There's no Men At Work sign, but the presence of a golf buggy in a strange place, by the side of the road alongside the Broadmeadows estuary and accompanied by some bodies bearing shovels, is explained some minutes later upon arrival in Balcarrick Golf Club. "It is all part of our continuing upgrading of the drainage system," says Joan Byrne, the secretary-manager of a progressive club that could rightly be hailed as one of the great success stories in Irish golf.
You quickly discover that Balcarrick - and its members - don't believe in time standing still. The club owes its existence to the foresight and intuition of a society of golfers, known as "The Homeless Golfers", who played out of the public course at Corballis (which is now across the road from their new pride and joy) in the 1970s and later became known as the Dublin and County Golf Club, building their own compact clubhouse to facilitate their growing ambitions. In 1991, the club changed its name to Balcarrick and, with the new name, came a new beginning.
Nowadays, that old clubhouse is a Chinese restaurant and the Balcarrick members change into their golf shoes a few hundred yards away on the opposite side of the road in a new, practical clubhouse which was built at a cost of over £500,000 and opened last year. Upon arriving in the car park, the clubhouse is a striking visual confirmation of the club's success in developing from a nomadic society into a genuine members' club.
Increasingly, however, the actual course is maturing into a challenging test. So much so, in fact, that it will play host to the preliminary rounds of the Pierce Purcell Shield next year and to the Jimmy Bruen in the year 2000.
Martin Sheridan, the head greenkeeper, sits in his buggy on the 18th fairway and casts his eye over the flatlands that have been developed into a golf course in an area of north county Dublin that now possesses six such facilities. "We've still some way to go, but we're moving in the right direction," he says. "The important thing is that we continue to improve the conditioning of the course, to get it to the same standards that our neighbours, The Island and Donabate, have succeeded in reaching. And to keep our members happy."
Indeed, the drainage programme, which had a number of the greenstaff on duty outside the course, is part of that on-going development. Apart from improving the drainage, they are also building new tee boxes (at the second, third, 11th and 15th holes) and, following on the successful reconstruction of the 14th green last year, work is currently underway on rebuilding the 11th green while a number of new bunkers are due to be added. Balcarrick's rise from the ashes has been an impressive one. In the space of 10 years, the club has purchased land, developed its own 18 holes - in two phases, with the first nine holes opening in time for the 1991 Captain's Day but not officially opened until the following year, and the second nine opening for play in 1995 - and, then, building its fine new premises as final testimony to its arrival as a golfing force.
The present lay-out mixes and matches the two nines: the first three holes are old, the next four new, the next three are old, the following four are new, and the closing four holes are old. The club committee didn't venture too far in their search for a course designer, plumping for Barry Langan who is actually a native of the Donabate area; and he has created an interesting challenge with the course measuring 6,900 yards, with a par of 73, off the back markers.
The first hole eases you into your round, a par four slight dog-leg left with a drain - which you'll discover is a feature of many holes - some 40 yards short of the green but not really in play. However, the second hole will waken you up. A par four measuring 445 yards off the back, there is a lateral water hazard all the way up the right-hand side and, for anyone over-compensating on the drive to avoid that hazard, a large pond awaits on the left. For added measure, a drain crosses the fairway some 170 yards from the green and the approach shot is played uphill to a green guarded left and right by bunkers.
The third, with the onus on placement with a iron off the tee, gives some respite before the fourth, another tough and long par four. Measuring 409 yards off the back, it is a slightly uphill, dog-leg left hole with mounding on the left and out-of-bounds to the right and anyone securing a par will feel mighty pleased with themselves.
An intriguing feature of the course lay-out is that the first seven holes are all par fours (just one less than the opening stretch at the near-by Island GC) and the last hole in the sequence, the seventh, is another slight dog-leg left with out-of-bounds threatening on the right, while the first long hole, the 558 yards par five eighth, dog-legs to the right and also has intimidating out-of-bounds to the right.
Water comes into play a good deal on the back nine. For instance, the drive on the 10th hole - a nice par five - is over water and the onus is on keeping the drive left as a water hazard meanders its way up the right, while the 12th - probably the best par three on the course - features a tee-shot that is largely over water and the 14th, another short hole, also has its green guarded by water.
However, it is the closing four holes (certainly the 15th, 16th and 18th) which will linger most in the memory. The 15th is a fine, long par five and, yet again, the green is protected by a pond and, it is safe to say, the most important shot on the hole is the third as many players will be forced to lay up in the narrow approach rather than be foolhardy enough to attempt to reach the green in two.
With marshes on the right, it is imperative to get away a good drive on the 16th - a par four measuring 436 yards - which quite rightly carries the Index 1 label. The only possible weak link in the finishing stretch is the 17th, which used to be the first and, in its time has also been a par three. In its current guise, it is a par four measuring a mere 258 yards off the back and, although reeds and marsh constitute much of the area between tee and green, it is very much on for big hitters. However, the finishing hole, which runs parallel to the 16th, is another good par four. A slight dogleg left, the landing area is quite narrow although a saving grace is that the semi-rough isn't exactly penal.
All in all, Balcarrick is a club that is headed in the right direction. Recently, they appointed Stephen Rayfus as their resident club professional and, it is hoped, under his direction, the club will nurture junior talent that will ensure their success in inter-club competition in the future. Given the way that they have developed since starting out as a homeless society just over 20 years ago, the indications are that they can't but succeed.
Balcarrick
Location: Three miles off the N1 Dublin-Belfast route in Donabate, north county Dublin.
Contact: Joan Byrne (secretary/manager) - Telephone: 01-843 6957; Fax: 01-843 6228.
Course: Medal (blue stakes) - 6,900 yards, Par 73; white - 6,534, Par 73; yellow - 6,243, Par 73. Women's - 5,706 Par 73.
Architect: Barry Langan.
Opened for play: First nine (1992), second nine (1995).
Green Fees: £13 midweek, £20 weekend (with member £8-10 midweek, £10 weekend).
