A Billionaire's Course

Golf travel writer and photographer David J Whyte gives us his first-hand account of his latest Irish love.

- David J Whyte

As we pulled in by the gatehouse, with its top-hatted, coat-tailed gatemen welcoming us like long-lost relatives who had, at last, arrived safely home, we began to get the picture of what Adare Manor is.

Once ensconced in our suite overlooking the boxed garden with the 9th and 18th holes billowing behind in the late afternoon light, it didn’t take long to shake off the road dust and settle into this latest rendition of ‘Heaven on Earth’.

“Leave Adare Manor to the end of your trip,” Barry, my coach-driving collaborator told me. Barry’s company is responsible for transferring our clients for our new golf tour company and Barry knows Ireland. “You’ll want to finish on a real high and this place is as high as it gets,” and he was right. Adare Manor might be one of the finest luxury golf resorts in all of Great Britain and Ireland.

Adare Manor is a tiny flutter, you might say, by a man who seems to enjoy having a flutter. Following a reported €70 million refurbishment, Adare Manor reopened in 2017 having added a brand new 42-bedroom block along with an entirely new spa, boardroom and even a cinema.

350 people are now employed directly by the resort and the monetary repercussions rippling through the local economy must be substantial and equally appreciated. And all this is the passion of one soft-spoken Irishman, JP McManus. Born in nearby Limerick and although he now has property interests all around the world, JP has always kept close to his family roots. He started in business with his father’s plant hire company and by the age of 21, had caught the gambling bug as a bookmaker at a greyhound track. Then came horseracing. The Irish know a thing or two about horses and JP now owns around 550 thorough breds.