Seamus o'carroll, a developer, paid £1 million for the 340-acre Slaley hall estate in 1984 and hired Dave Thomas to plan a course with tournament play in mind. The first nine holes opened for play in 1989, followed by the second nine the next year.

The hunting course is a wide plan of holes cut into a thick pine forest and others threaded into more open moorland, ranging over 7,000 yards from the tips. The rhododendrons and cherry trees add some seasonal color, but it's the pines (along with some water features) that will punish the errant arrow.

Bunkering is comparatively light, but the former Ryder cupper's mounding in the manner of the period obviously pushed the ground. Thomas, on the other hand, made successful use of nature's strategic features, especially the streams on the front nine. The course is built on a variety of terrain, and although the majority of the holes are park-like, there are a few that have distinct moorland characteristics.