Famed golf course architect Donald Ross was known for his belief that “a course should begin with a gentle handshake.” Greg Norman followed that lead in his original design at Doonbeg. Norman’s first hole was a par five of modest length with an elevated tee shot to generous fairway and a green set at the base of a massive dune. An altogether lovely start to the course.
Ross was also known for the superb routing and continuity of his designs—the excellent use of the ground nature gave him and the seemingly natural flow from green to tee. Greg Norman at Doonbeg? Not so much. With three green to tee walks requiring the golfer to cross another fairway and longish walks on others, I always felt the course was a bit disjointed. Several good to very good holes but a whole far less than the sum of its parts. And a few gimmicks thrown in like a bunker in the middle of the 12th green and the complete lack of bailout areas around the tiny 14th hole. In short, I found the Doonbeg setting spectacular but the course just okay. Norman blamed it all on the environmental restrictions foisted upon him.
The new 14th Hole replaced Norman’s original which was lost to the sea.
Enter Donald Trump and the architect of his excellent course near Aberdeen, Martin Hawtree, who was also responsible for a fabulous facelift at Lahinch a few years ago. In his improvements to Doonbeg, Hawtree has left no stone unturned and no hole untouched. In some cases like the 1st hole, the green has been re-contoured rather than moved with run offs to chipping areas instead of Norman’s deep rough. In others, the green has been moved into a dune setting and/or closer to the next tee. Other changes are more subtle like pinching the drive on the 8th with the extension of two dunes in the right side of the landing area.
The updated 1st green, as shared by Doonbeg Superintendent, Scott Marr.
The net result is that Hawtree, working with the same environmental restrictions, has created a course which seems to fit the setting much better than Norman’s work and flows quite naturally from one hole to the next. It is a far more pleasant walk and game than the one offered by the Norman original. A must play on a golfing expedition to Southwest Ireland.
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