THE construction phase of the proposed golf course at the Bushmills Dunes Golf Resort and Spa will provide a real boost to the local economy, a leading expert has told the News Letter.
On Tuesday, Environment Minister Alex Attwood gave the green light for the £100m development close to the Giant’s Causeway.
Golf course designer David McLay Kidd, who visited the north coast to outline plans for a new golf course at Runkerry 10 years ago, says it can become an “iconic” resort.
Mr Kidd believes the course could be up and running within three years if work begins in the coming months.
“Two years possibly, but more like three, I doubt it could be less,” he said.
“This project is a dozen years old already and a spade has yet to strike the ground.
“If it took three years to build at this stage it would only be a third of the time it has been active.”
The Scotsman, long based in America, was stunned by the possibilities offered by the coastline.
“History has shown that if you have a great piece of land and you build a golf course, it becomes iconic, history takes over,” he said.
“If a golf course can be built on that land, which it will now given the recent decision, it’s going to become an iconic golf course.
“It will further secure Northern Ireland’s place on the golfing map along with Royal Portrush, Royal County Down and all those other fabulous courses. It will do no harm, it will only do good.”
A decade of waiting and wondering over the future of the project has clearly not dampened Mr Kidd’s enthusiasm, although he made it clear that he had yet to be confirmed as designer for the proposed facility.
“I worked on the project a long time ago. I remember I stayed in the Bushmills Inn,” said Mr Kidd. “The design we produced for the golf course was purely a layout. It was just a stick drawing, a routing of where each hole might go.
“Getting the planning permission was a giant hurdle, but it’s not the only hurdle. Just look at today’s economy, it has to be paid for next.
“I’m not the client. I don’t know what stage the owner Dr Alistair Hanna has reached with development strategies, timelines, etc.
“The conversations I have had with him in recent months were all about the planning permission issue. Without that, any further conversation was pointless, but I’m ready to go if he calls. The land is as good as I have seen for a links course.”
In the intervening years since starting work on the Runkerry project, Mr Kidd’s team has been the creative force behind two new links courses in Scotland, The Castle at St Andrews, and Machrihanish Dunes in Kintyre.
He sees some similarities between the land at Runkerry and that at Machrihanish Dunes.
“It’s a wild landscape, with big dunes. It’s gorgeous and Runkerry has the same potential,” he said.
“It’s closer to the sea than Royal Portrush, and although there is some arable land that will probably have to be remodelled, the most dramatic stretches near the ocean feature some big, steep dunes.
“I hope Dr Hanna calls tomorrow and says get on that plane. I’d be only too happy.”