Golf club deal may net members €20,000
A major Limerick property developer has approached Limerick Golf Club, where Tiger Woods is an honorary life member, about purchasing the club for re-development.
Members of the club, set on 70 acres in the prime suburban residential area of Ballyclough, have confirmed that a statement has been put on the club notice board about the offer. There are 1,300 members of the club. The annual sub for members is €667.
The developer is understood to be offering to build a replacement clubhouse and course in Crecora a few miles away.
But there is expected to be strong resistance to any sell-out, particularly from older members of the club.
One former officer, who asked not to be named, said: “We are one of the oldest golf clubs in this country, founded in 1891. Many great members in the past put marvellous work to take the club to where it is today. Ballyclough and Limerick Golf Club are synonymous. I can’t see this sell-out happening. After all, how long would it take for a new course to mature? We could move in all right, but what sort of course would we have? It takes years of hard work to get a new course to settle. Too many members have too many strong attachments and good memories of Ballyclough to allow a sale.”
The secretary of Limerick Golf Club, Pat Murray, said: “I am not prepared to comment.”
Local experts say the property could be worth €35m. But getting planning for a major development there could pose difficulties as it is the so-called pressure zone established by Limerick County Council to prevent over-development in the rural hinterland of Limerick city.
Club members were embroiled in a row over a proposed new clubhouse recently. The project got the go-ahead at an EGM of members. But that was overturned by a subsequent EGM and the affair left sore feelings in both camps.
Limerick Golf Club’s course was designed by Alister McKenzie, who also designed Lahinch.
Tiger Woods played a famous round there five years ago with JP McManus.
