Sport

The designer Architect Robert Trent Jones Jnr on sculpting a piece of natural golf art

GOLF: "When this project was presented some 11 years ago, it was a glorious piece of land

Tue Oct 22 2002 - 01:00

GOLF: "When this project was presented some 11 years ago, it was a glorious piece of land. I came over here to meet James Fortune and we just hit it off and I did a layout. It seems to have survived the test of time, although I have made minor alterations.

"I always wanted to design a course in Ireland. My father (Robert Trent Jones Snr) did Ballybunnion New and Adare GC in Adare Manor. This is a heathland course. The area has extraordinary beauty and that made it an interesting challenge. It is beautifully situated in terms of the views offered.

"The routing of a golf course is like a stick drawing and now we are about to flesh it out. We haven't moved any soil, or thought about precisely where the bunkers should be. That part starts now. When a good racehorse gets near the track he begins to trot and then gallop. When a great piece of land is in front of you, a good architect gets enthusiastic and wants to be there. That's the feeling I have.

"If the land is good then we have the chance to make it special and this is that kind of land. It drains well, is pitched in the right direction, has ample trees and strong features here and there. This allows for a variety of shot making opportunities as well as ambience changes.

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"The nature lovers will love the views. For the golfer who keeps his nose down looking at the ball, missing out on the scenery, he'll find this course, intriguing, interesting and I think challenging to his brain as well as his shot-making.

"I want people to come back or when they want to go in and get a quick bite of lunch to come out and play it again. There is a tendency to make golf courses so long or bunkers too deep or greens too small that people say that I have played it once and don't need to play it again.

"The site also has the potential for one other thing, to become golf art. It would be as though you walked into a Monet painting or a great landscape painting by the Norwegians. We will craft that you play golf on the tees and greens so that they blend in and enhance what's already there rather than be awkward in any way.

"I want to leave a course that has wit and charm and has its own character where people say 'have you seen Bellevue then go and play it'."