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Opening of the new Clubhouse

St Anne’s golf club and nature reserve is situated on the Bull Island ,a tract of links land that is a joy to play and has a unique ecological importance. The grassy dunes terrain on the north side of Dublin Bay is a seaside wilderness of international repute, being the stopping-off ground each year of tens of thousands of migratory wildfowl on their way south from the Arctic regions. Since 1906, the Bull, as it is known, has been protected by a series of environmental legislation, national and international and in 1981it became Irelands first biosphere reserve under the protection of UNESCO, the United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organisation. It remains the smallest such biosphere in the world and the nearest to the centre of any major city. Golfers are truly privileged to play in this wonderful setting.
The Island itself has been described as a “gift from the sea” ,the unexpected by- product of the building of the North Bull Wall in 1825; tidal scouring formed a sand bar which expanded with the years and is now three and a half miles long by nearly a mile wide.

Golf was introduced to the Island in 1889 when Royal Dublin, moved there and established its renowned links course When. St Anne’s came into being in 1921 a course was developed a few holes at a time, at the northern end of the existing course. The founding fathers were TF “Tussy” Murray, Marmaduke Devitt and Dudley Stuart. These three friends, who also enjoyed fishing in a boat called “Idle Hours”, had been “warned off” for playing illegally at Royal Dublin by the British Army which had taken it over during the war years for practice in trench warfare. However the three men were given permission to carve out a course of their own –for the benefit of local people-further down the island. In a short time a considerable number of would- be golfers-men and women-were recruited and St Anne’s was on its way.

Golf in the early years of St Anne’s was played in a certain anonymity. Motor cars were few and far between and transport on the island was, of necessity, by bicycle or on foot- and on a beach much softer than to-day’s. Its first mention in the press was an Irish field report in 1923, which, in an aside, referred to “another course down the island run by a few enthusiasts”.

The difficult access- members could be marooned by high tide- and remoteness of the club helped forge the friendly atmosphere and club spirit that has endured to this day. Eventually, nine holes were achieved. Progress was undoubtedly difficult, but the wooden clubhouse which was blown away in a storm-was eventually replaced by the wood and corrugated iron pavilion that was something of a landmark for those who ventured far enough down Dollymount beach on sunny summer days in the fifties and sixties. That after all was the “home” of Paddy Skerritt, St Anne’s genial professional whose achievements brought great honour to the club: he rarely left the golfing headlines in a career that spanned three decades.

Eventually the building of the causeway in 1969, decapitated the nine hole course. The old clubhouse which had served the club well and had many tales to tell, was left marooned across the road from the first hole. It fell into ruin and was eventually demolished and replaced by a partly pre-fabricated new clubhouse further down the course. It was the height of luxury at the time

This spurred on probably the most intensive period in St Anne’s history. A booming interest in the game of golf as a result of television coverage brought an influx of young new members into the club, creating the drive and energy for the development of the course in the decades to come .

An 18 hole course became the determined focus of the club for the following decade. This was an enormous task as it entailed vast reclamation of land on the coastal side of the course and involved protracted and sensitive negotiations on ecology and other issues with Dublin City Council and environmental groups. However the 18 holes were developed and opened to much celebration in 1989.

But this was not the end of the matter. Proof of the pudding was in the playing, and while the new 18 hole course was an enormous advance and a boost to all club members, some design and lay-out weaknesses soon became apparent, especially draining difficulties on fairways.

However, the new 18 hole course was responsible for one important achievement –a dramatic improvement in the standard of play. St Anne’s was always a hard nut to crack in golfing competitions, but in the mid-nineties the club became a formidable force and won their first all- Ireland pennant- the Pierce Purcell Shield at Rosses Point golf club in 1994. This was followed by the club’s “triple crown year” of 1996 when it retained the Pierce Purcell, and also won the Barton Cup and Best Cup.

These successes, and the onset of the “Celtic Tiger” once again fuelled ambition in the club. In 1999 a new era of development and achievement was about to dawn. And it wasn’t long before a total course re-design and a new state-of –the –art clubhouse were on the agenda. Minds –and committee s-were working overtime.

Simultaneously the advent of the countrywide movement towards women’s rights to full membership of golf clubs was beginning to gain force and St Anne’s was one of the very first clubs to set procedure in motion. It’s achievement in 2002 has been seen as a model of good sense in a potentially difficult and controversial area.

2003 has been a landmark year in the clubs history. It has seen the club’s dual dream come true . the course has been professionally redesigned to the most exacting standards. As well as this, a spectacular new spacious clubhouse, with its distinctive architecture, environmentally- friendly design and views of the spectacular surrounding landscape, will provide facilities comparable to the very best. It will undoubtedly be a source of pride and pleasure for members and visitors.

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