One of the advantages of having the Fourth Earl of Dunraven as the founder of your golf club is the doyen of British golf writers could hardly turn down an invitation to look it over. So it was that Adare Manor GC, who are just completing their centenary celebrations, had the distinction of a visit from Bernard Darwin, back in October, 1907.

His fascinating observations are to be found in A Centurial Record, the history of the club as compiled and edited by Milo Spillane, which has landed on my desk. And after quite a run of such books in recent years, it must be said that Spillane's production is right up there with the best of them.

In his inimitable way, Darwin introduced the prospective home of the 1979 Irish Close champion, Jackie Harrington, by asking how a graveyard, a ruined abbey or an ancient castle could be used as golfing hazards "to the best advantage". Adare, incidentally, was only nine holes at that time but was extended to a tight, tricky 18 in 1992.

As regards the famous Franciscan Abbey, which is now surrounded by the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th holes, Darwin observed that its "precincts are not so ruinous, but many strokes will probably be needed to extract the ball from them. The only exit is through the windows, and a niblick (nine iron) shot through a window is one, the constant practising of which might earn a lasting unpopularity".

Even in Darwin's day, the course was considered small - "miniature" was how he described it. Yet the celebrated writer observed that there was "something wonderfully attractive in an occasional round on a course of this kind after a spell battling with the breeze over long seaside links".

He went on: "The holes are of a length on which we usually pour contempt: indeed, to say of a course that the holes are all `a drive and a pitch' is to dismiss the subject. Yet at Adare we positively revel in holes of this type and should feel it a distinct grievance to be required to play a driving shot through the green." Now, at a time when an overall yardage of 7,000 is considered the norm - "well, you never know when we might get a professionals event here" - Adare remains as modest as it was in Darwin's day, measuring 5,706 yards off the medal tees. And one suspects that the one-time Walker Cup player would heartily approve.