Tonnes of sand, 4am starts and over 700 volunteers: How to prepare a course for the Irish Open

The Irish Open returns to Royal County Down for the first time in nine years this Thursday.

When the curtain comes down on Sunday afternoon, the winning golfer will have played 72 holes of gruelling golf over four days in front of 16,000 fans each day.

However, for all of that to happen and to run smoothly, it requires a mammoth effort involving hundreds of staff and volunteers.

Course Manager Eammon Crawford knows all about getting one of golf's shining lights up to tournament speed, with the work beginning in the dark: "We will be starting at 4am each day and at that time it is pretty dark.

"So every machine will have a light on, every person will have a headlamp on, even the boys doing divots in the fairway.

Eammon also gives an insight into the amount of people required to keep the course in great shape: "To get it ready at the minute I have 18 full-time staff and six temporary staff, caddies and that helping us out, doing bunkers and divots and that there.

"Coming near the weekend we will be bringing in 20 staff from golf clubs all across Ireland."

Like all links courses, Royal County Down is protected by a large amount of bunkers, and they require a lot of effort to keep them up to scratch.

Eammon says the nature of the sand at the course means it can often be blown out of the bunkers meaning the green staff are constantly re-filling them: "These last few days we have maybe put in 60-70 tonnes of sand in the bunkers."

Despite its timeless nature, the course has been subtly tweaked since the Irish Open was last held here in 2015.

Head professional Kevan Whitson hopes they will enhance the experience for the players: "We have added a couple of new bunkers that are superb actually, we have got a great visual bunker up on the left hand side of the 8th hole and up the left hand side of the 5th hole.

"We have done a little bit of work over on the 17th, on the approach to the green there."

Once the course is ready to go for the four days of competition it is over to the 100s of volunteers from golf clubs across the island then step in to make sure the tournament runs well.

"I think the number is up somewhere around 700 that we need to do the job," Kevan says.

"It is a very well organised thing where they will have various jobs at crossover points, on to grandstands, looking after tee boxes, look after greens, holding up the quiet please signs that type of thing.

"All of this is an essential part in making the tournament run smoothly."

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