Portstewart Golf Club, located on Northern Ireland’s Causeway Coast, has appointed European Golf Design (EGD) to develop a master plan for its three 18-hole courses and practice facilities.

The initial focus for EGD is holes 16-18 of the Strand course (pictured), which was originally designed by Willie Park and later updated with seven new holes built in the late 1980s by Des Griffin. The Strand hosted the 2017 Irish Open, which was won by Jon Rahm, who said: “The golf course is amazing. It’s probably one of the most beautiful golf courses I’ve ever seen, if not the most.”

“We are immensely proud of our golf courses and heritage at Portstewart Golf Club,” David Lamont, captain and trustee at Portstewart. “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.”

EGD’s managing director Jeremy Slessor said: “We are thrilled to have been given the opportunity to work with Portstewart to look at its three distinctive golf courses and practice facilities. 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.”