Newspaper reports of bonfires being lit on Malahide Hill "to welcome home the new champion", created a vividly enduring image of the celebrations after Tom Craddock had won the Irish Amateur Open of 1958. But the club's most celebrated member has left a more tangible legacy.
Work will begin later this month on a new, so-called Beechwood nine at Malahide GC. It was designed by Craddock before his untimely death last year and by way of ensuring a family continuity, the work will be overseen by his son, Chris.
It became possible through the club's acquisition of an additional 16 acres for £350,000 from the sale of the adjoining McHenry lands in 1997, the year of Alan Doyle's captaincy. And the financing of the project exemplifies admirable husbandry by a club which has wiped off more than £1 million in debts since 1993.
The £750,000 cost of the overall development will be met fairly painlessly through a £20 increase in the annual subscription of each member for a period of 20 years.
Accompanied by the club captain, Pat McMahon, and his immediate predecessor, Liam Canning, I saw the new lands earlier this week. They comprise two adjoining fields and in one of them, the charming, pastoral setting was enhanced by three beautiful horses, grazing contentedly.
A passing train on the main Dublin to Belfast track, emphasised how the additional acreage has integrated this particular area of the course, which has been increased from 45 to 61 acres and is now bordered by the railway to the west and the Sluice river to the south.
"It was felt that the Beechwood nine, or the yellow course as it was originally called, wasn't up the standard of the main 18 holes," said McMahon. "Now we have the opportunity of establishing three nines of equal strength and pleasantly contrasting in character."
In its extended form, Malahide GC covers a site of 180 acres of which the main 18 has nines of 3,273 yards and 3,340 yards, while the restructured Beechwood nine will measure 3,362 yards, as opposed to the original 2,791. And there is the considerable bonus of a practice area inside the northern boundary, which the club lacked up to this.
Planning permission for the new development was granted last month and it is hoped to complete the course construction by next summer and to have it playable early in 2001. Its value to the club can be gauged from a total, current membership of 1,343 including 608 men, 290 women and 56 corporate.
Last year's green-fee revenue of £130,000 seems quite modest for a club with the enviable flexibility of 27 holes. But, according to the two officers, it is planned to improve significantly on that level of return when the new nine is completed.
"We are currently inundated with requests for corporate outings and we should be in a far better position to satisfy this need in 2001," added McMahon.
Malahide GC moved from their old, nine-hole layout close by the Grand Hotel to their new home in July 1990, when Eddie Hackett designed the 27-hole layout. Two years later the club celebrated its centenary. Now, they are set for the demands of a new century.
