Given that he’s constantly hopping between Turnberry and Portrush these days, Martin Ebert might be better off setting up an office on Ailsa Craig. Either that, or he could always pinch the private helicopter of Turnberry owner Donald Trump. “I’ll need to negotiate that one,” said Ebert, the well-respected course designer who is currently juggling work on these two Open Championship courses on either side of the Irish Sea. “I’ve certainly been using the ferry a fair bit.”

Royal Portrush, the enchanting links on Northern Ireland’s Antrim coast which was confirmed as the host venue for the 2019 Open on Tuesday, is the latest course to be added to the championship’s rota and takes the overall number of venues to 10.

Turnberry, which last staged the game’s oldest major in 2009, remains on that list but there is no word yet when the Claret Jug contest will return to the storied Ailsa Course. It will return though and Ebert is already well down the road to enhancing its majesty with the kind of facelift that used to be reserved for ageing Hollywood dames.

While Ebert remains captivated by the natural dune land of Portrush – he is overseeing the addition of two new holes and various tweaks as part of the Open make-over there – he still maintains that Turnberry takes some beating. Bolstered by the chequebook of tycoon Trump, the significant work at the Ayrshire links includes the construction of five new holes and nine new greens, although all 18 putting surfaces are getting a complete overhaul. The focus is very much on shifting as many holes as possible closer to the Firth of Clyde to enhance its spectacular visual splendour.

“I think Turnberry has surpassed expectations,” cooed Ebert. “They were high expectations anyway but when you see it, it’s remarkable. I think Portrush, in terms of the dune scape is unsurpassed, but Turnberry is the No 1, it’s the jewel when it comes to setting, nobody will argue with that.”

The earliest Turnberry could host the Open would be 2020, the year after Portrush returns to centre stage for the first time since 1951. “In these days when television coverage is so important, the images from both Portrush and Turnberry would be very exciting as a spectacle,” noted Ebert, who stated that the new, improved Turnberry would be in championship condition by 2018. “The aim is to get all the greens finished by the end of the year. There is a fair bit of other work to be done but with an Open up the road at Troon next year, they are desperate for the course to be open on the June 1 2016. We should be fine with that.”

After Trump’s well-documented rant about Mexican immigrants during his boisterous US Presidential campaign, and the subsequent backlash from various golfing bodies and high-profile sponsors, there was a fear that Turnberry’s place on the Open rota would be in jeopardy given the stooshie that Trump had stoked up. However, Peter Dawson, the former Royal & Ancient chief executive, stated before his retirement that politics would not come into play and the sheer magnificence of Turnberry as a golf course would be the deciding factor in the R&A’s decision making.

“I think Peter Dawson understood that people like Trump who are investing in the game are pretty important,” said Ebert. “When you look at Turnberry, it needed that investment and it’s a no holds barred investment. I've said to Mr Trump, 'let's make the course as good as we possibly can and essentially make it irresistible to the R&A'.

"There's a good chance that we can achieve that because getting the greens that bit closer to the water is fantastic."