Developer offers land swap to south Dublin golf course

D·n Laoghaire Golf Club has said it hopes to be able to consult its members by next March on an offer from a private developer to exchange the club's 90-year-old course for a new one to be built on an area more than three times its size. The club has written to members informing them of the approach, which it stressed was one of a number made to it by developers in recent years.

The offer entails an exchange of the club's 90-acre 18-hole course, in a prime residential area off Tivoli Road, for a 320-acre 27-hole course off Ballyman Road on the Dublin/Wicklow border. The new location, situated near Old Conna Golf Club, would ensure the club remained within the D·n-Laoghaire Rathdown borough.

Under the arrangement, the developer would be responsible for construction costs and may also have to pay additional compensation either to the club or to the members.

The club's general manager, Mr Dennis Peacock, said: "We are having a number of meetings with the developer to progress this matter, and we hope to know by the end of March if the interest is serious. If the interest was to develop in the meantime to the stage that we had something in writing, then perhaps we would call an a.g.m. But there is no plan for an a.g.m. in January because there is no definite offer yet."

He stressed the club was proceeding with plans to redevelop its clubhouse at a cost of up to £3.1 million. "As far as we are concerned we are staying here and the main thrust of our work at the moment is the development of a new clubhouse."

He conceded, however, "if the interest develops at the pace people are saying it may, then it puts the clubhouse to one side".

Among those to approach the club previously was Monarch Properties, which offered to exchange land near Loughlinstown for the D·n Laoghaire course.

Founded in 1910, the club has just over 1,100 members, about 575 of whom, it says, are playing members. In recent years, it has bought up small parcels of land bordering the course in an attempt to lengthen holes. "We have had to develop the course within limitations," Mr Peacock said. "It is surrounded by houses and there is little potential to buy other bits of land."