Galgorm Castle ready for month like no other as it welcomes NI Open and Irish Open

A month like no other for Galgorm Castle will begin this week as the NI Open European Challenge Tour event kicks off a September schedule at the Ballymena venue which also includes the Irish Open.

"A little daunting" you suggest to Galgorm Castle's managing director Gary Henry but he instead is looking upon the next four weeks as that "bit of excitement which comes with any challenge".

Improving weather which is quickly drying out a course soaked by rain last week has only increased Henry's optimism ahead of the 'September swing' which the Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort venue will host over the next month.

Galgorm Castle's success in hosting professional events since 2008, right up from the third-tier EuroPro level to the Challenge Tour which included last year's innovative men's and women's World Invitational, made the Ballymena course an obvious go to venue for a European Tour looking to fill gaps in a Covid-decimated schedule.

At one stage, there was a possibility Galgorm Castle might have staged one of the six summer UK swing events but when that abated, the European Tour, helped by an injection of R&A funds, asked Henry if the NI Open could be re-born to restart a Challenge Tour circuit essentially in abeyance since February apart from a couple of stops in Austria in mid-July.

Four weeks after the NI Open was confirmed, came the news the Irish Open was also coming to Ballymena amid Covid-19 regulations which made hosting the event at its scheduled venue Mount Juliet or any other Republic of Ireland location effectively impossible.

"Ballymena is a place where there are a lot of hotels within a 10 to 15-minute radius so that was a critical part of it," admits Henry.

"You need about 800 beds - all in bubbles for the current situation. The course we had already been prepping for the World Invitational anyway which we had had to postpone."

The Galgorm Castle managing director also believed the economic impact the two events would have for Ballymena meant there was almost a responsibility to take on the challenge.

"Ballymena has had a lot of hits in the last 10 years from manufacturing (job losses) so tourism in particular is the way forward and we are trying to redesign the local economy and these golf events are showcasing that. It's big picture stuff.

"When we started doing events 12 years ago, it was about raising the profile of Galgorm Castle and that continues to be the case. That's specific to us but the other reason we do it is the economics in the area.

"For example, Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort is now the second biggest employer in the region with about 1,000 employees over the two sites and these two golf events and the hotel bed nights will bring a lot of economic benefit to the area."

Henry admits that "spotlights have had to be on" several times over the last few weeks amid the fading daylight as the green keeping staff have worked tirelessly to get Galgorm Castle ready for two big occasions.

"By the time we get there to the Irish Open, the leaves will start to be falling a bit so it's a very different green keeping challenge than one in July.

"The one thing we're really hoping is that we get reasonable weather although that's obviously something we have no control over."

Despite some chatter on social media, Henry has absolutely no fears about Galgorm Castle's ability to provide a true Irish Open test for the likes of Open champion Shane Lowry and local hero Graeme McDowell.

"Once you go back to the championship tees, it's a par-70. It's long, it's over 7,100 yards. It's tough off the back sticks and a totally different test from what people normally play.

"The basic layout of the course is a challenge because if you go offline, you are in trouble.

"The courses that the (tour) players find easiest are the ones where they can hit it anywhere and that is definitely not the case around here."

As for the ongoing threat posed by Covid-19, Henry has full faith in the European Tour's measures which were employed successfully and diligently throughout the UK Swing and which included American John Catlin being thrown out of the English Championship for a bubble breach.

"For the NI Open, we have three hotels in use, including Galgorm Spa & Resort, which are exclusive to the players effectively," adds Henry.

"They are like mini-bubbles. The players just can't run about the country.

"They have to eat in designated places. When we come to the Irish Open in three weeks the scale of that bubble near trebles and we'll have about five or six hotels."

But while the Covid-19 world means Gary Henry and his staff must deal with issues which were inconceivable when Galgorm Castle hosted last year's inaugural World Invitational, he has no regrets about taking on the responsibility.

"We were keen to do it and there was the aspiration from Tourism Northern Ireland to do it as well and it was a good chance to showcase parkland golf whereas normally when the Irish Open comes north, it's on a links.

"We were delighted with the opportunity. Yes, there is a lot going on but it's part of the fun."