Founded in 1888, The Island Golf Course is located just four miles from Dublin Airport. For close to one hundred years the only way to get to The Island was by a row boat. And for the first half-century you needed an invitation. Originally the private preserve of a clutch of well-to-do Dublin bachelors, The Island Golf Course almost went bankrupt in the 1950s, and has only reasserted itself as one of Ireland's premier courses in the last five years. But if you think The Island's history is topsy-turvy, wait until you play the links. It's an up-and-down journey over some of the world's most rambunctious linksland. Raw and stirring, The Island would not be out of place on Ireland's Wild West coast, and there are a number of singular golf holes that burn into the memory.