Macreddin Brook GCPhilip Reid talks to Paul McGinley about his first - and long delayed - foray into course design in Wicklow and his determination to accent traditional values

Finally, and not before time, Paul McGinley won't have to preach from a soap box any longer. Of the world's top players, it has seemed his has been a lone voice in speaking out about the direction golf course architecture has been heading. But if the maxim of deeds speaking louder than words still holds true, then the Ryder Cup player has at last been given the chance to advocate his beliefs in a tangible manner by designing a course, but one he believes won't break the hearts or resolve of the average handicap golfer.

Having pored over maps examining the topography of the land and analysing the area from a helicopter, McGinley this week paid a site visit to Macreddin Village, near Aughrim, Co Wicklow, where his first course design is in its early stages.

In many ways, McGinley's progression to include a course design to his curriculum vitae was as natural as the water that meanders its way through the undulating Wicklow terrain that will be the site of the course. He has always been vocal and articulate in his views on design, but many other design project requests were presented and rejected by him before this one, which will be called Macreddin Brook, was embraced.

McGinley will not scribble his signature to something in which he doesn't believe.

"I've got pretty strong ideas on golf course architecture," he remarks. "But I'm just doing one for now. Next year is such an important year for me, with Ryder Cup qualification, and I don't want to lose my focus on that. I think one design is all I can take on board, because I want to focus on my golf more than anything else."

Indeed, these are increasingly heady times on the playing front for him. Currently seventh on the European Tour Order of Merit and in the top-35 on the world rankings, which brings its own rewards in terms of qualification for all of next year's majors, McGinley is on an upward graph that holds out the tantalising prospect of greater times ahead. His inclusion in the field this week for the World Matchplay at Wentworth, with the biggest first prize in golf (£1 million), and a limited, 16-man field, which counts towards both the money list and for Ryder Cup points, is an immediate reminder of that.

"I don't want to take my eyes off my golf, and particularly making that Ryder Cup team next year at the K Club. I'm 38 years old now and I feel realistically I've got another window of about four or five years at the really, really top of my physical capabilities, and I want to make sure I use those most effectively," says McGinley.

Yet, he is excited about the move into course design, although, if all had gone according to plan, this would have been McGinley's second course design to come to fruition. However, plans for a project in Donegal, his parents' home county, are "almost dead in the water".

To say that McGinley is annoyed that the Donegal concept should be killed before it ever came to life is an understatement. "It makes my blood boil when I read the things I've read in the last few weeks about unemployment in Donegal and the jobs being lost. It's a place that's close to my heart. My mum and dad are obviously from there and we spend a lot of time up there. My kids now would visit Donegal more often than they'd visit Dublin.

"They love it up there, and it will always be a part of me and it makes my blood boil when I see jobs being lost. The Government have not gone out of their way to help us with a potential of an investment of €10 million, with 50 to 100 jobs created in a very idyllic Irish setting on the Atlantic in an area renowned for very good golf courses in Rosapenna and Portsalon. It just makes me so cross how little help we've got and how many obstacles have been put in our way by the Department of the Environment.

"The big picture is we have got to try to provide employment back in Donegal and, you know, it's just obstacle after obstacle. It makes me mad, particularly after what's happened in the past few weeks with all those jobs being lost.

"The crazy thing about it is how the environmentalists can give planning permission for housing and sewerage systems and yet turn down such an environmentally friendly thing as a golf course. It's beyond me," says McGinley.

IN SOME CONTRAST to the bad experience of the seemingly defunct project in Donegal, McGinley's experiences in the Wicklow hills have been altogether different. He is captivated by the terrain and of what he has the opportunity to create.

"I admire and feel very much a part of the growth of golf in Ireland.

"We have a lot of really good golf courses, really good designs, and I've often said I'd love to come back to Ireland in 150 years when these courses that have been built recently are going to have 100-foot oak trees.

"On the other hand, I feel there's a niche that hasn't been tapped into and I feel that I can provide that niche. My golf course is going to be quite different to what has been made in the last 10 years in Ireland.

"Basically, the whole idea would be a golfing experience. It's not going to be 'wow' as in the Old Head of Kinsale or the Ring of Kerry, but it is going to be a very playable course for all types of players. I've gone out of my way to make sure handicap golfers can get around this golf course."

As such, there'll be no intimidating expanses of water to scare the bejaysus out of a player standing on the tee, or facing an approach over a lake to an island green. There'll be no monster par 5s stretching 600 yards. That is simply not the McGinley philosophy on design.

"I'm looking for the fun factor," admits McGinley, who has used the brook that is no more than 20 feet at its widest as the only, albeit beguiling, water hazard. It's not going to be intimidating, there'll be no large carries over water.

"I don't want anybody coming off the course feeling they've broken their back and lost a dozen golf balls and it has been tough. I want them to come away with a golfing experience saying 'I'd a good score and I want to come back tomorrow and do better'. I think there's a niche there for that.

"It's not going to be a beast by any means. It's going to be risk-reward for the good player. The skill in this golf course will be ball control, particularly around the greens."

McGinley has called upon his experience to fashion the run-off areas around the greens at Macreddin Brook. In particular, he has used his experiences of Baltray, one of his favourite courses, and also Pinehurst No 2, the venue for this year's US Open.

"I'm going to have gentle run-off areas. I learned a lot from Pinehurst this year, it blew my mind. Fantastic. There'll be a lot of run-off areas, (and) Baltray's great for that. You can play it with three-wood, putter, five-iron, nine-iron, lobwedge, you'll have so many options. For a guy struggling with his pitching, he's not going to be intimidated that he can't play a lobwedge up to a certain height. You can run it up with a three-wood."

WHILE McGINLEY WAS frustrated by what happened to the Donegal project, and has turned down other design projects, the appeal of Macreddin Brook, which is part of the Brooklodge Hotel & Spa, sucked him in.

"I've played a lot of world golf, and I've seen where the game is going and I'm not that comfortable with where it is going. I want to bring it back to its roots and its tradition. I'm going to go out on a limb here, leaving myself open to be shot down. People might say it's more important to have a golf course that's challenging, and if they do I have no problem with that argument at all. I prefer to get players thinking, to bring back a fun factor."

Now that he has taken on one design project, with a strong team that includes Roger Jones, who was involved in the design of the Ring of Kerry, and Bob Knott, who will act as his co-ordinator, McGinley doesn't intend taking on any other designwork as he puts his main focus on playing.

Of his debut in the World Matchplay, he concedes: "Next week's a massive week. I've got a great opportunity to go a long way down the road to achieving my main goal, which is obviously the Ryder Cup team, and I'm looking forward to it. Matchplay has been good for me in the past. I've got a great record. I've played well for Ireland, and obviously the Ryder Cup. You can go out and shoot the lights out and get beaten, but I know that."

In fact, Wentworth, in a way, backs up his design philosophy. It plays much tougher when it is firmer than when it is soft, which has traditionally been illustrated by the scoring in the World Matchplay when compared to the PGA Championship.

"A large part of this is when Wentworth is fast and fiery and the greens are fiery, you can't control the ball as well as when the greens are soft. You can have it 8,500 yards but if you have it soft, we'll find a way of scoring around it. If you make it 6,500 and make if fiery and tricky, it's the opposite."