Tom Doak to build 18-hole golf course on seaside dunes of Ireland

Tom Doak is designing and building a new 18-hole course on a tract of dunesland at the Rosapenna Hotel & Golf Resort in County Donegal, Ireland, according to The Fried Egg.

The course is being built on the seaside dunes of Ireland where St. Patrick’s Golf Links, a 36-hole golf course, currently sits unused. The iconic golf course architect finished his routing of the track in March 2018, and Doak’s firm helped build, irrigate, and grass the 14th and 15th greens.

Doak’s firm, Renaissance Golf Design (RGD), and Rosapenna are expected to break ground on the remainder of the golf course this summer. While the bulk of the work is expected to be done by the end of the year, limited preview play is scheduled to be available by the end of 2020.

RGD associate Eric Iverson will oversee the project, which is expected to included roughly 300 acres of sandy terrain along Sheephaven Bay in the northwestern corner of Ireland. The course’s landscape will include not just views of the ocean but also of protected pastures, according to Doak.

“When you play the early holes, you’re looking at [the pastures],” Doak said to The Fried Egg. “And when you play some of the finishing holes, you’re also looking at that in the distance. It’s just like a magnet. You got the bay on one side and you got those dunes on the other, and you’re looking at the dunes. That’s how good they are.”

Doak also told The Fried Egg that he expects the course will appeal to people who want to “get away from the crowds and the super-expensive places, and go somewhere where it’s a little more affordable and the golf is still really good, and you feel like you’re in the countryside of Ireland. You don’t see tour buses full of golfers.”

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