Trump Eyeing Doonbeg Rebuild

Brian Keogh talked to The Donald at Doral following a blustery news conference and asked about the latest Trump acquisition: Doonbeg.

Trump confirms that he's suspending the second course project at Trump International Scotland near Aberdeen due to the wind turbine issue, and is now eyeing a redo of Greg Norman's original design. Depending on the snails, it could be a Martin Hawtree touch up or a completely rebuild.

“There are tremendous dunes there and they weren’t able to use them, which is sad,” Trump said of the original course design which was unable to use 51 acres of  grey dunes, designated as a Special Area of Conservation by the now defunct agency Dúchas. “It’s very sad for tourism.”

Trump is concentrating his European golf investment in Doonbeg, which he purchased for a reported €15 million last month, having decided not to build a second course at his Scottish links resort near Aberdeen having failed to stop plans for a proposed wind farm there.

“Until they give up that charade of these ugly turbines that kill all the birds and probably make people sick with the humming noise and just destroy the environment, until they give that up… I'm focusing our efforts on Doonbeg in terms of Europe,” he said.

Kevin Markham has an interesting and as the Trump invasion is prone to do, conflicted analysis of what The Donald means for Irish golf, from Neil Sagebiel's Armchair Golf Blog.