- Pádraig Harrington will lead a €7 million redevelopment of Seapoint Golf Links.
- Work is due to begin in January 2027, with reopening planned for spring 2028.
- The plans include four new holes and seven new green complexes.
Pádraig Harrington will lead a €7 million redesign of Seapoint Golf Links in County Louth, with the club aiming to prepare the course for a future Irish Open. The project, announced on 5 October, will be funded by Genesis Links Limited.
The three-time major champion will work with architect Giulia Ferroni of Leeds Golf Design and project collaborator Roddy Carr on the 220-acre property in Termonfeckin. Genesis Links Limited acquired Seapoint in 2021, according to The Irish Times.
“I’m hugely excited that Seapoint will be my first 18-hole golf course design project,”
Harrington said in the announcement.
Four new holes
Under Seapoint’s redevelopment plans, the course is set to receive four new holes and seven newly built green complexes, with substantial alterations to existing holes, repositioned bunkers, natural sand areas, irrigation work and improved practice facilities. A new halfway house is also planned.
The proposed routing would turn the existing 10th into the first hole, introduce a new par-three third and create a new 13th from the current fifth and sixth holes. The 18th would also be reshaped.
“We’re going to take out some of the bunkers that don’t necessarily come into play for the elite players,” Harrington said in a promotional video. Difficult bunkers would remain, with waste areas and natural marram grass used to fill some of the open spaces.
Irish Open ambition
The links, originally designed by Des Smyth and Declan Branigan, opened in 1993. It has since hosted Irish PGA events, two editions of the Irish Legends event and the Irish Men’s Amateur Open in 2025 and 2026.
“We want to make sure that the feasibility to get the crowds around is there, and that the difficulty in the golf course is there when needed. We don’t want it to be there when it’s not needed,” Harrington said.
Seapoint is targeting a future edition; The K Club is scheduled to host in July 2027, following Doonbeg’s turn in September 2026.
Closure and member arrangements
A full closure is expected from early January 2027 as construction gets underway. The course is due to reopen in spring 2028, depending on weather and the grow-in of the new playing areas.
The club said it considered phased construction but decided a full closure would allow faster, more effective work than several years of disruption.
Members may keep their membership while the course is closed. The club is arranging alternative places to play with local clubs and will provide details when the arrangements are confirmed.
GolfToday Verdict: For members, the value of this investment will rest on better everyday golf after reopening, making the alternative playing arrangements more immediately important than the Irish Open ambition.
Simon Bale
Simon Bale is the publisher of Golf Today. A low single-figure handicap golfer, he was previously a major shareholder and course reviewer for Top100GolfCourses.com for over a decade, starting in 2010. Through this role, he developed extensive knowledge of golf course design and architecture while playing more than 300 courses worldwide.