 11th fairway, however, presented an attractive vista except that it was totally covered with moss.

"We arranged that a small group would take responsibility for the creation of each hole and that some help would be available from the club, commensurate with its resources. I was on the Milltown (situated 10 miles from Dooks) team with Michael Shanahan, George McAuliffe, Brother Claver, Gabriel Gallagher and Michael Noonan and we were given the sixth hole.

"Seamus Roche became a valuable ally and soon informed us that the sod of a fairy fort near his home in Dungeel would make a perfect green. Off we went to take our chances with the fairies.

"They provided a special shovel designed to cut shallow sods suitable for our purpose and this was where George raised the first blister in the cause of the new Dooks. Or was it the fairies that got him?

"Declan Mangan, who was busy as a bee on all fronts, provided his sixth-class boys to roll the sods suitable for transporting. Kathleen Roche made copious supplies of tea and sandwiches which caused more trips than were really necessary.

"The indigenous sod was removed in Dooks; the new sods were laid and, hey presto, there was the Fairy Green. I insisted on a little raised ridge at the back of the green, somewhat like the 15th, as a feature. Some years later, it disappeared mysteriously, no doubt at the hands of a better course architect and all I was told was that that kind of feature was archaic.

"To tell the hole truth, George was not the only one who found the job tough. Our soft hands were not able for that shovel and we had to employ a man to finish the stripping of the sods. We paid him ourselves, which reminds me that the club hasn't reimbursed us yet, adjudged to the inflation index, of course.

"Meanwhile, other teams were doing their stuff. Dr Billy and his medical colleagues were doing the seventh. At the time, a new church was being built in Listry and there was plenty of topsoil available for the asking. As the years rolled on, much sand has been blown onto the seventh and I'm told the Listry black earth is now two feet under.

"Sean Callanan did nine, Connie Foley 10, Tadhg O'Reilly three and four, John Mangan and Tadhg Connor eight. And a fine job they did, quickly too. Not so Joe Shea, alas. Joe had five but found himself suffering from low enthusiasm for the project.

"Eventually, Declan got a load of sods somewhere and deposited them on the site. One evening, Joe attacked, armed with a pike. The sods were tossed into position, if that is not a sufficiently accurate description, and honour was served. Nature came to the rescue, filled the rather generous gaps and in the appointed time, the fifth became as excellent a green as you could wish.

"I found myself involved with the 11th, as follows. The designated architects evaporated and one day, Declan told me he had found a man with a tractor and a scoop and would I tell him what to do the on the morrow. This was great, another chance to create a things of beauty and no interruptions from anybody this time.

"So I told the gentleman, who was not a golfer, what to do. Flatten the sandhill to a smooth level area - `We call it a green' - and create a long, slow, wonderfully ascending runway up to it. Having explained it all in simple language, I went home to my lunch. When I returned to view my masterpiece, the man had gone, the job was half done and a most wonderfully challenging and tantalising green was created by pure accident. That was the moment when I admitted to myself that golf course creation was not my special gift.

"The present, lush eighth and 10th fairways were a lunar-type arid, stony waste. Declan once again found the solution. A half-day from school for his sixth class boys to pick stones broke the back of the job. Not only that, but some of those boys got the bug and are now valued members and gifted players in the club.

"The discovery of the 12th was a special thrill. More of the lovely 'umps and 'ollows created by nature by a process called heave, which is the opposite of subsidence. When the Ice Age ended, the earth bubbled upwards in wonderful patterns, also giving us those heady one-leg-up-one-leg-down lies. But I wonder how many courses can boast of having fairways 10,000 years old?

"The grand opening day was, like the day of the conception, a wet and miserable Sunday. Christy O'Connor, Dr Billy and two others played the first round on the new Dooks 18. Since then, many thousands of us have played many thousands of rounds in glorious surroundings and with endless pleasure. It was well worth a few blisters."