CDP begins long-term planning for Royal Belfast’s Colt course

The Royal Belfast Golf Club in Holywood, Northern Ireland, has appointed Clayton, DeVries & Pont to develop a long-term plan for its course.

Founded in 1881, Royal Belfast is Northern Ireland’s oldest golf club with members first playing at a site in Kinnegar. After a stint at Carnalea, the club moved to its present location on the south shore of Belfast Lough in 1925. Harry Colt’s design opened in 1926 and has changed little since then.

CDP’s Frank Pont and Hendrik Hilgert will author a long-term plan for the course, a process that is expected to take three months. Other CDP members will assist as and when needed.

“Harry Colt took full advantage of this beautiful, elevated site delivering a great course with spectacular views over Belfast Lough,” said Hilgert. “As with our work when restoring other courses of his in Europe and the United States, recommended changes will remain true to his design philosophies.”

“We are thrilled to be assisting two of Ireland’s oldest clubs, Royal Belfast and Royal Dublin, both of whose courses were designed by Harry Colt,” said Edward Cartwright, head of GB&I at CDP. “In total, our partners have now provided advice to 36 clients with Colt company-designed courses in seven countries.” Recent projects on Colt courses include Royal Dublin in Ireland and Indian Hill in Chicago.

Peter Minnis, captain at Royal Belfast, said: “We are delighted to have selected CDP to help us with our course’s future development. We are a club that prizes its Colt heritage and have been very impressed by the team’s knowledge, passion and success when restoring the great man’s work.”

CDP was also recently appointed – alongside Kruse Golf – to renovate practice facilities at Sorrento Golf Club in Victoria, Australia.

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