Portmarnock Golf Club is fair but formidable.

Based on airline schedules, most people traveling to Ireland from the U.S. arrive first thing in the morning after stepping off an overnight flight. Well, if Dublin is your destination, you can literally begin your Ireland golf vacation before your coffee gets cold.

Established in 1894, Portmarnock Golf Club (not to be confused with the nearby, and also worthwhile, Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links) sits on a tiny peninsula in the Irish Sea just six miles from Dublin International Airport. No other Irish club has hosted so many important competitors as Portmarnock, which has been the venue for numerous international tournaments and several Irish Opens.

The professionals have the highest regard for Portmarnock due to its fairness. Blind shots are virtually nonexistent, the flattish fairways minimize bad bounces, and the relatively placid greens require little local knowledge.

But don’t mistake “fair” for “easy.” This course is also dauntingly difficult, one of the hardest in the Irish land mass. Length, together with the need for strict accuracy and the ever-present wind combine to make it a stern test. There are also 120 bunkers, often deep and very penal, and clinging rough, sometimes over which long tee shots are forced.

Better make that an extra large coffee.

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