Explore Paul McGinley’s reimagining of Donegal Golf Club’s great Murvagh Links and Irish Golf’s Undiscovered Northwestern Frontier
County Donegal is Irish golf’s great hidden gem and former European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley has added to the attraction of Ireland’s wild and beautiful northwest by taking the first steps in his redesign of Donegal Golf Club’s sensational Murvagh links.
With the southwest, the east coast and the Northern Ireland links experiencing high levels of demand, Donegal is the great undiscovered frontier of Irish golf.
Gil Hanse and his design partner Jim Wagner set the ball rolling by reimagining Donegal’s Narin and Portnoo links in 2019. Then Tom Doak, another golf course architect of world renown, added to the Donegal buzz by creating the St Patrick’s Links at a Rosapenna Hotel and Golf Resort in 2021
Donegal Golf Club, moved to Murvagh in 1974, quickly grew in popularity, initially designed by Eddie Hackett before it was remodelled by Pat Ruddy, designer of The European Club, in 1992. The golf course sits on the Murvagh Peninsula, which juts out into the Atlantic and offers the serious golfer an unforgettable links golf experience with sweeping views of Donegal Bay, the Atlantic Ocean and the Bluestack Mountains and sensational shot values as you plot your way through the high dunes, battling those fresh Atlantic breezes.
Former Open champion Darren Clarke, the ultimate links golfer, describes County Donegal as “one of my favourite golf courses in the world”, and the Northern Irishman’s former Ryder Cup teammate McGinley is excited about the completion of the first phase of his remodelling of the course with McGinley Golf Course Architecture & Design®.
“There are amazing canvases here,” McGinley says of Donegal, the home county of his mother and father and a place where he spent his summers as a child, learning the rudiments of links golf. “And this is the prime canvas in the whole of Donegal.
“That excites and motivates me: to best utilise the terrain while also honouring the history, routing and flow of the course.”
Last year, the Dubliner completed his redesign of the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes, and with all 18 holes to be renovated in phases over the next few years, Murvagh is set to take its place among the world’s great links courses.
“Golf is now more popular in Ireland than in Scotland in terms of turnover and green fees,” says McGinley, who captained Europe to victory in the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. “Obviously, the southwest of Ireland is becoming very busy and expensive. So we’re seeing a lot of people starting to migrate up the Wild Atlantic Way and the next frontier is Donegal.”
The Wild Atlantic Way is a spectacular 1,553-mile driving route that passes through nine counties and three provinces, stretching from Kinsale in County Cork as far north as County Donegal’s Inishowen Peninsula in Ulster.
McGinley is a traditional, minimalist designer with a penchant for opening up vistas by raising tees and greens to bring in sea views, and he has already made his presence felt at Donegal Golf Club.
“I don’t believe in funkiness,” he says of his design philosophy. “I don’t believe in huge, big slopes and greens like you have at Augusta. I’m a believer in golf being fun, fair, challenging and aesthetically beautiful.”
When it comes to Donegal Golf Club, he’s modernising the links and making them more playable for members and visitors.
Women were often an afterthought in bygone days but McGinley has paid particular attention to the forward tees and made sure they are raised and well-placed to best show off the challenge ahead.
“Golf courses get a little bit outdated,” says McGinley, who works closely with his design partner, Joe Bedford. “Things move over time. They have to be brought to a new level. So this is an evolution, not a revolution, of all that Eddie Hackett and Pat Ruddy did here.
“It’s not a case of going in and blowing stuff up. But I do want to make a hole really playable and fair for all standards, not just the standard that I play at, but for handicap golfers.”
He’s also excited that designers like Hanse and Doak have come to Donegal and hopes to put Donegal Golf Club on the map with his painstaking redesign.
“I’ve said it before, and I still say it – If Donegal was a stock, I’d be buying it,” he says of his plans for the Murvagh links.
“Our masterplan calls for an evolution, not a revolution. The core principle is that the course needs to be more playable for the membership and all standards of player.
“At the same time, it should be seamlessly prepared for major events by creating optionality on tees and challenges on greens that allow pins to be tucked when needed. Donegal Golf Club is one of the very best canvasses of any club in the country.”
Donegal is a gateway for golf in the northwest and with many other great courses in the county, Donegal Town is an excellent base for visitors looking to play some of Ireland’s best courses.
“We’re all in this together,” McGinley says. “We’re all raising Donegal together. Donegal is the next frontier.“
