In recent years we’ve celebrated many venue selections that defied common wisdom about who could host a modern pro golf tournament. From Gullane to Castle Stuart to even places like Detroit Golf Club last week, the game has visited some pretty special spots.
Other than the Old Course, I can’t imagine there is a more unusual golf course in tournament golf history to host than this week’s Irish Open venue, Lahinch Golf Club.
Paul McGinley is the longtime European Tour player and former Ryder Cup captain who will host this week. As a traditionalist and lover of all things Ireland, he’ll be the perfect ambassador. He explains how the idea came about, what will happen to the goats and how he anticipates the blind par-3 Dell will work thanks to an innovative setup.
GS: How did Lahinch’s selection happen?
Paul McGinley: In the South of Ireland, we've always played Lahinch historically. So we're all very familiar with it and we’ve all won around there. The irony is, the only guy of all the Irish guys on tour, other than [Shane] Lowry, that hasn't won there is Rory. All the rest of us have won around Lahinch. So we're all very familiar with it growing up. And the second thing is, everybody seems to love Lahinch. The fact that the 18th and the golf course goes right up to town, with the town nestling around it, and you’ve got the ocean framing the other side. So when I was asked to host by Rory, I went away and I thought okay, now where are we going to go what venue are we going to? Knowing that The Open was going to be at Portrush and knowing that the commercial market as well as the spectator market was going to be very much gravitated to the south while the top half of the country gravitated towards the Open Championship, we started looking around at potential venues and I thought, “you know what, the one outstanding one here is Lahinch.”
It haven't been held before and I think that's a golf course certainly worthy of hosting. We could make it a par 70, instead of 72, and then the other box that we ticked is of course the people of Lahinch. And there's three people there that I’ve known very well for a long period of time, Padraig Slattery former captain who was very successful in the PR world, John Gleeson who is a retired oil trader and very successful, and Paddy Keane who is the director of golf there.
I've known these guys personnel for a number of years and I thought, wow, the personnel, combined with the golf course, combined with the opening of the new commercial market, is a package that I believe would work best. Then it was a question of presenting that to the European Tour and the sponsors, Dubai Duty Free, and I became convinced that this is the right place.
GS: Is there anything comparable that you can think of in terms of design that professional golf has visited in the modern era?
PM: That's a good question, I mean it's old, it's historic and it’s fun. I always loved Castle Stuart as a Scottish Open venue even though I know it's a modern style golf course,. And I'm a great believer that difficult doesn't mean great. Lahinch is not the most difficult golf course, but it's a really fun golf course to play. And that for me is the most important thing. It's a bit like Prestwick, I have to say. In Ireland we refer to it sometimes as the St. Andrews of Ireland. It's quirky in some ways. And then you put in the fact that it's always in great condition and you get quality people down there that will ensure putting on a really good show.
GS: Have you talked to players much about what to expect in terms of holes teeing off across other holes, the Dell and other design elements like that?
PM: I’m wearing many hats so I’ve put on my players cap and tried to imagine how are player's going to react and how are they going to feel, so the condition of the golf course is important in terms of keeping a close eye and communicating with the R&A as to what they're doing up in Portrush last week. Fairway widths, rough height, green speeds, how the bunkers are going to be raked, the firmness of the greens, really all the things that they’re doing. I'm trying to mirror those down at Lahinch so the players get a really good brief going into Portrush.
GS: So you’ll be involved in the day-to-day golf course set up as well?
PM: I've overseen it with Miguel Vidaor, who is one of our best tournament directors, of the European Tour. Miguel and I have been keeping an eye on what the R&A have been doing at Portrush. Not that what we’ll do is an exact copy because obviously hole designs are different. But particularly in terms of green speed, we’re trying to mirror it. But I also don’t want to break the guys’ back. I don't want a level par or two or three or four under par winning. I expect a winning score hopefully between ten and fifteen on the par with good weather conditions. If the weather conditions are poor it'll be five to ten under par. That's really good prep in my mind for the guys who are going on to play the Open two weeks later. And also would provide a great champion on a true links course with the really good quality field that we have.
GS: Will you be camping out at the Dell to see who the guys deal with a hole unlike anything they’ve played in the world of golf?
PM: I've been a bit worried about that, and I’ve been thinking a long time about what are we going to do with the Dell. How am I going to convince the players that this is not a bad idea? A par-3 where you hit over a stone on top of a hill to a green that is about eight yards wide. So what we've done is with the European Tour’s ok, is rent the house behind the tee box. And there's a huge big front garden where we've put a grandstand in there and to the right of the tee box we've put a huge big TV screen.
So as the players hit the shot, they’l see the ball taking off and their heads will then move to their right hand side, they'd be looking away from where the ball is. The ball will be tracked by a TV camera as it goes over the hill and whether it’s on the green or not. So if they have a hole in one they will know before they leave the tee that it's been a hole in one. So it's just creating a little bit of showbiz around a very traditional hole in the golf course, and also taking away a little bit of the edge of the criticism they might have.
GS: Last thing, will the famous goats roaming the property be present during the tournament?
PM: Unfortunately not. With twenty 25,000 people a day out there and hopefully sellout crowds, their safety would be in question. It would have been nice to have them and we inquired about that, even maybe corralling them just to have them there, but the animal rights groups said no, lets not go there with the crowds. Because if something were to happen it would be a travesty.
GS: And the town will play a major role in the week?
PM: It’s a town and golf course everyone loves. It’s your favorite aunt. And more than anything I wanted to unite the two of them and make it a fun festival for families. Sure, there’s going be a few pubs and the lads like to drink, but there's also going to be lots of fun activities to make it a family day out. The local council have been great, as have the local police in terms of one way systems around the town these small quirky Irish roads. The local council have agreed to close down the town each evening from four o'clock to eleven o'clock for pedestrians only, so you can walk to town where there’ll be a stage with Irish music and food outlets on the street, face painters for the kids and just a real festival with golf being in the middle of it all.
A preview Tweet on the Dell, playing as the 5th this week:
