Portmarnock Golf Club is a golf club in Portmarnock, north County Dublin, Ireland. Its 27-hole links occupies a peninsula beside the Irish Sea, with the Championship Course often included in lists of the top 100 golf courses in the world.
On Christmas Eve 1893, an insurance broker named W. C. Pickeman and his friend George Ross rowed over from Sutton to Portmarnock peninsula to explore the possibility of creating a golf links. The peninsula is about two miles long and covers over 500 acres. The course opened on Saint Stephen's Day 1894 with nine holes. It was extended to eighteen holes in 1896 with a new clubhouse and a further nine holes were added in 1971. The championship course follows the original layout although considerably lengthened (over 7,500 yards of the Championship tees). The only major change in the routing was the insertion in 1927 of a new, now famous par three, the 15th hole.
Portmarnock was the venue for the first Irish Open in 1927, and has hosted the tournament on many occasions since, including 13 following its revival in 1975.[6] Many other important golf tournaments have been held at the club, including the The [British] Amateur Championship in 1949 and 2019, the Walker Cup in 1991, and the Canada Cup in 1960.
Portmarnock's membership was restricted to "gentlemen" until 2021.[10][11] The policy had been controversial since the 1980s. The club's tradition of conferring honorary membership on the United States Ambassador to Ireland was ended in 1987 when Margaret Heckler became the first women to hold the office; she said later, "I was very disappointed ... Privately they sent word to me that if I wished friends to go there it was fine and they would be very cordially received, but it was the matter of the recognition of the office."[12] It was similarly noted after the 1990 election of Mary Robinson as President of Ireland that her predecessor, Patrick Hillery, had been given honorary life membership after his 1976 appointment; however, no earlier President was so honoured, and Hillery had been a longstanding ordinary member.[1]
The Irish Open was last staged at the course in 2003, after which the Government of Ireland instigated a policy of withholding public funding for events hosted by single-sex venues.[10] The same year, the Equality Authority brought case in the Dublin District Court under the Equal Status Act 2000 (ESA). The club manager told the court that since the ESA was passed, members had three times discussed and "overwhelmingly" opposed allowing women members.[13] In 2004 the court held that Portmarnock was a "discriminating club" within the meaning of the ESA, and the club's drinks licence was suspended for seven days.[14][15]
The club appealed the 2004 decision and it was overturned in the High Court in 2005,[16][17] which ruled that, although the club's admissions policy met the criterion of a discriminating club in ESA section 8(2)(a)(ii),[18] Portmarnock satisfied the exception in ESA section 9(1)(a)(i) for clubs whose "principal purpose is to cater only for the needs of persons of a particular gender".[15][19] In 2009 the Supreme Court upheld the High Court decision by a 3–2 majority.[20][21]
On 9 September 2016, the R&A announced that the 2019 Amateur Championship would be at Portmarnock, adding that its recent decision not to host the Open at single-sex clubs would also apply in future to the Amateur, but that it would fulfil a prior commitment given to Portmarnock for 2019.[22]
In May 2021, the club's existing membership voted to allow women members, by 83.4% to 16.6%.[10][11] The first woman members were elected in 2022.[8]
Honours
27th best golf course in the UK and Ireland 2021/22 (Golf Monthly)[23]
62nd best golf course in the world 2022/23 (Golf Digest)[24]
↑ "No Women (and Dogs) Allowed: A Comparative Analysis of Discriminating Private Golf Clubs in the United States, Ireland, and England". Washington University Global Studies Law Review. 6.
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