At the altar of perfection

THE inner sanctum of Woodstock House gives an insight into the philosophy of Druids Glen Golf Club. In what is indulgently called The Yellow Room, a giant portrait of Michael Collins in militaristic pose gangs over the mantelpiece. Not 10 paces away, a similar sized oil painting of Edward Carson eye-balls him from the opposite wall. It may only be a symbolic gesture, but the two distinct Irish cultures have been joined together.

Gleann na Draoite is a place for achievers, and dreamers. It has to be. Otherwise, how can a course - a mere "baby" which has yet to celebrate its first birthday - host one of the European Tour's top tournaments, the Murphy's Irish Open, which takes place there on July 4th-7th.

"When the opportunity presented it sell, we had to go for it," says Hugo Flinn, a civil engineer by profession who is chairman of Druids Glen. "It was a courageous move by Murphy's, but also a compliment to us."

There is certainly a touch of class about the place. Strolling down the 13th fairway - still somewhat dreamy after savouring the delights of the beautiful Augusta-like azalea-smothered 12th hole - the thought occurs that even seasoned, hardened tour professionals will be mesmerised by the experience of playing here. Or, as course manager John O'Sullivan, head greenkeeper at Waterville for five years in a previous existence, puts it: "They'll be flabbergasted."

A myth of sorts has developed over the years, propagating the view that golf is a game of tradition. Legendary players are beatified, old courses revered. And rightly so. Yet. if tradition was the sole criteria, then Druids Glen would have expected to serve its apprenticeship and bide its time. However, another word pops into the equation: progress. While tradition has provided the game's romance, golf's willingness to accept progress (abandoning stymies, embracing metal drivers etc) has been its making.

Druids Glen, positioned just off the N11 dual-carriageway, near Newtownmountkennedy, is an example of how modern techniques work and if using a few tricks like a tree-transplanting implement called `Big John' adds a touch of maturity, then so be it. Even the European PGA Tour's senior tournament director Andy McFee, an eminently sensible man who doesn't normally get carried away. says: "The place breathes quality; it's wonderful."

Yet, a major golf championship and certainly one of the Irish Open's standing doesn't just slot effortlessly into place like a toddler's jigsaw puzzle. All associated with the event have their fears, worries, headaches and logistical problems to surmount. The event may still be two months away, but that'll feel like the time it takes Carl Lewis to complete a 100 metres dash to everyone involved.

The designers

TOM CRADDOCK and Pat Ruddy have expressions that resemble Chesire cats who have got the cream. The guaranteed Irish duo are in good company as course architects of an Irish Open venue. A certain Jack Nicklaus, who designed Mount Juliet, is their immediate predecessor. Good company, indeed.

I hesitated a little when it was first mooted that we could host the Irish Open so quickly," says Craddock, a former star amateur who struck up an off-course partnership with golf fanatic Ruddy. "But then I thought `why not?'. I knew the course was good enough."

Standing on the 16th tee-box, the most recent addition to the course which adds an extra 50 yards onto the par 5, Craddock points towards the little Sugarloaf: "That's where the lads will be aiming their first shots, and they'll be hitting for the big Sugarloaf with their seconds." Beautiful scenery. But, then, picture postcard images abound.

When RTE personnel visited Druids Glen for the first time to plan their coverage, the comment was made that every hole deserved to be covered. That isn't feasible, but the plan is to use 16 cameras and three mobile units to bring Craddock's and Ruddy's masterpiece to a worldwide audience. It will be the most comprehensive coverage ever of an Irish Open.

If Augusta has Amen Corner, Druids Glen has its own showpiece stretch, also including the 12th and 13th holes, a heavily forested valley before the designers got their hands on it. The man from the Forestry department told them he was 30 years too late to save the trees and the subsequent pruning process and blasting of the cliff-face (which provided the local stonemasons with the material to construct the lovely bridges and walls dotted around the course) made way for remarkable holes which are set to captivate player and spectator, alike.

"Having the Irish Open has given us an ideal chance to set up the course," says Craddock. "The fairways have been narrowed to between 25 to 28 yards and the rough will come on even more. Surprisingly, there have been no complaints from the ordinary golfer. It seems they want to play it like that, the way the top guys do.

"I don't mind if the pros tear the course apart, although I don't think they will. But I want them to go away saying the course was fair. I don't want them to say it was unfair. I'd prefer if they said it was a fair test. That's the main thing," says Craddock.

The Tour

THE address of the PGA European Tour's office is the rather quaintly named Wentworth Drive, Virginia Water, Surrey. It is here that Andy McFee nestles into his office every so often, touching base after a trip, invariably golf-related.

McFee is the Tour's liaison man with the organisers of the Irish Open. Widely respected, his annual tour of duty include the US Masters, US PGA and British Open as well as 12 to 15 European Tour events. He organises the Qualifying School into the bargain. A busy man.

But he has a soft spot for the Irish Open. "It's one of my favourites," he admits. The lure of Druids Glen has already won over his heart, although he reveals some initial concern about the movement of spectators around the course.

"I've had a few headaches about spectator movement, but the club has been superb and have constructed numerous stone "bridges - really nice ones not cheap ones - and created access routes which should enable us to overcome any problems. I am a lot happier about that element of things now," says McFee.

McFee knows the Tour players extremely well, and he will decide the tee positions each day. "The great thing about Druids Glen is that it gives me that flexibility," he says. Indeed, when you consider the 16th hole at Augusta National can vary between 130 yards to 180 yards on any given day during the Masters, he is quite excited about the prospect.

Particularly the 18th, a wonderful finishing hole which will be reduced from a Par 5 to a Par 4 for the occasion. "You have to get a balance: the course must be fair over the four days to produce the best golfer as the winner. We also want to be fair to Druids Glen. As regards the 18th, ideally I want the players to be hitting anything from two iron to four iron second shots in there. It will be a great hole."

He is a players' man, though. One note of concern initially expressed by McFee was the positioning of the practice area - which is beyond the 16th fairway, a considerable distance from the clubhouse but the sheer quality of the finished article has allayed his fears. `Some sort of transport, whether it be a buggy or a mini-bus, will be used to get the players there. They won't mind once it is on-site and of a high standard."

McFee's love affair with the Irish Open goes back a long time. "The Irish Open has a great heritage and I feel Druids Glen will maintain that. It is also a tournament which has set high standards with players and, again, everyone of them will leave Druids Glen in the belief those standards have been matched," he says. Enough said.

The sponsor

THE workmen clammering around the site adjacent to the local GAA pitch have just two months to construct a village: an ambitious tented area which will provide the social focus for the Irish Open, with barbecues, bands and banter to augment the serious side of things, the golf.

Patrick Conway, marketing director of Murphy's Brewery Ireland Limited, knows the golf will be fantastic. Bernard Langer won in their first year of sponsorship in 1994, Slammin' Sam Torrance majestically last year. Of course the golf will be great. He has been spoilt by the champions of the past couple of years. He'd like to be spoilt again.

Murphy's - who assumed the title sponsorship when Carrolls pulled out just three years ago insist they are in it for the long haul. "The planning for this event started within days of last year's finishing," says Conway. "We expect some teething problems in a new venue, but the chemistry between ourselves and Druids Glen has been really good.

"After Portmarnock pulled out, we had no reservations about bringing the event here. None whatsoever. There are procedures to be followed and once the European PGA Tour approved, that was it," he adds.

Sport couldn't exist in this day and age without sponsorship, or so we are led to believe. Murphy's have the statistics on their side to back-up the necessary pay-back that any sponsorship requires. In Murphy's case, the prize fund of £750,000 represents a jump of £200,000 since they took over.

Although just two years as title sponsors, the Lady's Well brewery has made a quick impression with the drinking public: 69 per cent of monthly beer drinkers associate Murphy's specifically with golf sponsorship in Ireland, and 33 per cent correctly associate them with the Irish Open.

To put those figures in perspective, 13 per cent associated Heineken with last year's Rugby World Cup in South Africa and 23 per cent associate Carling with sponsorship of English soccer's Premiership. It looks like golf spectators will be sinking Murphy's for a long time yet.

The club

JIM LYNCH, an agronomist who is a member in Shinnecock Hills, host venue for last year's US Open, lives in Southampton, New York. "Do you know," he says. "Spring over here was a month late as well, something must be happening all over the northern hemisphere."

This year, however, his concern about spring's late arrival is how Druids Glen is shaping up. As consulting agronomist, Lynch has had a major say in the course's preparations. "We weren't expecting the Irish Open so quickly," he concedes. "But everything will be absolutely right for it. A big plus is that the greens were done first, the oldest grass on the course. They are a year ahead of everything else. It'll be great."

The man on the ground exudes similar confidence. John O'Sullivan has a staff of 23 working "flat out" on maintenance alone. with more personnel expected to be added closer to the day. "Getting the Irish Open made everyone pull their socks up," the Corknian states.

Augusta's greens have a speed of around 12 at Masters time, Druids are aiming to have theirs at 11. Ambitious? "No, but it is important that we get them consistently at that speed for the tournament's duration. The last thing the professionals want is to find them at 9 1/2 on a Wednesday and then changing. The Irish Open is the second most important event on the Tour and the pros have got consistently good greens for the past six or seven years. We have to maintain those standards," says O'Sullivan.

Druids Glen, a place where individual membership costs £25,000. have spared nothing in getting everything right. Eddie Dunne, Director of Golf, spent nine months in a Portacabin before moving into his hitech office. "It is almost as if that was a previous life, though. It has just been one magical ride."

Anyone entering the grand hallway and walking up the stairs past the Robert Ballagh etchings of the 1916 Proclamation signatories to Dunne's office is immediately struck by the tender care which went into the restoration of Woodstock House.

The club's name derives from the discovery of an old druids altar down by the 12th green. The use of one of Newgrange's spiral emblems as Druids Glens' logo provides an historical link with the past. It is a link of which any Irish sportsperson should be proud.

The organisers

DAVID LINNANE, the tournament director, surveys the vast pastures close to the 14th tee - which will act as a giant car park during the summer extravaganza - and says, "there is enough room here for the visit of two Popes".

The question of crowd access to the event is the headache which recurs most often to the organisers. "There are potential nightmares everywhere," says Linnane. "But once there is enough car-parking space available, it should ease any potential traffic problems. Besides, if things don't go smoothly straight away, we have learnt enough from previous years to know when to go to Plan B"

Linnane and Paddy Rossi moved to Murray Consultants, who took over as event managers of the Irish Open after Carrolls bid farewell to title sponsorship, and after the success of Mount Juliet - where a certain Nick Faldo said the event was the one all other European Tour events should aspire to - are just as excited about the vast potential which Druids Glen offers.

The indications are that a huge crowd will be in attendance and, indeed, there is talk of limiting the aggregate attendance to 80,000 over the four days to facilitate viewing and access.

"I think Ernie Els will be a really big hit with the Irish public," says Rossi, of the 1994 US Open champion who follows in the recent footsteps of John Daly and Greg Norman as the "big name" attraction to entice the Irish public.

Yet, even with some of the world's top names preparing to display their skills - and chasing the £125,000 top prize - it seems as if the magic of Druids Glen, the latest jewel in Ireland's golfing crown, is acting as an equally strong force in enhancing the tradition of the Irish Open. The only thing which can't be guaranteed is good weather. Although perhaps those associated with Druids Glen even have influence in that department.