It's always a treat to come across something new in Irish golf - which was my experience this week. On reading the recently-published Champions & Guardians: The Royal and Ancient Golf Club 1884 to 1939, I discovered that Royal Dublin was considered as a venue for the British Amateur Championship 41 years before the event had its only Irish staging, at Portmarnock in 1949.

Due to entries having doubled in 10 years to 200 in 1907, the organisers were faced with a problem. Either they had to limit the field, or turn to new, presumably larger venues. So, at a meeting at Royal St George's in May 1908, Royal North Devon, Cinque Ports and Royal Dublin were proposed as new venues. Sadly from an Irish standpoint, it was decided to limit entries to players "at or behind scratch" and stay with the existing rota.