White posts outlining fairways in Ireland: gimmicky or genius?

I’m thumbing through all the photos I took in Scotland, and don’t remember ever seeing what I saw today at Portmarnock Golf Club, just outside Dublin, Ireland.

All of the fairways are lined with little white posts that look like O.B. stakes or 150-yard markers. Only they simply outline where the fairway is.

There are pros and cons to this. The pros of course are that for all the tourists, who are going to play the course just once and don’t want to drop eight Euro on a stroke saver or more for a caddie, have a helping hand. The cons are that the course doesn’t look as natural with all these things scattered, and purist Scots might make a case that it isn’t how the game is meant to be played on the links, where the eye can often be deceived.

Is this a trend in Ireland or a one-time thing? Can I expect to see these white markers on most courses? If so, is this gimmicky or genius?

Personally, it certainly helped my game, especially because I was a singleton playing twilight. The photographer in me however found them a bit tacky and wouldn’t mind airbrushing them out.

Portmarnock uses little white stakes on every hole to guide golfers.