The European Club — one of Ireland's most admired and debated golf courses — has been sold, renamed and handed to world-class architect Kyle Phillips for a complete redesign. With a €45m investment and a Spring 2027 opening target, this is the most significant new golf development in Leinster in a generation.
To understand what Brittas Bay Club represents, you need to understand what The European Club was — and what it meant to Irish golf.
Pat Ruddy — architect, journalist, golf course designer and one of the great characters of the Irish game — opened The European Club at Brittas Bay on the south Wicklow coast in 1992. It was a singular project: a privately owned, family-run links built on natural duneland beside the Irish Sea, with Ruddy designing every hole, managing the course, writing the club's communications and serving, essentially, as a one-man institution.
The course was unusual from the start. Rather than 18 holes, Ruddy laid out 20 — holes 12A and 13A were bonus par-3s, available on request — and rather than submit to the convention that links golf required a traditional out-and-back routing, he routed the course to maximise the use of the dunes and sea views, with the Irish Sea visible from virtually every hole. He called it his life's work.
Whether The European Club was the best links in Ireland was always contested — Ruddy himself was never shy in making the case, which invited predictable pushback. What was not contested was its quality. The course was consistently ranked among the top ten in Ireland, topped several Top 100 in the British Isles lists, and drew serious golfers from around the world specifically to play it. The 7th hole — a long par-4 along the shore — was regularly cited as one of the finest holes in Ireland.
Pat Ruddy managed the club with his family for three decades. The course was rough-edged in the way that Ruddy liked — wilder, less manicured than resort golf, more focused on the quality of the golf challenge than the comfort of the facilities. Opinions divided on this. Some loved it; others found the facilities dated. But the golf itself was rarely in question.
In late 2024, The European Club was sold to Raymond and Nicky Conlan for a reported figure in the region of €29–30 million. The Conlans are Irish property and business figures with a track record of significant hospitality investments, and their acquisition of The European Club signalled immediately that substantial change was coming.
The course closed to the public following the sale. Membership and visitor golf ceased. The Ruddy family's involvement ended. A new chapter began.
The new owners announced three key decisions in succession: the course would be renamed Brittas Bay Club; it would be entirely redesigned; and the architect appointed to do so would be Kyle Phillips.
The appointment of Kyle Phillips to design the new Brittas Bay Club was the moment the golf world took full notice. Phillips is not a household name outside golf architecture circles, but among those who follow course design seriously, his reputation is exceptional.
His breakthrough project was Kingsbarns Golf Links in Fife, Scotland — opened 2000 — which he designed alongside Mark Parsinen on what was effectively barren agricultural land beside the sea. Within a decade, Kingsbarns was ranked among the top courses in the world and had been added to the Open Championship rota as a qualifying venue. That a designer could take a field beside the North Sea and turn it into a course of that quality, that quickly, is remarkable. It is the defining achievement of Phillips' career.
He subsequently designed Dundonald Links in Ayrshire — another coastal Scottish links, opened 2003, which has hosted multiple DP World Tour events — as well as courses in the United States, Japan and across Europe. His links credentials are as strong as any working architect's.
The appointment for Brittas Bay was described by the new owners as a deliberate choice to bring world-class links design to a site that already had world-class raw material: genuine seaside duneland, an existing championship routing, and the Irish Sea as a constant backdrop. Phillips' brief, as reported, is to create a course that not only equals but surpasses what was there before.
Details of the new routing and design have emerged gradually since the announcement. Here is what has been confirmed or reliably reported as of May 2026:
The five-tee setup is significant: it signals a course designed to be genuinely accessible across a wide range of handicaps and abilities, not just a championship test for scratch golfers. A 5,000-yard layout from the forward tees on natural links terrain will be a compelling proposition for mid-to-high handicap golfers who want the experience of top-quality links golf without being overwhelmed by length.
The reduction from 20 holes to 18 is a deliberate simplification — and arguably the right decision commercially. Ruddy's 12A and 13A were idiosyncratic additions that complicated logistics without, in the opinion of many visitors, adding commensurate value. An 18-hole par-72 is a cleaner, more commercially sustainable product.
The emphasis on sea views from every hole is the most intriguing design constraint. The original European Club had sea views from most holes, but not all — the routing occasionally moved into the interior dunes. If Phillips has genuinely achieved sea views from 18 consecutive holes, it will be a design achievement worth discussing at length.
The opening of Brittas Bay Club in Spring 2027 will be the most significant event in Wicklow golf — and arguably Leinster golf — in decades. Here is why:
The site is extraordinary. The duneland at Brittas Bay is some of the finest links terrain in Ireland. This is not a manufactured course on reclaimed land or reshaped agricultural fields; it is genuine, natural links ground with the topography, turf and sandy soil that produce the best seaside golf. In the hands of an architect of Kyle Phillips' calibre, the potential is exceptional.
The investment is serious. €45 million is a very substantial sum for a single golf course project. It suggests not just course construction but significant ancillary investment — clubhouse, practice facilities, infrastructure. The European Club was famously under-resourced in its facilities relative to its golf; Brittas Bay Club appears set to correct this completely.
The timing is good. Irish golf tourism has grown substantially since Rory McIlroy's prominence on the world stage, and the success of projects like Adare Manor's renovation (which hosted the 2027 Ryder Cup) has demonstrated the international appetite for premium Irish golf experiences. A world-class links on the Wicklow coast, 90 minutes from Dublin Airport, is a compelling proposition for international golf tourists.
It changes the Wicklow ranking. As we noted in our best courses in Wicklow article, Brittas Bay Club is an honourable mention for 2026 and almost certain to enter any Wicklow top 5 from 2027. Whether it challenges Druids Glen for the top spot will depend on what Phillips has built — but the conditions are there for something genuinely special.
The course is closed during construction and will not reopen until Spring 2027. No visitor access is available in the interim. The nearby Brittas Bay beach remains open — a Blue Flag strand of 5km immediately adjacent to the course, which gives a sense of the coastal setting that makes this site so compelling.
For golfers wanting links golf on the south Wicklow coast before Brittas Bay Club opens, Arklow Golf Links is the closest alternative — a traditional 1927 links course 20 minutes south of Brittas Bay, open to visitors without handicap requirement.
We will update this page as further details are announced. Figures marked should be confirmed against current reporting before publication.