General

With a spectacular location on Northern Ireland’s Causeway Coast and boasting three eighteen-hole courses, Portstewart Golf Club has appointed European Golf Design to develop and improve its three contrasting layouts and practice facilities.

Portstewart’s Strand course is ranked in the Top 100 of all three main GB&I course ranking lists. The links, popular with international golfing tourists, was originally laid out by Willie Park Jnr. and currently features one of the most spectacular opening stretches of holes anywhere. It notably hosted the 2017 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, with victor, Jon Rahm, commenting: “The golf course is amazing. It’s probably one of the most beautiful golf courses I’ve ever seen, if not the most.”

Over the last 20 years, European Golf Design (EGD) has masterminded and created over 60 new golf courses and overseen remodelling and improvement works to a further 39 existing layouts. The company’s remit at Portstewart prioritises the development of fit-for-purpose practice facilities; enhancements to the Strand course with a focus on holes 16-18; and potential improvements to the Riverside course.

“We are immensely proud of our golf courses and heritage at Portstewart Golf Club,” David Lamont, Captain and Trustee commented. “Working with a company of European Golf Design’s international renown will help cement and enhance our championship Strand course as one of the world’s truly great links courses. Their input will also assist us in continuing the development and improvement of our other two courses and in providing a first-class practice facility for the benefit of our members and international visitors.” General Manager, David MacLaren, added, “We know that European Golf Design’s proven skill at improving already great golf courses will enable us to further refine the Strand course. We also have ambitions to build on our already rich tournament heritage, across both the professional and amateur ranks.”

“We are thrilled to have been given the opportunity to work with Portstewart to look at its three distinctive golf courses and practice facilities,” EGD Managing Director, Jeremy Slessor, enthused. “To have the chance to elevate the Strand course’s reputation to even greater heights is a genuine privilege. There’s enormous potential to add value to the Riverside course, too, by giving it even more of its own identity and character and we hope that the Old Course, with its dramatic, sea-edge location in town, can also benefit from a fresh, modern eye.”

For more information about the project please contact David MacLaren via david@portstewartgc.co.uk or on 028 7083 2015, or Jeremy Slessor via jslessor@egd.com or on 07711 629474.

ENDS

European Golf Design, one of the world’s foremost golf course design agencies, this week celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Founded in 1992 as a joint venture between the European Tour group and IMG, European Golf Design (EGD) is responsible for 105 projects globally including three Ryder Cup venues: The Twenty Ten Course at The Celtic Manor Resort, host of the 2010 Ryder Cup; the redesign at Le Golf National, host of the 2018 Ryder Cup; and the redesign of the stadium course at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, which will host golf’s greatest team competition in less than 18 months’ time.

In 2021, a two-man syndicate comprising European Tour Chief Operating Officer Keith Waters and businessman Robert Birmingham acquired 50% of EGD from IMG, with Jeremy Slessor continuing to operate as the organisation’s Managing Director.

Three of its projects – The Stadium Course at PGA Catalunya, The Montgomerie at Carton House GC and The Faldo Berlin at A-Rosa Resort – have previously been voted the best new courses in Europe, while Dubai Hills in the United Arab Emirates was named as ‘The World’s Best New Course’ in 2019.

Over the last 30 years, EGD has worked with 19 world-renowned players on Signature Design-branded courses, including Ryder Cup Captains Thomas Bjørn, Darren Clarke, Sir Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie and Ian Woosnam, as well as ten-time Major Champion Annika Sorenstam.

In all, 36 of EGD’s projects have hosted events on the DP World Tour, European Challenge Tour, Ladies European Tour, Legends Tour and LPGA Tour. This year, nine venues designed, or redesigned, by EGD will host events on the DP World Tour, Legends Tour, LPGA and Ladies European Tour.

Jeremy Slessor, Marketing Director of European Golf Design, said: “The story of EGD for the last 30 years has been one of collaboration, flexibility and creativity. Particularly given the past couple of years, we see those traits as being ever-more important to ensure that the company continues to thrive for the coming decades.

“We’ve been extremely fortunate to have had such strong support from our past and present shareholders, with the European Tour Group being particularly involved. Some outstanding clients have given us the opportunity to work with them, and the team here have delivered amazing courses time and time again. It’s been a privilege to have been part of the company for so long, and we all look forward to the future.”

At present, 16 new courses and renovations are currently being overseen by EGD, including projects in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

EGD is also currently taking steps to become a carbon-neutral company as part of its commitment to environmental sustainability and climate action. With support from the GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf, EGD is tracking and measuring its carbon footprint across all areas of business operations, reducing emissions where possible and mitigating where necessary by credibly offsetting all unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions.

08 DECEMBER 2021 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EDGWARE, LONDON, UK – – The Dye London is to be renamed The Legacy Club, and will be brought to completion by European Golf Design (EGD) following the deaths of pioneering golf course architect Pete Dye in early 2020, and his son Perry in 2021.

The project, which was originally announced in 2013, was set to bring the Dye family’s unique brand of creative golf course design to the UK for the first time, tempting golfers with a spectacular new challenge from the designer of iconic PGA Tour venues such as Sawgrass, Kiawah Island, Whistling Straits and Harbour Town.

“We will be realising the vision which Pete and Alice Dye originally had for the golf course, including the routing, but we will provide the detail” said European Golf Design’s Managing Director, Jeremy Slessor. “The Legacy Club will be enjoyable and playable for all golfers, but will also offer a challenge worthy of a Tour venue.”

The new 18-hole golf course in Edgware, north London, will be the first collaboration between the Menai-Davis family and EGD, the golf course design company of the European Tour Group.

Tony and Anne Menai-Davis plus their sons Ceri and Cae, co-owners of The Legacy Club, and creators of the Seve Ballesteros-designed The Shire London and the forthcoming The London Links, chose the new name in honour of the Dye family, and also after a family tragedy of their own.

“My eldest Ceri and his wife lost their young son, Hugh, to cancer in summer 2021” said Tony Menai-Davis. “This much-loved and extraordinarily brave young man left us at just six years old, but he filled our lives with enough wonderful memories to last a lifetime. We will think of him every day, and his favourite bird – the owl – will be in The Legacy Club’s logo.

Ceri Menai-Davis said: “The Legacy Club will honour the love we all share for this magnificent sport of golf, and also the love we all have for people who are no longer here.

“My wife and I have created a charity, It’s Never You, to help parents of children who have potential life-limiting illness. The Legacy Club and our other facilities will all help these parents who are going through an indescribable time.

“After many years working in golf and at The Shire London, which is itself driven by the legacy of another of golf’s true greats, Severiano Ballesteros, I can assure you that golfers will love The Legacy Club experience, even more so now we have the team at EGD to help us bring it to life.”

Tony and Anne’s youngest son, Cae, co-founded The Golf Trust charity in 2012 and has helped to bring the benefits of golf to thousands of children over the last decade.

“We are all somebody’s son or daughter, and when you become a parent you better understand the power of legacy, and what it means to provide a better society for our children” said Cae Menai-Davis. “When we met Pete & Alice Dye they could see that we were, like them, a close-knit family and we established a strong connection with them. It feels entirely natural, now, for Ceri and myself to help our family to create golf venues where people can discover a love for golf which might last them a lifetime.

“And doing it in a way which honours not only Pete Dye’s legacy but also Hugh’s feels like the most natural thing of all.”

The Menai-Davis family business now includes five golf facilities in the London area, but The Legacy Club will be their first venture with European Golf Design – creators of The Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor, the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup, and Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, the venue for the 2023 Ryder Cup.

“I have known Jeremy for 20 years, and EGD is a world-class team of golf course designers” said Tony Menai-Davis. “I am a big admirer of the work they have done, and we are thrilled to be working with EGD as we guide The Legacy Club towards its opening a few years from now.”

“Pete Dye was one of golf’s true innovators” said Slessor, “and we have all been inspired by his designs. Although we didn’t have the opportunity to meet him and discuss his strategy for The Dye London, we will remain highly respectful of the foundations he and Perry laid here as we work hand in hand with the Menai-Davis family to prepare The Legacy Club for the changing demands of the modern sport.”

For more details contact Ceri Menai-Davis at The Shire London.

Ends.

CONTACTS
• Media: Andy Hiseman at Flagstick | andy@hiseman.com | +44 (0)7795 360112
• The Legacy Club: Ceri Menai-Davis | ceri@theshirelondon.com | +44 (0)7734 159592

NOTES FOR EDITORS

About The Bridgedown Golf Group and The Legacy Club

The Bridgedown Golf Group is a family-owned business which designs championship golf courses with a fresh approach. Venues include The Shire London (www.theshirelondon.com) in Barnet, West London – the only Seve Ballesteros design in the UK; the City 9 at The West London Golf Centre (www.westlondongolfcentre.co.uk) in Northolt, West London; Lost Jungle London Adventure Golf (www.lostjunglelondon.com) in Edgware, North London; The London Links in Northolt, West London; and The Legacy Club in Edgware, North London.

About European Golf Design
www.egd.com

European Golf Design was established in 1992 and is the Golf Course Design Company of the European Tour Group. The company has earned a reputation for producing successful resort, members and tournament golf courses, on schedule and within budget. They are recognised for the ability to exceed their clients’ expectations and for the economic added value of their designs. Three of EGD’s courses have been voted best new course in Europe and two are named in the top 100 courses in the World. With views of the famous skyline of downtown Dubai, our course at Dubai Hill was named ‘World’s Best New Golf Course’ at the 2019 World Golf Awards. The company has won design commissions throughout Europe and beyond to Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Asia, working for private landowners, worldwide hotel groups, resort and real estate developers either independently or within a team of master planners, architects and engineers.