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10 June 2005
The Heritage has it all
WE all know that pub talk is dangerous, however back in the last century a conversation between golfing buddies resulted in a 100 million euro project coming to fruition in a few short years!
Eleven years ago, a group of golfers were enjoying the crack and post game banter of the nineteenth in a pub in Portlaoise and as they ruminated on the wonderful sport that had bro0ught them together.
As the evening progressed and the conversation got a little more serious, the thoughts turned to the lack of a championship golf course in the area. Two of those present were the professional from the nearby Heath Golf Club Eddie Doyle and local businessman Tom Keane.
Jokingly, Eddie suggested to Tom that he was the man who could change all this and the evening continued. There were to be many more such evenings over the years and each time the conversation came back to having a championship course that would attract the big boys!
As the new century dawned Tom Keane finally took the bait and calling up Eddie he told him the time for talking was over and he was going to realise the dream.
Seve Ballesteros was commissioned to design the course with Jeff Howes and land was acquired from a local farmer to facilitate the development. The Heritage Golf and Country Club has been born and now stands on over 300 acres. It is a stunning development built around a Championship Golf Course that has won many admirers.
This past weekend, The Heritage played host to the AIB Irish Seniors Open and all the players were united in their praise for the course. Des Smyth who was playing in his first Irish Seniors event quipped that the tee boxes were of such a high standard that he felt like taking out his putter while former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance indicated that the course was magnificent in every respect and was good enough to host a Ryder Cup.
When Ballesteros commenced his design work, he was noted for some quirky and extreme features and while the Heritage displays his penchant for dramatic bunkering there is a sense of maturity about his layout.
Granted there are 98 bunkers, containing over 4,500 tonnes of sand and they have some magnificent designs about them, leaves of trees, pointed edges rather than curves but there are also five man made lakes with the largest skirting the ninth and eighteenth holes in what can only be described as one of the most magnificent backdrops in Irish golf.
The course itself is a traditional layout of four par fives, four par threes and ten par fours but the manner of the design ensures that the par fives are all in different directions while the par threes are each distinctive in their own right.
There is a stunning clubhouse built on three floors and dominated by a large atrium, which ascends to a circular glass dome. From the clubhouse there are stunning views of the golf course and of the rolling County Laois countryside.
Tom Keane has left nothing to chance and with a luxury 150 bedroom hotel and conference centre also built on the site as well as a Spa and leisure centre, there is something for everybody. There is also the Seve Ballesteros Natural Golf School, the first of its kind in Ireland and Great Britain. At the school there is a 10 bay floodlit driving range, teaching bays, an outdoor tee area, a dedicated short game facility with putting green, pitching green, bunker area and target golf greens.
There is also a Swing Analysis room, which uses digital video technology for precise analysis, an indoor putting facility and a custom fitting area.
And if that’s not all there is also a ninehole par three course with holes measuring between 150 and 210 yards, built to the same specification as the championship course as well as a floodlit walking and jogging track that skirts the course.
The Heritage has already established itself as a top class venue with the Heritage Challenge featuring Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh and John Daly along with Seve and now the Irish Seniors Open.
In fact Padraig Harrington was glowing in his praise for the venue. “This course is capable of holding an Irish Open straight away. It’s in fantastic condition and the thing I really liked about it is we actuality enjoyed playing it. You can build a golf course, even a great one, and there’s no fun to be had on it; this golf course is different. It’s an enjoyable one where you can hit good shots and make birdies.
“It was a course I would like to go out and play and come back in time and time again. The condition of it was second to none. There is nowhere around the world that could be better than it.”
The course has already been voted onto the list of Ireland’s Top Twenty Five courses and I have no doubt that it will climb that list steadily!
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