News that County Louth Golf Club has asked architects Mackenzie and Ebert to draw up a draft proposal for possible improvements to the Baltray links has golf aficionados buzzing.

When there is talk of touching one of Irish golf’s “big five” links, interest in what might be in store for Baltray is as keen as it would be for tweaks to such gems as Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, Portmarnock or Lahinch.

While the proposal has not been officially released to the members, it was inadvertently “leaked” and proposes several significant changes, including eliminating the current par-three 17th and creating a new par-three 12th.

A new 12th would come into play should the members agree to the first becoming the 10th and the 10th the first, albeit from a new tee closer to the current 18th green.

A new Himalayas-style practice putting green is also proposed for the area between the starter’s hut and the 18th green.

The re-sequencing of the holes came about following the review by M&E, which came with a scatter chart showing that a small number of tee shots hit from the current 10th tees now end up in and around the clubhouse and car park.

“By swapping the 1st and 10th holes, restoring the line of the original 18th hole, which played past the clubhouse, but this time as the 1st hole, this leads onto a re-sequencing of the rest of the holes to improve a very busy and complicated area of the routing.” M&E writes in a draft of a proposal currently being prepared for the member information evening scheduled for the d hotel Drogheda on May 31.

The 17th is the least memorable of the four par-threes only because the other three, the fifth and seventh in particular, are so beloved.

“I would put the fifth as one of the best holes in the world,” Pádraig Harrington said. “The seventh is another. The two par threes on the front nine are as good as you will get anywhere.”

We await developments with interest.