By Peter O’Connell
DOONBEG Golf Club designer Greg Norman has told The Clare Champion that he expects to hear from Donald J Trump if any changes are to be made to the course.
Speaking from the US on Wednesday, ‘The Great White Shark’ also revealed that his company had been asked if they were interested in buying the club. The two-time Major winner spoke to the new owner of the West Clare club, on hearing that Mr Trump had bought Doonbeg Golf Club, which entered liquidation in January.
“I put a call into Donald and said ‘congratulations.’ I knew the golf club was in play (on the market) for a while. I had actually been approached earlier on, a couple of months earlier, to see if we had any interest in it or any recommendations,” Mr Norman said.
“I knew Donald was on the acquisition trail of iconic properties. That has been no secret, especially here in the United States. So kudos to him. He outbid everybody else and he’s got another trophy property,” the retired Australian golfer aid.
In an extensive interview in last week’s Clare Champion Mr Trump indicated that some changes may be in the offing on the golf course.
“We’ll have the golf course in the finest condition of any golf course in Ireland. We’re fixing the golf course from the storm as you know,” Mr Trump said.
Greg Norman said that he has yet to speak to Mr Trump as regards any possible changes to the course but expects to do so if alterations are to be made.
“He hasn’t really made any overtures. I would imagine, Donald, being the consummate professional he is, would contact us if there were any changes to be considered to the golf course. To be quite honest with you, myself and my design company were very, very deeply involved with getting Doonbeg to a position as an extremely well recognised course in the environmentalist world. We made sure, from a conservation stand point, that we respected everything that took place. We’re like the heartbeat of Doonbeg (golf club) because of our history there. Like I said, Donald being the consummate professional, I would expect a phone call if he’s going to do anything,” Mr Norman reiterated.
“Golf courses changed hands and owners all the time. Just about every time the new owner keeps the designer on board and goes ahead if he needs to implement any changes. Most of the time they’re infrastructure changes or vertical changes. Very seldom do they go and change the golf course itself,” he pointed out.
Although Mr Norman has not visited Doonbeg for “three or four years” he may do so if invited to do so by the Trump family.
“If Donald wants me to go over there and walk the golf course with him, or his son Eric, who is pretty much the most involved, if my schedule permits it and it works for both of us, yeah absolutely. I would be very happy to be involved with him and discuss it. As for re-routing the golf course, the environmental restrictions and the conservation areas that were put in place for us, I’m sure are going to be 100% still in place. Legally can he go and apply changes? Sure he could but I know the history.
There’s a lot of hurdles they have to jump if they’re going to go through that process,” he suggested.
Retired from professional golf since 2009, Mr Norman wasn’t overly surprised to hear that Doonbeg Golf Club entered receivership on January 13.
“Not really. Like I said I’ve seen a lot of these things happen on a global basis. You don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. I was there to design the golf course and wasn’t involved in the management of the entire project. At the end of the say this stuff happens in business, in golf course ownership, it happens in hotels. You’ve just go to navigate your way through it and get the best result. Doonbeg is not going to go away. It’s such an iconic place. The new owner, Donald, sees it as an absolute jewel in the crown so he’s got to make sure that he backs up the value of his investment,” the Doonbeg golf club designer stated, adding that he retains a fondness for the West Clare resort.
“Sure, I’m very passionate about Doonbeg. I’ve a great history there and I worked extremely well with Evelyn Moorkens, who is the environmentalist. We had a case study there about how a development and a golf course designer can work hand in hand, with an environmentalist. Everybody can achieve their objectives. That was 12 to 14 years ago. It was a great case study and it still is,” Mr Norman maintains.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.