Lofty ambitions and a quest for perfection fuelled the €30 million purchase of Adare Manor by JP McManus in 2015. The Limerick billionaire made his fortune in horse racing, but has always had a great passion for golf.

Along with that passion for golf has always been a great love for his homeland, in particular his home in County Limerick. With his money well and truly made for his family and their families, at age 67, his thoughts have turned towards his legacy. Has he left the world in a better way than the way he got it?

McManus has made many generous charitable contributions over the years, but his work at Adare Manor may be his most lasting legacy. McManus inherited a wonderful location, hotel and golf course in Adare Manor. But with investment the likes of which have rarely ever been seen on this island, recruitment of the best in the business, and a lot of hard work, he has produced one of the very best golf resorts in the world.

Opening in November of last year, the Hotel on the Manor is a joy to behold, featuring a new building – linked to the original manor house by a colonnade – bringing the number of bedrooms up from 62 to 104. Adare has 350 staff, including 50 chefs producing culinary excellence, and the standard of service is second to none. Up to 440 people can be served for a conference and 350 people for banqueting in the Grand Ballroom. From horse riding to cycling to falconry – Adare Manor even has a 26-seater cinema – the hotel has something for every guest.

With a €70 million investment in the golf course, no stone was left unturned in making Adare Manor a centre of excellence and a parkland course without peer in Ireland.

 

 

The Golf Course

Improving a golf course already established as one of the best is never an easy task. One only has to look at the changes to Wentworth and the rumblings of discontent among the professionals, following the redesign led by Ernie Els a decade ago.

So when Tom Fazio, and his associate Tom Marzolf, were set with the task by JP McManus of enhancing the design of the great Robert Trent Jones Snr at Adare Manor, they were in danger of fixing something that was not broken.

This was not far from a case of rip up and start afresh, but rather a job of nuance and extreme attention to detail. There was no better man for the job then, than Tom Fazio.

Fazio has more courses on the Golf Digest Top 100 list than any other architect, including several that are ranked in the top 50.

Described by Paul McGinley as the ‘Rory McIlroy of golf architecture’, the renowned designer was entrusted with making redesigns to Augusta National, and there are definite similarities to the great Masters venue in how the course plays.

The Co Limerick venue frequently attracts up to 75 per cent of its guests from the American market, where it can be tough selling a non-links course. Fazio believes that Adare Manor may be the ultimate exception for American tourists.

“I had no clue that we would do what we did,” said Fazio. “It evolved over time.”

Padraig Harrington, as a great friend of McManus and a frequent partner of McManus in celebrity Pro-Ams, was approached by Fazio at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am to help convince the owner of the possibilities for change on the layout.

“What happened first was ‘let’s make a few little changes to bring this up to speed’,” Harrington said. “Tom Fazio convinced them to bring this further down the line. What you have here, as Dermot Gilleece said, is parkland perfection.”

The three-time major winner came down eight times to test the playability of the course, testing the different sands and seeing the detail that goes on behind the scenes.

“Myself and Shane thought it would be great to have a golf course in Ireland of Tour-ready condition all year. To prepare for the chip shots you might have on Tour.

“We have never seen the likes of this in Ireland in April in terms of firmness, the speed of the greens, the tightness of short chip shots. This is tournament golf already.”

The greens at Adare Manor are the first in Europe to feature super-fine bentgrass, and Adare Manor is the first course in Ireland to incorporate the SubAir aeration system, one of only three courses in the UK & Ireland.

Some 4,000 trees were removed as part of the permit approval process, while truckloads of sand were brought in – 220,000 tonnes in total on the 170 acres which makes up the golf course – and laid to a depth of 12in on the greens and to 9in on the fairways.

Like Augusta, it is hard to lose golf balls, outside of balls in water hazards. Rough is kept to an absolute minimum. This is appealing for the amateur golfer. Yet scoring can be particularly tricky at Adare thanks to some devilish green complexes, which frequently perplexed the four Irish stars that took part in the opening round.

Playing this masterpiece is not cheap, €340 in peak season. But at the very least, you are getting what you are paying for, one of the best golfing experience you will get on this island.

The Match

The Golf Course at Adare Manor was opened to the public in a ceremonial exhibition match by Rory McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry.

It was honours even over the 18 holes, with each pair returning a four-ball better ball strokeplay total of four-under-par 68, in a match witnessed by 1,500 spectators.

An unusually hot day for mid-April was enjoyed by the locals and players, but perfect playing conditions could not prevent the course from showing its teeth during the round.

No player shot better than one over on his own ball, which demonstrates that Adare has a course fit to challenge any of the world’s best. McIlroy made his first public appearance since the crushing Masters loss, and wowed the crowd with some incredible drives but showed some scar tissue on the tricky greens of Adare.

The final hole should provide the perfect challenge for an intense matchplay arena like the Ryder Cup. Both McIlroy and Lowry hit it in the water on 18, where players can make eagle, but also make double bogey just as easily.

There was typically splendid shotmaking on display from McIlroy, as well as some typical short-game magic from Lowry, McGinley and Harrington. The game was played in great spirit from the word go from four players that know each other very well, and as a result of their joint success, each pair will donate €250,000 to their chosen charities.

Following the match, the players were quick to praise the quality of the golf course, which will now be fully open for play among members and guests, and complement the recently refurbished Manor House.

“The Golf Course is absolutely incredible,” Rory McIlroy said. “With the weather we’ve had for the last few months, to have a course presented like this is phenomenal, so that’s credit to all of the work of the greens staff over the winter. It was a fantastic day.”

 

The 2020 JP McManus Pro Am

Celebrating 30 years since its inception, 2020 will be the sixth staging of the JP McManus Pro-Am. It is played every 5 years and the key objective of the event is to raise funds for charitable and not-for-profit groups in the Mid-West of Ireland.

Previous editions have raised over €100m, with all proceeds donated in their entirety to the beneficiary organisations and no administration/running costs are deducted.

Any event that brings Tiger Woods to Ireland is an event that is worth paying attention to and Tiger is one of many top professionals that have attended in the past, as well as celebrities like Samuel L Jackson and Michael Douglas.

Over 80,000 spectators attended the last hosting of the Pro-Am event in 2010.

“Everybody wants to be there, everybody wants to be involved,” Harrington says. “I remember bringing Adam Scott over to Michael Flatley at 4 in the morning to show him Irish dancing. That is the kind of night it is.”

Tickets in the form of a cap rate are on sale now from: www.jpmcmanusproam.com. Once again, spectators can purchase a 2-day cap in a choice of 3 colours.

The Ryder Cup 

The end result of the investment is hoped to be the Ryder Cup venue for 2026, and McManus has not been afraid to share his ambitions with the public. Speaking to RTÉ at the opening of the golf course, McManus said: “If we get the Ryder Cup it would be great for Adare, it would be great for Limerick and it would be great for Ireland.

“When you get an event like the Ryder Cup, it attracts an awful lot of visitors to the country and the whole economy gets an enormous boost from it.

“We’ve put our name in the hat and we’d love to have it. I think we have the facilities to host it.

“Every golf course owner would love to get the Ryder Cup. I’m sure it would cost plenty but as I said, I’d like to bring it to Ireland.”

Keith Pelley, the European Tour’s Chief Executive, was there to suss out the venue, but remained tight-lipped on the direction of future Ryder Cups.

“Our entire focus is on the 2018 Ryder Cup. After that, we will have a look at the best candidates. We have a fiduciary responsibility to look at all options.”

Pelley was, nevertheless, incredibly impressed.

“It is nothing short of spectacular. When you hear what the players were saying last night, the golf course is a masterpiece. For them to put in sub-air greens shows the unwavering commitment that JP has to excellence. There is no detail out of place.”

It certainly seems like Adare Manor ticks all the boxes for a Ryder Cup – near an airport, a course with a proven track record of hosting tournaments, the facilities for hosting, and most importantly, the cash to make it happen. It would be truly special to see golf’s greatest team competition on these shores once more.

“I mean, even just when you think about it, the hairs stand up in the back of your neck,” says McIlroy. “Playing in front of home fans would be a dream come true.”