MACREDDIN GOLF CLUB:MACREDDIN VILLAGE nestles in sylvan splendour, a haven of tranquillity and natural beauty. Its seclusion belies the fact that it is just a five-minute car journey from Aughrim.
Home to the renowned BrookLodge Hotel Wells Spa, it also houses Macreddin Golf Club, Paul McGinley's inaugural layout as a course designer.
While the hotel has expanded incrementally since it first opened its doors in 1999, establishing a reputation for elegance and excellence, the golf course was a three-year project from its genesis in 2005 to the completion of the second nine holes, which opened for play last month. It is McGinley's first undertaking in golf course design and represents a notable debut.
Macreddin Golf Club represents a collaboration between the major shareholder in the project, Pat Galavan - he approached McGinley through a mutual friend - and the Doyle brothers, Eoin, Evan and Bernard, owners of BrookLodge.
Galavan has been involved in the golf course industry on a national and international basis for the past 15 years as owner and managing director of TurfCare Group. The company specialises in turfgrass nutrition, golf course maintenance throughout Europe and boasts a specialist irrigation division.
The golf course is set on 160 acres and represents a €12 million investment. Nine holes were open for play in September 2007 with the front nine completed last month, when the club hosted its first 18 hole competition; a member/guest format saw 140 golfers tee it up.
While membership was initially pitched at a €30,000 redeemable preference share entrance fee and an annual subscription of €1,500 the economic climate has changed appreciably in the last three years and Macreddin Golf Club sensibly moderated their financial structure.
The entrance fee is now €8,000 (preference share) with the annual subscription remaining the same. The uptake in the last 10 weeks has been encouraging and there are now about 90 active members, not including those who have bought property on site.
Two full memberships come with every house purchase - they range in price between €1.4 and €1.6 million and have planning permission for 22 - with half that number expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Macreddin's director of golf David Leech pointed out: "Since the full 18 holes opened we have been very pleased with the number of inquiries. The decision to offer a Friday fourball to prospective members at €120 has proved to be hugely popular to a point where we are actually struggling to cope with the numbers that day.
"It was always going to be difficult to sell memberships in any great volume given the current economic climate until the course was completed. We have set an upper ceiling of 450 members over the next three to four years and would be happy to realise those numbers.
"We are conscious of the fact that people want to play competitions on a Saturday or Sunday and that is why we arrived at the figure. The breakdown in membership is about 85 per cent male, three quarters under the age of 40.
"But we have noticed a significant increase in the number of couples (€14,000 entrance fee) and also ladies and that figure of 85 per cent will drop."
There is also provision for junior and student members.
Those who purchase any category of membership now will not pay an annual subscription this year.
At present BrookLodge provide the changing facilities for golfers, a state of affairs that will change by the end of the year. Leech explained: "We have planning permission for a clubhouse which we hope to have completed by 2010 but the immediate priority is to install a temporary facility that should be completed by the end of October.
"We sent through a planning application and we are just awaiting a decision on a couple of points of clarification that were required with relation to the façade. Members and guests currently have the use of BrookLodge in terms of showers and changing facilities while they also have access to Actons Pub - in which the Orchard Café is situated - the Taverno Italian restaurant or the BrookLodge's award winning Strawberry Tree, Ireland's only certified organic restaurant.
"In terms of the permanent clubhouse structure we are looking at providing high quality changing rooms with a spike bar style dining facility."
Given what's available elsewhere on site there would be little point in wasting money on replicating what's already there.
Macreddin are currently waiting for Golf Union of Ireland (GUI) affiliation that will provide them with a standard scratch for the course, a process that should be completed in the near future.
McGinley, in conjunction with co-designer Roger Jones, has produced a challenging and visually stimulating 7,100 yard undulating, golfing pilgrimage through the Wicklow countryside. He makes superb use of the natural forestation that provides wonderful definition, particularly on the back nine from the 12th hole.
Ireland's Ryder Cup hero has strong views on golf course design and this is immediately apparent in the routing. At 6,473 metres (par 72) it is not overly long from the tips - the medal tees are a few yards short of 6,000 metres - but it places a premium on control, especially from the tee.
McGinley is renowned for his straight driving and that is reflected in the layout that demands accuracy. He is not a fan of blind shots in general or steeply sloping putting surfaces, preferring more subtle contours. He's championed run-off areas around the greens; demanding a thought process that doesn't begin and end with the lob wedge.
His use of mounding to frame fairways, especially on the front nine can make it visually disconcerting to judge distance and line for those playing Macreddin for the first time. There's also the facility for some devilish pin positions that will severely punish the errant or mentally brittle.
The golfing journey begins with a uphill par four, where a bunker on the right dominates the eyeline. The fairway is generous, a fact that's not apparent from the tee. It's the par five second hole that really whets the appetite. Framed by tall pines, it is a visually stunning hole that sweeps right from the tee box, demanding precision on both the second and third shots to a long but narrow green guarded by a small water hazard on the right.
Those that are familiar with the new Bray golf course will recognise a similarity with the third and fifth holes, a brace of par fours that unwind in opposite directions, at Macreddin. It is the par three, fourth that will dominate many a clubhouse conversation.
The tee not alone offers stunning views of the surrounding countryside but a bird's eye view of a green situated 40 metres below: the hang time of the golf ball and the Monaco-like hairpins of the descent to the green enhancing a memorable golfing experience.
Every single par three is accessible to handicap golfers and represents a challenge of nerve and skill rather than brute force. The testosterone junkies will relish the sixth, a short par four of about 273 metres from the elevated medal tees.
The final three holes of the front nine take in a par three that boasts a green almost 40 yards long guarded by a weir, a par five that wind assisted might tempt the longer hitters and a very demanding par four where clever mounding and bunkering visually foreshortens the second shot. Played into the prevailing wind this could prove a card wrecker especially for those that take their tee shot up the left.
The back nine - the older of the two loops having opened in September 2007 - begins with the two weakest holes on the course, short, uphill par fours. On the 10th the bottom two thirds of the pin is obscured by mounding in what is an exclusively yardage driven second shot while the 11th is pretty nondescript when measured against the general quality of the layout.
If these holes represent an intermission to what has been a visually stimulating experience, golfing and otherwise, then the par four, 12th - it is McGinley's favourite hole and the first one he framed in his mind's eye when initially flying over the land by helicopter prior to starting work - assails the senses.
Played from a hugely elevated tee, only the longest hitters when favoured by the elements will be able to bite off a sliver of the ravine that harbours Ballycreen brook. Mere mortals will try to hit the fairway before attempting a long iron or wood to a green protected by the brook and a large tree.
The hole marks the starting point of a trek dominated by a spectacular woodland and eventually culminates at the par four, 18th, a brilliant finishing hole that favours the classic risk-reward conundrum. It follows the best par three - it's a memorable collection - on 17, a white knuckle tee shot experience over the Macreddin brook, a stretch of water that also dominates the final hole.
What McGinley has accomplished is to provide a thoroughly enjoyable golfing experience - the quality of surface on the greens is striking - that with continuing maturation and ongoing cosmetic alteration will delight golfers of all ability. Macreddin's undulating nature and the distance between greens and tees demand a certain level of fitness.
For everyone else there is a sizeable fleet of buggies and electric caddy cars available.
McGinley has adopted a conspicuously hands-on approach in overseeing his first course design project. Only last week he provided the owners with a 20-page improvement plan underlining his devotion to the project. Wicklow is endowed with several excellent golf courses.
Macreddin has added to that number.
Club Fees
GREEN FEES
Weekday: €70 (Non hotel resident), €60 (hotel resident)
Weekend: €80 (Non hotel resident), €70 (hotel resident)
Friday special: €120 per fourball or €40 per person.
MEMBERSHIP
Senior - €8,000 (Entrance fee, Preference share). Husband and Wife: €14,000 (Entrance fee, preference share).
Annual subscription - Senior: €1,500, Junior: €250.
Corporate membership available.
