Royal Portrush hosted it's first Open Championship in 1951, with Max Faulkner triumphing over Harry Colt's Dunluce Course... at the time Bernard Darwin was minded to write that Colt's design of the Dunluce links was 'a monument more enduring than Brass'.

As listeners will know the Open Championship returned to Royal Portrush in 2019. In advance of the 148th staging of the Championship MacKenzie & Ebert undertook improvement and revision works on both the Dunluce & Valley courses at RP. With the club due to host the 153rd Open in 2025, members at Royal Portrush approved a comprehensive improvement plan for the Valley. These works began in November 2023 and are expected to be complete by August 2024. Works focus upon improving and augmenting the spectator, player and member experience throughout the property.

I joined consulting course designer Martin Ebert at Royal Portrush recently for a course walk and podcast recording session as DAR Golf Construction enter the finishing straight on these improvements. Over the course of our hour long chat we explore the works on the Valley Course while also lingering a while on M&E's improvement works at Enniscrone over the past winter. Finally we briefly touch upon M&E's upcoming projects at County Sligo Golf Club, Noordwijk Golf Club in the Netherlands and New South Wales Golf Club in Sydney, Australia.

Thanks to Martin, Graham, Graeme, Ashley, John, Nigel and Jim for their help and assistance in putting this episode together, thanks for tuning in, we hope you enjoy our chat.

The master plan for the Valley works can be viewed by clicking the following link.

A new book on Chicago Golf Club, The Prairie Raynor, published by Grant Books, was mentioned briefly towards the end of the episode, hit the link for more information.

Episode music used under license from Epidemic Sound

Special Guest: Martin Ebert.