The members of Dún Laoghaire Golf Club have overwhelmingly approved a deal with a Dublin development company which will see them leave their course for a new site near Enniskerry.
The Cosgrave Group is understood to have offered €20 million as part of the agreement, along with providing a new 27-hole facility and clubhouse at Ballyman Road, between Enniskerry and Bray. Subject to rezoning and planning permission, the old course could now become a housing and office development.
The proposal was backed by almost 80 per cent of the full members who attended an extraordinary general meeting of the golf club on Wednesday night.
A spokesman refused to discuss any details of the deal, but in a short statement he said a "huge majority" had voted to accept a proposal which would see the club exchange its site for a fully developed new course by spring 2008.
It is understood that a finance committee has been established to decide how the monetary proceeds of the agreement should be dealt with, but it is not expected that the membership will benefit personally. Although the deal is lucrative, the vote was partly influenced by the limitations of the existing 78-acre site, home to the club since 1910.
This is bisected by Glenageary Road, which must be crossed twice during an 18-hole round. With no room for expansion, the course has been outgrown by improvements in golf equipment, which have increased the numbers of par-three holes and reduced the par for the course to 69.
