In the late 1990s a man called Jim Treacy had a vision.
He wanted to build a five star golf resort on a 600 acre rolling estate in his home county of Fermanagh. Jim was a countryman who had done well.
He’d left his hometown, gone down to the big city (Dublin), built a successful business running a Supervalu shop in Churchtown for 20 years and wanted to take these winnings and give the people of his home county something to be proud of.
People thought he was mad. Although Fermanagh is beautiful, it isn’t one known for its golf courses but Jim was determined.
He spent €10 million of his own money, secured a loan for another €20 million and brought in Nick Faldo to design the golf course. He then spent the next ten years of his life making it happen.
Ten years. Working towards a vision. Jim’s career had been built during a period in Ireland we call The Celtic Tiger - a financial boom that had brought Ireland from a poor country on the edge of Europe to one of the richest countries in the world. A lot of people made a lot of money. Risks taken had paid off and the good times rolled on for nearly 20 years.
In 2007 Lough Erne Resort opened its doors. Jim’s vision had become a reality. The course was beautiful, the resort was world class and Jim had even recruited a young Rory McIlroy as the touring professional. In 2009 one of the most high profile charity matches in Irish golf was played here between Rory and Padraig Harrington. Jim had done it. The dream was real.
Then a year later, the financial crisis swept the world - from Wall Street to Fermanagh.
Jim’s bank, Bank of Scotland, pulled the plug on their funding. Lloyds Bank, the parent company, had decided to pull out of Ireland altogether.
Jim had ambitious plans - some said too ambitious.
After ten years of work, after €30 million invested, Jim was faced with an ultimatum. Close down the resort or sell it.
He tried to rally and get support for the bank to allow him keep his funding (he had £25 million in loans with Bank of Scotland) but they said no and walked away. The easy thing for Jim to do would have been to just walk away himself but instead he decided that the reason he had started Lough Erne was not for himself as a vanity project but instead was to give something great to the people of Fermanagh.
So he helped find a buyer and Lough Erne was sold for £8 million, significantly less than the €30+ million invested to this point.
Jim had given a decade of his life to something, he watched it go from an image in his mind to becoming a reality where Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington stood on the first tee with crowds of people overlooking the lake and the beautiful course. But just like that it was gone.
I had heard some bad things about Lough Erne over the years - because of the financial problems I had assumed that the place had fallen into disrepair but I was wrong.
Jim had found a genuine buyer, the resort was saved. It has been restored and developed into something genuinely outstanding. I played there recently and was incredibly impressed.
The Faldo course is now ranked in the top 50 in Ireland. Lough Erne was recently voted the number one golf resort in Northern Ireland. The estate is immaculate, the service is exceptional and the setting - perched above the lough with the hills of Fermanagh rolling out in every direction - make it one of the most beautiful parkland courses in the country. I couldn’t quite get over the size of the land. It’s massive. I looked around and thought to myself, this place is genuinely impressive and it’s such a shame for Jim that he wasn’t able to be the custodian of the place to oversee how beautiful it is.
I hosted the very first Roam Golf event there in July.
There are some incredible stand out holes - the first tee has one of the most beautiful settings for an opening hole on the island, with the lake behind you. But the 10th hole is one of the coolest risk reward par 4’s in Ireland. It’s a downhill slightly left to right dogleg down towards the lake.
My understanding is that Jim had grand visions of hosting Irish Opens and massive events in a similar vein to what JP McManus has done for Adare Manor, host of next year’s Ryder Cup.
Lough Erne so far hasn’t reached those heights but I would encourage anyone to go and play it. I wouldn’t be that surprised to see it host an Irish Open in the future, I think the course is good enough to do so.
I heard a quote recently, “a society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in”.
Jim’s vision outlasted his ownership but as of now, Lough Erne fulfilled his goal of giving something the people of Fermanagh are proud of.
And I think that’s pretty cool.
The Read: The Rory and Padraig charity match at Lough Erne in 2009 is worth looking up if you have never seen it. A reminder of how good both of them were at their peak and a brilliant piece of Irish golf history.
The Caddie’s Line: Lough Erne hosted the G8 Summit in 2013 which is a summit that brings together the heads of state for the 8 wealthiest countries in the world (The European Union is part of this which obviously represents multiple countries). Russia was expelled from the G8 so it’s now called The G7.
Great article Conor. Lough Erne was class -I think we all really enjoyed the day .Thanks for arranging.