Harrington has designs on Clonmel

Course development:Padraig Harrington began a new phase in his career yesterday with the formal announcement that he is to design his first course, set in the Marlbrook estate just outside Clonmel. A recent winner of the Irish Open, the Dubliner has been charged with constructing a potential championship course in the 500-acre, 18th century estate beside the River Suir.

The course is due to open in 2010, although memberships (€15,000 refundable deposit) are for sale. Harrington will work with designer Stan Eby of European Golf Design (Montgomerie course, Carton House) in trying to create a parkland layout that caters for all standards of golfer.

"There is no more beautiful site," Harrington enthused. "It's got a lovely, sheltered aspect to most of the site, which means - as we all know, playing golf in Ireland the majority of the time the weather isn't that good - most of the holes will be played in the valley running down to the River Suir.

"It has a lot of protection, rolling hills, nice elevation, a lot of mature trees on it. There will be plenty of water around the course, a few lakes, but they're in there for drainage, and we will be discussing a few more hazards. It's an excellent opportunity to design an interesting golf course.

"I hope that when anyone comes to Marlbrook they walk away and think, 'I enjoyed that, I think I'll come back'. That is the most important credit that any golf course can have. The ideal goal of anyone designing a golf course is to make it challenging for the professional golfer or the high-end scratch player, yet very playable for everybody else.

"I want to be very involved, be there and committed. It's not a question of me turning up at the opening and saying, 'Where's the first tee?' I do know of one, where the designing professional had to be told where the 10th tee was.

"I believe it is going to be a success."