DESTINATION GOLF IRELAND 2023
Welcome to the 2023 edition of Destination Golf Ireland. It comes with considerable hope and expectation after a very successful and busy 2022. More of the same, please.
Irish golf had reasons to be content as visiting golfers returned en masse after the lows of Covid. All indications are that this will continue this year. But indicators of success stretch beyond mere green fees and the investments being made by golf clubs across the four provinces is a sure sign that the future is bright. Club membership also remains high and there are few times in the past 15 years that the outlook has been so promising… despite the effects of what is going on elsewhere in the world.
there are few times in the past 15 years that the outlook has been so promising
The investments made in 2022 range from the very small to the impressively large. And none is larger than the revamping of Druids Glen, due to open in late spring of this year. A multi-million euro investment will see our most vibrant parkland recalibrated for the modern age. New greens, new bunkers, new just-about-everything… including a spectacular Augusta-like new 4th green setting. There will be a new clubhouse, too, and there is a marvellous sense of anticipation as we await spring. Portmarnock Links is creating six new holes while Royal Dublin – our oldest links – is renovating all of its bunkers and almost having its total of 93. Dromoland Castle (ahead of hosting the Women’s Irish Open), Castlemartyr, Blainroe, Luttrellstown Castle and several others have all followed suit with a full-course bunkering overhaul.
And then there’s the K Club, which removed and renewed all of its fairways on the Palmer North course. The Horizon Irish Open will return to the Co. Kildare club in September, 2023 (as well as in 2025 and 2027), and fans will be anticipating another scintillating victory for Rory McIlroy.
Yes, it is safe to say, there is much to look forward to this year.
Kevin Markham, Editor, Destination Golf (Ireland).
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