New Developments for2003: In the first of a two-part series on what's new in Irish golf in 2003, Philip Reid profiles the courses which will be opened this year - Heritage in Laois, Bray's 18-hole facility and the second courses at the K Club, Powerscourt and Carton.

Time moves on, and still the lustful pursuit of golfing heaven occupies the minds of Irish developers. The construction of new courses has abated somewhat from the mad rush of the 1990s - when more than 110 were constructed - and the number of courses that will allow a tee-peg to be pushed into the ground for the first time in 2003 does not reach double-digits . . . but, in terms of financial expenditure, the newcomers on the block represent serious investment.

Apart from Bray Golf Club, which is a traditional members' club, and one that is making the move from its old nine-hole course to a new 18-hole facility little more than three miles away as part of a land swap deal with a property development company, the other courses coming on stream this year - the second courses at Powerscourt, Carton House and the K Club, and the new development at the Heritage in Laois - occupy the top end of the market, and confirm a growing trend towards resort-type facilities.

The only start-up facility, though, is the Heritage Golf and Country Club, which is based in Killenard, Co Laois. This development - which will cost €100 million - is the brainchild of property developer Tom Keane and, apart from being the first Seve Ballesteros signature course in Ireland, will also have a luxury hotel, leisure complex and a golfing academy.

In the case of the other facilities, it is a case of adding on to already successful products. Powerscourt will open its new West Course - designed by David McLay Kidd - in June; Carton House will open the Montgomerie Course - designed by Colin Montgomerie - in July or August; and the

K Club will open the South Course - designed by Arnold Palmer - in July, just before the European Open which takes place on its sister course across the River Liffey.

Only one of the five courses coming on stream for play is designed by an Irish designer - the others feature two Scots, a Spaniard and an American - and that is the course at Bray Head, which will become the new home for Bray Golf Club.

The onward and upward trend to expand Irish golfing facilities is at variance with the experience in other countries. In Germany, for example, there are serious financial worries for a number of developments which came into existence in the 1990s. Dr Falk Billion, a golf consultant based in Munich, believes that of 600 new developments built in the decade, some 200 are in financial trouble and up to 50 are on the brink of collapse.

So far, that scenario has not happened in Ireland. Indeed, the way in which golf memberships - especially those with a redeemable preferential share - have risen in value would indicate that the bubble has yet to burst.

The best example is at Powerscourt. In 1994, the first tranche of shares were offered at £2,500. Shares were then offered in further stages, eventually finishing at £18,000. All 440 shares were sold within three years. The latest offering of shares at Powerscourt - with the advent of the second course - has them on offer for €50,000. There is only a limited number of these still available.