Independent Sports Supplement

As signature holes go, this one has Paul McGinley written all over it. The 12th at McGinley's new course at Macreddin Village in Co Wicklow fits the personality of its football-crazy creator to a tee - right down to the giant fir trees which guard both sides of its green, looking for all the world like massive goalposts.

"Nature was good to us putting those trees there," said McGinley with obvious pleasure. We're standing on the broad landing area which had been carved out of the woods, some 250 yards below the elevated tee on this delightful dog-leg right and are considering the 150 yard second shot across a river canyon into the green.

Macreddin Golf Club won't be open for play until July but already one can tell that McGinley's first steps into the world of golf course design are going to be significant. "This is going to be a championship golf course. It's over 7000 yards long and is really challenging," he says. "Yet at all times in its design I've kept it very much in mind that the average handicap in golf is 15.

Subtlety

"My whole thing is not to intimidate players but to challenge them, male, female, everyone. Baltray is my favourite course because you have fun out there whatever your handicap - and it's my intention to have the same mix of subtlety and skill here. "Nobody is going to be asked to play shots they are not capable of."

McGinley has found golf course design to be "a steep learning curve" and has relied heavily on the skills of co-designer Roger Jones and his own right-hand man Bob Knott. "Thirty houses are going to be built on the course and I'm going to buy one," he said. "I'll be down here for a while. This will always be my first project. It'll always be my baby. I'll take pride in it but it'll be tweaked over the years."

Declining to say what top players get for putting their signature to a new course. McGinley went on: "All I will say is that I didn't do it for the money. "There were three or four offers I didn't take yet. Firstly, I was attracted by the land here and, secondly, by the three Doyle brothers from Dublin - Eoin, Evan and Bernard - and what they've already achieved at Macreddin Village, the hotel and spa and what they want the place to grow into.

Business

"They know their business inside out and these are guys I can work with. I've learned a lot from them at marketing meetings and all that kind of thing over the past year. "Basically this is a village based on life in Ireland a hundred years ago. Looks like it's been here for years but it's not and everything they produce is organic, even down to the beer in the pub," he explained.

Despite his enthusiasm for course design and his determination to "put this project to bed properly", McGinley insisted that he won't be taking on any more construction jobs. "I want to go out and play. That's where I get my buzz. That's what I want to do. I've four or five years left at the top and I feel I'm good enough to win a major and I want to hone in on that."

Independent Sports Supplement

Wednesday 4th October
Karl MacGinty