CERTAIN elements of golf are not only regrettable, but impossible to defend, even by someone like myself who makes a living from writing about the game. Stubborn elitism and discrimination against women immediately spring to mind, as does a sometimes cavalier attitude towards the environment.

Against that background, some perfectly reasonable golfing people are made to feel so vulnerable that they decline to defend themselves. So it is that I wish to defend the right of the Old Head Golf Links not only to exist, but to prosper as the most spectacular course in Europe, when it officially opens on June 1st.

Since work began about seven years ago on building a golf course, on Kinsale's celebrated peninsula, it seems that every environmental, crank has made it a target for ill informed comment. Accusations have piled up remorselessly. How is, it that the public have been suddenly denied free access to this national treasure? Why weren't those with an appreciation of the environmental value of the site allowed to take it over?

How dare these golfing types actually charge the public admission to the site? How dare they destroy such a wonderful wildlife preserve, for the sake of a stupid old game? And if, they are to be allowed build this wretched course, how can they be permitted to ban Irish people from playing there?

The list prompted a wry smile from John O'Connor, the Kerry born owner of the Old Head. Before commenting, however, he thought it rather refreshing that, unlike some journalistic critics, I should have taken the trouble to visit the site and observe for myself what he is attempting to achieve there.

"The notion has been put about that the Old Head is the Phoenix Park of Cork," he said, when I journeyed there to meet him. "A national treasure it is a national park it most certainly is not."

I had just spent a gloriously sunny day, looking over this place of breathtaking beauty; an awe inspiring spectacle that defies comparison. I have certainly seen nothing quite like it, except perhaps for the 16th and 17th holes at Cypress Point and small sections of Pebble Beach, from the seventh to 10th and the long 18th.

While negotiating the golf course which covers 150 acres of a 216 acre promontory, I found my pulse racing at some truly stunning views, down nearly 300 feet of rugged rock face to churning Atlantic breakers below.

Then there were the birds, wonderfully noisy creatures apparently intent on outdoing each other in spectacular flight. Cormorants, guillemots and peregrine falcons, the varieties would have tested even the most knowledgeable birdwatcher as they swooped along the cliff face before disappearing into one of the caves, only to reappear on the opposite side of the Head.

The embryonic clubhouse, which, will be completed in July, looked south towards the lighthouse, beyond which the horizon was blurred in a shimmering mist. The 18th green stretched out below and over at to o'clock was the 17th green, set in a hollow, close to the cliff edge.

Though large barriers of rock are planned for some clearly hazardous areas, it is considered prudent that buggies should be specially geared down to modest speeds. Even then, those who feel queasy at heights would be well advised to avoid looking over the cliff edges, particularly when playing the short seventh and 16th holes.

The fact that as many as nine of the holes are by the sea, provides some indication of the sort of architectural challenge which the site presented. So it was that four architects - Eddie Hackett, Paddy Merrigan, Joe Carr and Ron Kirby - had an input in the design, though Merrigan did much of the work on a par layout measuring 6,652 yards off the back tees.

In the event, they attempted, 41 different routings of the various holes, before being satisfied they had got it right. The upshot was that six holes, from the second to the short seventh, are sited to the left of the access road to the lighthouse while the remaining 12 and the practice ground occupy the space to the right.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. We haven't explained the status of the Old Head before O'Connor arrived on the scene. Well, it had been the home of the De Courcy chiefs who, until their fall from power in the 16th century, occupied the castle whose ruins still dominate the neck of the peninsula.

By this century, it had become farmland through which the Commissioner of Irish Lights was granted an official right of way, down to the lighthouse there are no other rights of way on the deed. Under the ownership of Michael Roche, however, people took to wandering all over the Old Head in increasing numbers, free of charge.

Though gates and fences were knocked down, Roche took no action against these trespassers. Eventually, in 1984, he decided to But the site up for sale. The auctioneer was Dominic Daly, who would, later become a director of Ashbourne Holdings, the company responsible for the golf course development.

"The property was on the market for five years, during which time the State could obviously have bought it," he said. "I find it quite revealing that none of the environmental bodies expressed any interest in it all that time."

Eventually, O'Connor bought the Old Head in 1989 for the relatively modest sum of around £300,000. "That was when people were made aware they could no longer trespass far free," he said. "I could have closed off the site completely, allowing nobody in there, but instead, I permitted access at £1.50 per person or £3 for two people in a car."

Why charge? "Because as owner, I have certain responsibilities to discharge, such as public liability insurance," replied O'Connor. "Quite apart from that, I am spending about £1 million in developing the site for the public's enjoyment, through the construction of walkways and access to a jetty at the second hole."

He went on: "I also have in mind to construct a spectator platform which can be suspended down the cliff face at the 12th, where people can view the birds flying into the caves. Our intention is that these wonderful amenities should be, shared in a controlled manner. Don't you think it reasonable that people should be charged for that privilege?"

And what of membership? Recent newspaper reports suggested that no Irish need apply for membership of the club when it opens for business. "This is patent nonsense," responded Daly. "As a marketing strategy aimed at promoting the venue internationally, we decided that to qualify for our categories of Founder and International Membership, applicants should be resident outside the state for nine months each year."

Daly went on: "But Irish people can avail of our corporate membership, while our intention is to have a local membership by invitation. Other than that, as a pay and play facility, our main target will be the Irish market."

Meanwhile, with the help of ecologist Tom O'Byrne, it is planned to achieve an environment in which the immensely varied flora and fauna can prosper. As it happens, significant headway has already been made insofar as a local coursing club are no longer permitted to trap hares on the site.

Then there is the work of consultant agronomist Brian Robinson, who has been involved in such high profile projects as the soccer pitches at Anfield, Goodison Park and Ibrox. "The wind chill factor and the remarkable fluctuations in temperature from October to March presented a major challenge in getting grass to thrive here," he said. "After extensive trials, we came up with hybrid, salt tolerant grasses, mainly fescue and bent. And the unique nature of the environment meant that we were forced to throw the rule book out the window, in terms of maintenance procedures.

All of which could hardly be described as the work of a man hell bent on destroying a precious amenity. Essentially, O'Connor's, ambition is to see golf and nature living in harmony. And if he and his fellow directors were seeking a quick return on an estimated investment of £10 million, they could have found countless, more attractive projects.

The Old Head Links deserves to, succeed, which is not to say that environmentalists won't continue to have problems with the project. One, would hope, however, that when next their voices are raised in protest, it will be with the benefit of firsthand experience of the subject.