EIGCA Associate Members Philip Spogárd & Michiel Van der Vaart appointed by County Louth Golf Club

Spogárd & VanderVaart has been appointed to advise the historic County Louth Golf Club in Ireland on possible changes to holes 2, 5 and 17. The famous Tom Simpson course, laid out in 1938, has turned to the award-winning Danish/Dutch company to help them review the options for improving a few areas of concern.

“County Louth Golf Club, or Baltray as it is often referred to, is a truly amazing course. It is a wonderful landscape and a fun and challenging course. The fact that the layout remains very similar to the original Tom Simpson design from 1938 is a testimony to his great skills as an architect. Working with historic golf courses is a massive responsibility as it is so easy to destroy or change the features which helped make it special. As an architect it is important to ‘leave your ego’ at home and approach it through the mind of the original architect. Some changes are however difficult to avoid due to the changes to the game which has taken place over the past 100 years. Greens now need to be a bit bigger to be able to spread the wear and tear – and some holes needs to be addressed because of the distances the modern golf balls are capable of going. The second green was redesigned some years ago, and it is our understanding, that it has not been received as well as what could have been hoped for by the members and guests. It is arguably a bit out of character with the rest of the greens and the severe plateaus makes the majority of it unpinnable during large part of the season. We have presented some ideas which are trying not to take anything away from Tom Simpsons approach to the land and it is imperative for us that all potential work will be carried out based on his well known design philosophies.” says Philip Spogárd, Principal Golf Course Architect of Spogárd & VanderVaart Golf Course Architects.

Should the proposals be approved by the club, construction could begin next year.