{"id":54211,"date":"2026-08-22T05:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T05:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/54211\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T05:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T05:14:18","slug":"inside-the-doonbeg-bubble-where-the-locals-and-trump-have-reached-a-deal-of-mutual-benefit-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/54211\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Doonbeg bubble where the locals and Trump have reached a deal of mutual benefit \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once every few weeks they stage a Salsa night in Tubridy\u2019s bar on Doonbeg\u2019s Main Street. A few women who work in the golf club run the show. For those evenings the bar is full of Portuguese and Spanish and Brazilian people who make this place their home while the tourist season is in full flood. Not guests, but neighbours. <\/p>\n

Time-lapse photography is a beloved technique on TV nature shows. The still camera patiently captures imperceptible changes in a plant or a seed or a skyline and accelerates it dramatically for the screen. Doonbeg has lived that process. <\/p>\n

Almost every difference is seen through the lens of Trump<\/a> International Golf Links. David Tubridy was chatting with some customers in his family\u2019s bar the other night about how many young people from the GAA<\/a> club were working in the golf club or its sister hotel and they reckoned the number was close to 50. <\/p>\n

Down the street, two young entrepreneurs returned home from an overseas adventure and opened a coffee dock. Once upon a time, and not that long ago, nobody would have taken such a chance. The footfall wouldn\u2019t have existed to sustain the business. Doonbeg was not a destination, it was a small village on the west Clare<\/a> coast, on the road to somewhere else. The coffee dock is thriving.<\/p>\n

This is the other side of the story. The outrage about Donald Trump\u2019s ownership of the golf club didn\u2019t materialise until his first presidential campaign 10 years ago, but it has grown in proportion to his repulsive behaviour ever since. When Doonbeg was awarded the Irish Open<\/a> (September 10th-13th), the condemnation reached another crescendo and it has held that note for the guts of a year. <\/p>\n

For the local community none of this is new. For a decade they have lived with the collateral damage to their reputation. In the popular imagination, Doonbeg was characterised as a place that had somehow sold its soul.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly think we\u2019ve gotten used to it,\u201d says Tubridy. \u201cWe had four years of it the first time [that Trump was President] and I think that was pretty tough on everybody in the village. We were just being labelled everything under the sun for the first four years. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe just had to get used to it. You\u2019re always going to have people that are going to disagree with the Trumps owning the building up there. Even locally, you\u2019re always going to get a few. You\u2019re not going to get 100 per cent of people backing the place. The majority of the village is behind it. They can all see what it\u2019s doing for the village \u2013 not even just the village, west Clare. <\/p>\n

\"USUS flags fly in the village of Doonbeg in Ireland on June 4, 2019, for a visit by Donald Trump. Photograph: Paul Faith\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a different world up there, with the buildings and everything inside. You\u2019d hear people saying: \u2018How did he get planning for that place?\u2019 But you\u2019re telling people that it was built before the Trumps even got it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the miasma of hostility towards the current owners, the origins of the enterprise are usually forgotten. The golf course was conceived by local people. Doonbeg Community Development Ltd was established in 1982 as an umbrella organisation for a variety of local community groups. Energising the local economy was part of their brief.<\/p>\n

In the 1990s it alighted on a plan to establish a resort golf course and convinced Shannon Development of its viability. Nearly 400 acres of land was acquired from four local farmers before the project attracted the interest of American developers, Kiawah Partners, owners of Kiawah Island, one of most famous golf courses in the United States. <\/p>\n

On a wall in the members\u2019 bar, there is a photograph of the four farmers alongside a bell that is rung in their honour at six o\u2019clock every evening. From the beginning, the golf course was rooted in the community. <\/p>\n

\"Farmers'Farmers’ bell in Doonbeg <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important that we\u2019re not seen as the castle on the hill type thing,\u201d says Doonbeg chief executive Joe Russell, who joined the business in 2003. \u201cWe never wanted to be that.\u201d<\/p>\n

A club was established for locals, with affordable membership fees \u2013 pitched at a much different scale to the overseas members that would underpin the business model. Access was guaranteed to Doughmore Beach, which runs parallel to the golf course, and the first owners made a commitment to build a local workforce. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say the village was struggling [when the course was built],\u201d says Tubridy. \u201cThere was always something. Moneypoint [power station in Killimer] was going well back in the day. You had camp sites and we had a caravan park out the back [of the pub]. There would have been people in the village, but not to the extreme that there is now. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of my friends who went up and down the country have moved back into the village and bought houses or built houses. You wouldn\u2019t have seen that 10 years ago. It\u2019s very hard to purchase a house in Doonbeg now. To rent one is nearly impossible because people just want to come into the village. You see a lot of houses being renovated around the place as well, which is great.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ireland\u2019s soaring green fees: Some golf courses doubled prices since 2022Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the accommodation [hotel and lodges] started [on the golf site] it was just massive. More people were staying overnight, and they started the shuttle buses up and down from the golf club to the village. They\u2019ve a good shot of weddings up there this year and the businesses around do well out of that. If they\u2019re looking for a \u2018day two\u2019, they come down around the village.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its first 11 years of trading, though, the resort failed to turn a profit. The original owners, Charles \u201cBuddy\u201d Darby and his cousin Leonard Long of Kiawah Partners, had a toxic falling out that ended in court in 2013 and ultimately resulted in the sale of their business to a private equity firm. <\/p>\n

By the time Trump entered the picture early in 2014, Doonbeg was in receivership and was reeling from a storm that had caused about \u20ac1 million worth of damage. The golf club never closed but, locally, that was the fear. Trump picked up the property for \u20ac15 million, a basement price, adding it to the 15 other golf resorts in his portfolio at the time. By any measure it was a terrific piece of business.<\/p>\n

For the people of Doonbeg, the arrival of a new owner was a huge relief. At the time almost 250 people worked on site at the height of the summer season, a large proportion of whom were from Doonbeg and the surrounding areas. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Trump International golf resort in Doonbeg. Photograph: Charles McQuillan\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Long before then the resort was embedded in the local economy. Its kitchens were stocked by local suppliers, its guests enjoyed the hospitality of bars and restaurants in the village, its visiting golfers were caddied by young lads from the area. If anything needed to be built or fixed, local tradespeople were called.<\/p>\n

Nobody agonised about the new name over the door. The comfort was in his riches. Trump\u2019s fortune at the time was estimated at $3.5 billion. The new owners promised to invest money in the course, and they were true to their word. <\/p>\n

Under Trump\u2019s ownership the business has grown consistently over the last 12 years. Accounts for 2024, published in January of this year, showed an operating profit of \u20ac2.3 million, a jump of 9 per cent on the previous year. According to an annual disclosure required by US law and released by the US Office of Government Ethics, Trump\u2019s income from the golf course and hotel reached almost $20 million (\u20ac17.1 million) last year. In April, a suite at the resort sold for \u20ac940,000, the highest ever sale for a property at Doonbeg. By every metric, business is booming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would have about 340 full or part-time jobs here now,\u201d says Russell. \u201cWe estimate that between direct payroll, suppliers and services, [the resort] is worth about \u20ac11 million to the local economy, annually. And that has grown steadily over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

From many miles away it is easy for any of us to have a fiercely principled objection. In 2014, it was unforeseeable that the owner of Doonbeg golf club would soon be the most powerful man in the world, but once that happened nothing could ever be the same. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s son Eric is the family member with an operational interest in the resort, and he makes at least three or four site visits every year. But it is his father\u2019s reputation and behaviour in the White House that hangs over the business.<\/p>\n

\"DonaldDonald Trump at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, Co Clare, in 2023. Photograph: Brian Lawless\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Twice in the last 18 months the course has been vandalised by pro-Palestine protesters, the first time more grievously than the second. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very disappointing that somebody would try to make their statement in that fashion,\u201d says Russell. \u201cThis particular event [the Irish Open] is intended to showcase Ireland, Irish golf, the coastline, the heritage. <\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate everybody\u2019s right to have a difference of opinion, I absolutely do. But they\u2019re spoiling the party for the 80,000 people [the crowd expected at the tournament] who are not part of the situation in Palestine or politically or whatever it is. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they\u2019re embarrassing the nation. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s part of their thinking, but they are. They are taking away from Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two months ago, Sean Corcoran, an environmental artist, and two of his friends carved the words \u201cFree Palestine\u201d in a 106m-wide installation on the beach next to the golf course. Drone shots of their work flew around cyberspace, backdropped by one of the holes. <\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t just stand by while atrocities are being carried out in Gaza,\u201d said Corcoran. <\/p>\n

\"TrumpTrump International resort is hosting the Irish Open. Photograph: David Cannon\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

In so many ways, and maybe in every way, it is impossible to separate the golf course from its owner. But in the community, the golf course has been a consistent source of stuff that makes a difference, even before it changed hands. <\/p>\n

Trump is expected to spend two nights at the presidential suite in Doonbeg on the weekend of the tournament after conducting some affairs of state on Saturday. Street protests will greet his arrival in Dublin and protests near the golf course have not been ruled out. <\/p>\n

When he visited Doonbeg in 2019, during his first term in office, Garda overtime cost \u20ac11.3 million; this time, the figure is expected to be closer to \u20ac20 million. Inevitably, his presence at the tournament will result in heightened security at the entrances and long queues for punters, just as it did when he turned up at the World Cup and the NBA play-offs earlier in the summer. <\/p>\n

\"GardaíGarda\u00ed outside the entrance to Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg in 2019. Photograph: Paul Faith\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a logistical challenge on an unbelievable scale,\u201d says Brian Shaw, who has been the club professional at Doonbeg since the course opened. \u201cThe garda\u00ed have dealt with presidential visits here before but obviously you\u2019re throwing in 20,000 spectators this time [the expected crowd for a full house on the final day of the tournament]. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat will be an unbelievable feat of organisation. That takes an awful lot of work from an awful lot of people \u2013 US Embassy, the garda\u00ed, the county council, the local community, the club, the DP World Tour. But I\u2019m not worried in the slightest that we won\u2019t pull it off.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DP World Tour have been on site since the beginning of July, erecting what Shaw says is the biggest \u201cbuild-out\u201d in the history of the Irish Open. The course will be closed to members from Monday as the countdown edges closer to midnight. The approach roads to Doonbeg are in the throes of resurfacing and the main street in the village is closed for works; stuff that might not have happened in a hurry unless the Irish Open was coming to town.<\/p>\n

In Shaw\u2019s sumptuous pro-shop there is a display of 42 different baseball hats; 18 of them carry Trump\u2019s name. There is no evidence that his behaviour in office has hurt the business. So far this year, Doonbeg has attracted more than 40 new members, bringing the total closer to 1,300, about half of whom don\u2019t live in Ireland. The joining fee for overseas members, according to Russell, is $30,000. <\/p>\n

\"DonaldDonald Trump departs on Marine One following his stay at the Trump International golf resort in 2019. Photograph: Charles McQuillan\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

The local membership is capped at 150 players and at the moment there are more than 130. Like in all resort courses, they don\u2019t have unlimited access to the time sheet but all of that was ironed out a long time ago. Just like everything else between the course and the village, an accommodation was reached.<\/p>\n

Hanging on a wall outside the pro shop is a framed jersey presented by the local GAA club to mark 20 years of their annual golf classic. Tubridy, one of the greatest footballers ever to play for Clare, is a single figure golfer too and he has been involved in the golf classic from the beginning. <\/p>\n

In the early years they struggled to get 20 teams, but this year they had 70, spread over two days. The magnetism of the links drives those numbers. \u201cI don\u2019t even have to ring people any more,\u201d he says, \u201cthey\u2019re texting me wanting to know what the date is for next year.\u201d To enter a four-person team costs \u20ac800 and this year the club raised a staggering \u20ac35,000. For a small club, in a small place, it is a small fortune. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year they give us a great deal,\u201d says Tubridy. \u201cYou couldn\u2019t ask for any more. \u2018Whatever you want David\u2019 \u2013 that\u2019s the relationship we have with them up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the original covenant between the golf club and the village: mutual benefit. The tournament and the president and the protests and the furious condemnation will all pass through. The deal they struck remains. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Once every few weeks they stage a Salsa night in Tubridy\u2019s bar on Doonbeg\u2019s Main Street. A few…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12347,1259,44,3215,20487],"class_list":["post-54211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-clare","tag-donald-trump","tag-golf","tag-irish-open","tag-palestine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}