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The five-bar gate that marks the entrance suggests nothing more than a barrier to fields or farmland. In two and a half years' time, it is proposed that a more impressive edifice will stand sentry there, and the land within will have been carefully transformed into the rustic splendour of Bellevue.
Renowned architect Robert Trent Jones Jnr has been charged with creating an 18-hole course on the former estate of the La Touche family in Delgany, Co Wicklow, on lands nestled between the Glen of the Downs and the N11 motorway. Often referred to as the "Father of Environmental Golf", Trent Jones Jnr is synonymous with designing golf courses in every imaginable geographic and climatic setting, from the tropics of Thailand to the Rocky Mountains in the United States.
Inspired by the great heathland courses of Gleneagles and Sunningdale, Bellevue is to be constructed from the heather and gorse of the La Touche estate. Once considered to be among the wealthiest families in Ireland, the La Touches established Bellevue as the family residence in 1753 and today it consists of over 100 acres of wild heathland. The project has been 11 years in coming to fruition.
Heaths are open landscapes dominated by heather, gorse, ferns and wild grasses, punctuated by trees like the silver birch and Scots pine. The project, which recently received planning permission from Wicklow County Council, is being developed by James Fortune and the O'Moore family, who own the land between them, Trent Jones Jnr and John Clarkin and Gavin Kelly of project managers, Turfgrass Consultancy.
The ruins of the La Touche family home will be restored to largely the original specifications and will serve as a clubhouse. The estimated cost of the project is €12 million and all concerned are adamant the finished product will be a success. Kelly insisted: "Bellevue's romantic and traditional values will be brought up to date with exquisite facilities aimed at providing its members and guests with a secluded and private retreat."
The vista from the new golf course will offer a 360 degree panoramic view of the Sugarloaf mountain, Djouce mountain, the Irish Sea, Wicklow Head and, when visibility permits, the Mourne mountains and Mount Snowdon in Wales. It is a stunning location and will utilise the rugged expanse of native heathers, gorse and wild flowers with a view to creating a natural course of firm sandy turf, with treacherous pot bunkers bordered by heather and grassy hollows.
The movement and gentle undulation of the Bellevue estate lends itself to excellent drainage. The greens will be sown with Penn A4 bentgrass, the same strain that covers the Mount Juliet greens recently eulogised by the world golf's elite. Clarkin explained: "On the fairways we are going to have very sandy surfaces and have natural grasses like bent fescues and heathland areas which is from where bent and fescues originated.
"Off the fairways we will have taller grasses, like fescues, that will be let grow tall and wispy and will go brown in the summer time. It will be sown at a very light rate so golfers will be able to find their golf balls and outside of that there are wild flowers, gorse, heather, ferns, silver birch trees and Scots pine, pot bunkers and riveted bunkers endemic to heathland.
"The idea is to create a heathland golf course that hasn't been created in Ireland for a fair amount of time. In the current edition of the golf magazine, Golf World, it rates the top 100 courses in Britain and Ireland: 60 are links, 33 heathland and only seven parkland, of which only one made the top 50."
A portion of the land had previously been used for farming but the design team is turning this area back to heathland, as it was back in 1600. Clarkin is conscious of the conservation issues: "Heathland is a globally rare and unique habitat that is to be cherished under the course plans. The strong focus on environmental protection and enhancement is emphasised by the creation of 70 acres of wildlife sanctuary throughout Bellevue. Only one sixth of the heathland in Britain and Ireland in 1800 remains today. The golf course will help to retain and reinstate some of the wonderful heath in Wicklow."
Clarkin and Kelly contacted Audubon International to oversee the creation of the wildlife sanctuaries. Audubon International is a non-profit environmental organisation dedicated to resource management and environmental conservation through education, research and public involvement.
Bellevue has applied for the Gold Signature Certificate programme, the first golf course in Ireland to do so: none have been awarded in Europe to date. This is about getting conservation assistance for projects in the planning stages of development to ensure land development occurs with the primary focus on sustainable resource management.
The 18-hole golf course will boast five sets of tees, catering for all standards of golfer, and will be essentially a private members club. Membership and all enquiries for same will be open in the spring of 2003 and initial entry fee, limited to a specific number, will be €35,000.
Clarkin insisted: "This is a club for the private members, whose numbers are going to be restricted. We are not interested in having 1,000 members, in fact considerably less."
Kelly added: "What we would look to provide is an outstanding golf course, supplemented by an outstanding golfing academy and a five-star quality service that has an old world theme with the walnut and mahogany and leather chairs but at the same time is not intrusive or overbearing."
Earth moving begins in spring 2003, the ambition to further enhance Ireland's burgeoning reputation in the golfing world.
Architecht Robert Trent Jones Jnr on Sculpting a piece of natural golf art
"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.
"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'."
John O'Sullivan
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