Once upon a time, out on the wild dunes of County Clare, there was a teeny-tiny snail – the Vertigo Angustior, to be exact. One day some humans came along wanting to build a state-of-the-art golf course on the little chap's home. Today, after many years and some legal wrangles, the snail and the golf course live together in harmony. What's more, you can even go visit it. The golf course, that is. The indigenous mollusk is less than two millimeters in size – so bring your magnifying glass.
Doonbeg Golf Club is a lavish, no-expense-spared affair on about 400 acres surrounding the beautiful, sandy Doughmore Bay in County Clare. It is a private golf club with links course, pro shop, spa, restaurants and bar. These 'suites' include kitchens kitted out with massive fridges with ice machines, stoves and microwaves with all the mod cons.
Some of the suites are in 'stables' that have been converted into accommodation – even though all of this building is brand spanking new. It has been created to look like it has been renovated from an old lodge house. Actually, the overall effect of the club is comfortable, but it does feel as if you have been transported out of Ireland and into some luxurious Irish-themed North American resort.
This makes sense if you consider that much of the money and current members are American. Irish celeb gardener Diarmund Gavin devised the pretty flower and herb planted landscaping, but the resort's interiors were devised from Kiawah's HQ in Atlanta, Georgia.
The suites are being sold to golf club members and have limited availability to short-stay visitors who contact them. It is run like a hotel. The guest is taken care of by a team of friendly and knowledgeable staff who hail mostly from the locality.
According to golf meister Padraig Harrington, "I really didn't think anyone would design a golf course like this in this day and age. It is true links golf." Legendary Australian golfer, Greg 'the great white shark' Norman, is responsible for its layout and design. The course launched in 2002, while the grand opening for the lodge and suites was in May.
The smallish spa – 'White Horses' – in the Lodge's basement is by Irish-born Clodagh. She doesn't use her surname, like Madonna, and is a hugely successful interiors designer who operates from Manhattan. There really is no expense spared here – luxury-on-tap is the concept.
It was a long struggle for the US developer Kiawah to bring this to completion. Kiawah developed and run a 10,000 acre sea island golf resort near Charleston, South Carolina in the US. In Doonbeg, it had to protect the snail, the dunes (designated as a candidate Special Area of Conservation by Duchas) and hide the golf course from view ever before the first golf ball could be whacked across the green.
The Doonbeg Advisory Board includes, broadcaster Terry Wogan, US politico George Mitchell and Dr. Patrick John Hillery among other US and Irish notables. When all is done and dusted, Doonbeg Golf Club and Lodge will add up to an investment around 150 million euros – serious sponduliks for a little parish on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.
