Northern Ireland

The Open: No mean feat to prepare a golf course regarded as one of the finest in the world

Royal Portrush Golf Club's course manager Graeme Beatt. Picture by Hugh Russell
Royal Portrush Golf Club's course manager Graeme Beatt. Picture by Hugh Russell Royal Portrush Golf Club's course manager Graeme Beatt. Picture by Hugh Russell

IT is no mean feat to prepare a golf course regarded as one of the finest in the world.

Located on the rugged Atlantic coast, the 36-hole Royal Portrush Golf Club is home to two challenging links courses, Dunluce and Valley.

But its stunning location on the North Antrim Causeway Coast presents a massive green-keeping challenge.

With just weeks to go before the eyes of the world watch golf's top players take to the fairways, the pressure is on course manager Graeme Beatt.

He said since the "bubble that is The Open" was announced, his job has kept getting bigger.

"My role for the club has been overseeing all the construction and the daily day-to-day running of the golf course," he said.

"I've been here since 2014, when the meetings with the R&A were ramping up, as soon as I started it's been all go."

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In preparation for the tournament, the course has undergone major changes in order to accommodate the elements of an international golfing event such as a mammoth tented village, numerous spectator stands and a home for the world's media.

Among the main alterations was the moving of the 17th and 18th holes with Martin Ebert's design seeing them replaced by two new holes, the 7th and 8th, on land previously part of the Valley Links.

Another major addition has been the creation of a tunnel behind the 6th green. Picture by Hugh Russell
Another major addition has been the creation of a tunnel behind the 6th green. Picture by Hugh Russell Another major addition has been the creation of a tunnel behind the 6th green. Picture by Hugh Russell

Holes 7 to 16 are now holes 9 to 18 on the redesigned course with the land freed-up by removing the 17th and 18th to be used for the tented village.

Other alterations include the lengthening of the 2nd hole by 40 yards and realigning the 10th, the new 12th.

The par on the course remains at 72, but the overall length has increased by almost 200 yards to 7,337 yards and number of bunkers has risen from 59 to 62.

Mr Beatt, who leads a team of 30 staff, which will increase to 60 during The Open, said construction work began in 2015, which has also included new bunkers and tees.

Portrush Golf Club ahead of The Open. Picture by Hugh Russell
Portrush Golf Club ahead of The Open. Picture by Hugh Russell Portrush Golf Club ahead of The Open. Picture by Hugh Russell

"We've put in 15km of fibre ducting throughout the course, new irrigation, two miles of tarmac roads around the course," he said.

"We’ve 22 miles of cable, water mains and sewerage around the course, everything is underground.

"Every hole has had some sort of a change - we've added more bunkers, which are more strategically placed as people hit the ball further than they used to, especially the pros.

"We've added more championship tees to make it longer and a lot of flattening out of areas to make room for spectator villages."

Graeme Beatt pictured at the new tunnel behind the 6th green. Picture by Hugh Russell
Graeme Beatt pictured at the new tunnel behind the 6th green. Picture by Hugh Russell Graeme Beatt pictured at the new tunnel behind the 6th green. Picture by Hugh Russell

Another major addition was the creation of a tunnel behind the 6th green, after a bottleneck of spectators was noted during the Irish Open.

"They got the specifications for the tunnel and it was made to order, it took about a year from start to finish," he said.

Playing such a pivotal role, Mr Beatt said it has been a learning curve for him.

"Last year at Carnoustie, I spent a few days going to meetings and shadowing, it gave me a real insight," he said.

"There's an Open set-up guidelines, we've been following that for a few years now - widths of semi-roughs, length of grass. But everything else is the same as our normal set-up, but the regularity of it and intensity is higher."

Portrush Golf Club ahead of The Open. Picture by Hugh Russell
Portrush Golf Club ahead of The Open. Picture by Hugh Russell Portrush Golf Club ahead of The Open. Picture by Hugh Russell

Mr Beatt, originally from St Andrews, said his team "need to be at the top of our game".

"Every job we're doing now, we're quite careful and knowing we're going to be on TV and cameras pick up everything," he said.

"I would be quite interested to see what the players think of it, that's quite exciting but I suppose I'm a bit apprehensive about it.

"The only thing that makes me nervous about it is the weather, but you can't change that."