New courses added to menu

With Ireland's appetite for golf courses showing no signs of easing, Philip Reid reveals what's new to the market

It hasn't happened - despite the catastrophic warnings from the prophets of doom that it would all end in tears. The guy with the sharpened pin, seemingly ready to prick the bubble, has stopped shy of actually deflating the extraordinary development of golf courses in Ireland - so much so that, as we take further strides into the 21st century, the on-going development of courses continues.

If not at the same level of the 1990s, when the number of courses in this country increased by an extraordinary 20 per cent, and despite the Celtic Tiger taking a nap, there remains a voracious appetite for new golf courses.

They're springing up on various parts of the landscape, from the shores of Lough Erne to the foothills of the Wicklow mountains, from fields in north county Dublin to tracts of land in the midlands.

Back in the 19th century, an author by the name of David Forgan wrote:

Golf is a test of temper, a trial of honour, a revealer of character. It affords a chance to play the man and act the gentleman. It is a cure for care, an antidote to worry. It includes companionship with friends, opportunities for courtesy, kindliness and generosity to an opponent. Golf promotes not only physical health, but moral force.

These days, such Corinthian ethics need to be revised, for not only is it a sport that has ever greater appeal to players. For instance, the number of members, men and women, to affiliated clubs in Ireland (members of the GUI and the ILGU) is at a record high.

And, across the globe, it's a similar story: golf membership in continental Europe has grown by 50 per cent in the last decade; there are in the region of 600 million rounds of golf played annually in the United States, placing it marginally behind basketball in terms of national participation, while in Australia more adults play golf than any other organised sport.

More than that, however, golf has become serious business to investors, promoters, players and golf course designers across the globe.

The golf travel industry is by far the biggest sports-related tourism industry - in the US alone, it accounts for over $10 billion, while the figure in Ireland, named the world's top golfing destination in awards last December, exceeds 150 million - and, it would seem, demand for golf courses is still on the rise.

In Ireland, this demand continues to be met with new developments coming on stream to complement existing courses. Yet, if there is still tremendous enthusiasm for creating new products and alternatives for golfers, there is also the suspicion that investors must keep an eye on markets elsewhere.

For example, a number of courses in Germany have gone into receivership, while the most worrying signals that caution must be applied have come from Japan where there have been many tales of near-bankruptcy.

One such tale concerns Nitto Kogy, one of Japan's largest golf course operators which runs 30 golf courses around Japan. It started life in 1960, but filed for court aid in 1997 and more recently has seen its profits hit by Japan's recession, whereupon it filed for bankruptcy protection and was placed in the hands of US investment bank Goldman Sachs which holds 100 per cent of the company's equity.

The company was struggling to pay back deposits that it owed golf-club members and estimated it would take more than 200 years to pay back 264 billion yen ($2.3 billion) in deposits it now owes. Japan's golfing industry crashed when the property bubble burst in the early 1990s.

For now at least, Irish developments have remained immune from such tales of catastrophe, buoyed from two fronts: one, that more Irish people - men and women - are playing the sport than ever before; and, two, more golfing tourists are coming to Ireland.

Although there was a fall-off in figures after the September 11th bombings of 2001, early market evidence for this year suggests that numbers are up again for 2004, with the bulk coming from Britain and the United States.

Over the coming weeks and months, new courses are due to open here - among them Roganstown, near Swords in north county Dublin; Rathcore, near Enfield in County Meath, while Druids Heath, a sister course to the already established Druids Glen in county Wicklow, has made a spectacular entry onto the market - while others are currently being transferred from course designer blueprints onto the Irish landscape, among them Moyvalley Golf Resort in north county Kildare, and Faldo at Lough Erne, a course designed by Nick Faldo on a unique wedge of land between the shores of Louth Erne and Castle Hume in County Fermanagh.

This particular project was conceived by Jim Treacy, who was inspired by a visit to Loch Lomond a number of years ago. "I marvelled at its setting, but couldn't help thinking that I knew of somewhere equally special much closer to home."

It was shortly afterwards that Treacy and his project manager Peter O'Connor approach the Faldo organisation with a view to designing the course.

"Apparently, Nick had flown over the land some years previously and speculated as to how it could be a location for an incredibly dramatic course."

Indeed, as ever, location is the key to success in relation to the construction of new courses. But these things don't happen overnight.

As Ian McGuinness, whose family has developed the course at Roganstown, two miles outside Swords, where he is the managing director, observed, "we first conceived this idea five years ago."

In a sign of the times, though, Roganstown is not purely about golf, although the course is the centrepiece in the development. There is also a 52-bedroom hotel and conference venue - which includes a state-of-the-art leisure centre - while part of the 300 acres of land used in the development has also been used for property, with ancillary house sales now an important way for investors to recoup much of the outlay.

Golf club membership at Roganstown - which opens for light play this month - is a redeemable preference share, with membership limited to 500. The first tranche went on sale at 12,500 and sold out, and the second tranche is now on offer for 15,000.

McGuinness wants to encourage golfers to join, rather than those using Roganstown as an investment vehicle. "If speculators want to invest, they should do so on the stock market - we want to attract people who want to play golf.

"The share scheme we have adopted is flexible, it can be left to someone or assigned to someone else. We're looking to create a genuine club atmosphere here."

Likewise, the proposed development at Moyvalley offers a redeemable preference share. Here, Darren Clarke will be designing his first course in Ireland - he also has a project underway in South Africa - and the project is being managed by Sporting Concepts Ireland, who were also involved in the project at Carton House.

A staking route of the Moyvalley course has been laid in recent weeks, and the first tranche of shares - for sale at 12,000 - are on offer.

The plan is that the course will be open for 2006, ahead of the Ryder Cup at The K Club. But the developers reject any suggestion that there could be an over-saturation of courses in the Kildare area and point out that the project - which also includes upmarket residential property and a hotel - will create employment for around 250 people. This project alone will exceed 200 million before it is completed.

The evidence of these projects is that golf course development is not just a play-thing for successful businessmen, it is a viable opportunity to ultimately turn the project into a business profit.

After all, the obvious reason for developing a golf course is to produce a profit and, more often than not these days, that is done by developing the course as an integrated resort with property and, increasingly, hotel and other leisure facilities on site.

Indeed, encouragement for those developers dipping their toes into the golf development market comes from what has been achieved at Druids Glen, near Newtownmountkennedy.

Here, a second course, called Druids Heath, has been opened for play which offers members, tourists and fee-paying golfers an opportunity to play a course in marked contrast to the original course which has hosted the Irish Open and Seve Trophy.

This is the genuine proof of success - the resort features a Marriott hotel with leisure facilities, now has two championship

courses and, of course, also has houses on-site.

As is becoming the norm worldwide, many new golf courses are being constructed where the development cost of the course is offset to some extent by the premium available from the enhanced selling prices of the residential sites or property.

It would seem that in situations such as these, golf courses represent a viable business opportunity as well as a play-thing.

Open for play

Name: Druids Heath

Where: Newtownmountkennedy, Wicklow

Course Designer: Pat Ruddy

As Pat Ruddy remarks, "Druids Heath affords the player an opportunity to stride-out in a place which is invigorating to both body and soul."

He's right. From many vantage points on the course, there is a vista of the Irish Sea on one side, and the Wicklow mountains on the other.

The course itself - the second hole is pictured left - has been built to accommodate both the handicap golfer and top professional, with it measuring 6,547 yards off the green stakes and a whopping 7,434 off the championship blue tees.

Druids Heath offers a contrast in style to Druids Glen. As its name indicates, it is heathland in nature with rolling fairways - but Ruddy has managed to create a unique feel, bringing together such hazards as lakes, rivers and a natural quarry to give the golfer the chance to use course management effectively. And nowhere is this more true than at the back-to-back holes that are the 12th and 13th, holes that are visually stunning but which would test the patience of a saint in how to play them.

The tee-shot on the 12th is to a narrow fairway that curls gently over the crest of a hill and then down to a green with the approach on the right protected by water.

This is a long hole, a par four of 492 yards off the back (466 off the greens), and, consequently, the approach is with a long-iron or even fairway wood.

The 13th is a shortish par four that requires the tee-shot to be played down the left, leaving an approach shot over water.

As the marketing men ask, "Druids Heath is the ultimate test in golf. . . are you ready for the challenge?" My advice? Go find out.

About to Open 

Name: Roganstown

Where: Swords, Co Dublin

Course Designer: Christy O'Connor Jnr

As Ian McGuinness stands on the sixth tee at Roganstown, he recalls the time that he made the phone call to Christy O'Connor Jnr wondering if he'd be interested in designing what is now a wonderful addition to the golfing landscape of north county Dublin.

The former Ryder Cup star answered that he would have a look at the available land before committing himself.

So smitten was O'Connor by what he saw, however, that a few days later, he returned the call to McGuinness. "Are you interested?" asked McGuinness. "More than that," replied O'Connor, "I've already designed the course. Give me the keys to the field, and I will hand them back when I'm finished."

What has unfurled on the 160 acres is another course that O'Connor - one of the top course designers of recent times - can willingly add to an impressive curriculum vitae that includes Glasson, Headfort (No 2), Lee Valley, Mount Wolseley and Galway Bay amongst others.

Converted from the original Roganstown House (dated circa 1800), a 52-bedroom hotel and conference centre has been built to go hand-in-hand with the new course which has been built on land belonging to the McGuinness and McLoughlin families.

The course itself is a wonderful mix of holes, that has water coming into play on no fewer than 14 of them.

Of the 11 holes on the clubhouse side, the eighth is a short dogleg to the right with a small green nestled in the corner but it has fabulous character and sets the scene for some fantastic holes home, with the 11th requiring an approach shot over water and a finishing stretch that will heavily penalise any pulled tee-shots.

On the Drawing Board

Name: Moyvalley

Where: Moyvalley, Co Kildare

Course Designer: Darren Clarke

Location, they say, is vital to the success of any golf course development. So, having the entrance to what will be the Moyvalley Golf Resort in north Kildare alongside the new motorway is, as the man said, a pretty cute move.

It means that, when this Darren Clarke-designed course opens in 2006, commuting time from Dublin will be less than one hour.

A staking plan was laid out on this rolling terrain last month and actual top stripping is due to commence this month on what was once the Ballyna demesne, land that was originally granted to the O'More family by Queen Elizabeth in 1574.

Ballyna became home to the O'More chieftains and their descendants for400 years before passing hands to the Bewley family (of coffee fame) in the 20th century and, then, from 1960, changing hands on a number of occasions.

Indeed, links with the past are everywhere in his old house, which will be used as a hotel.

Just inside the entrance door, there is a black and white photo of a group of rather pleased-looking hunters, among them Dr Douglas Hyde, the first president of Ireland, after a gun-shooting hunt that yielded some 709 rabbits.

The course is being developed by Sporting Concept Ireland along with European Golf Design, and Clarke, working in conjunction with Tim Job of EGD - has already made a number of visits.

"My aim is to make people want to play it over and over again, and to get as much enjoyment as possible from the experience," insisted Clarke, who also plans to use the facility as the base for his Darren Clarke Foundation which benefits the development of junior golf, boys and girls, throughout Ireland.