Ally
Part of the question is why haven't Americans been given more seaside opps in Ireland. Okay, not all that many opps have come along, but it seems to me that Ireland has largely (whichever nation produced the archies) missed the boat in terms of seriously high quality designs. Scotland has fared much better with not many more opps. Perhaps some of that has to do with the land, but the Scots examples did have some serious bulldozing involved.
It would be interesting to have your take on why Ireland lagged behind Scotland...or perhaps you don't believe it did/does.
Ciao
Sean,
Most of the Scottish examples followed on chronologically from the Irish links courses. There was a lot of new links work in Ireland from the 70's through to the 90's. Since then, European legislation has made things much more difficult (although Sandy Hills did slip through the net in 2003). Most Scottish links development has been done in the last 15 years, kicking off with Kingsbarns in 2000.
Trends (and budgets) have changed beyond recognition in that time-frame. The new school of architects have been hired in Scotland whereas they weren't there when the Irish courses were being built. And the budgets are in a different ball park, Doonbeg being the only exception on the Irish side - again a high quality design given the land restrictions and slightly awkward parcel of land.
So Eddie Hackett was the man in Ireland. Hackett has produced more timeless courses than any other architect. You can't date his courses because he moved so little earth. However, we can all probably admit that he wasn't a detail man, overseeing fairly simple greens construction and bunker placement and shaping, usually by on-site crews. Then we had Pat Ruddy. He has tended to design more modern style courses on links-land, something that is less in vogue with those who only consider the golden age and before. But just because Pat provides something different, doesn't mean it should be written off. I played The European last summer for the first time in 8 years and had forgotten how excellent it was. Tough, tight in places yes. But just superb and we should celebrate it exactly because it is not a golden age wannabe. The Irish public certainly celebrate it. So they do - quite rightly -with many of Hackett's designs.
Let's not forget The European ranks up there with the big five of RCD, Portrush, Portmarnock, Lahinch and Ballybunion in most magazines. So does Waterville. In fact only as trends and tastes have changed have we started to see Lahinch get back in to that grouping (Lahinch being my favourite course of them all).
Another difference between Ireland and Scotland has tended to be the topography - Ireland's dunes on the west coast are much more wild and difficult to tame.
My general tastes are the same as most but in answering your question Sean, it is first and foremost chronology. As I mentioned before, most new build developments that have or have nearly gone ahead in Ireland since 2000 have been looking at the same set of designers that Scotland did (Doak / C&C at Kilshanning; Urbina at Inch; Kidd then Hanse at Bushmill Dunes)
David,Regarding Belmullet, Jim Engh did an initial routing back in 2004. That routing changed dramatically over the next three years in consultation with those at the club. Some early construction works were undertaken then the project was put partially on hold around 2007. I took over in 2010, did some re-routing but held quite a lot of what was there before, provided the full detail design and saw that through construction until the soft opening in August 2013. Since that point, I've been consulting at the club on an ongoing basis.
EDIT - I see I crossed with Alan Fitzgerald's post. We make many of the same points between his take and my two posts on this thread.