Gleneagles’s Jack Nicklaus-designed PGA Centenary course, which will host the Ryder Cup in 2014, is currently being modified by David McLay Kidd.

“When the course was built, it was intended to be the ultimate tournament course, but now a modest amateur can breeze round it,” says Kidd. “We were asked to review the design, especially with reference to crowd control during the Ryder Cup. Plus there are playability issues – it’s no secret that the eighteenth has received a lot of criticism over the years.”

Kidd and his team have come up with a five-stage plan for the redevelopment of the course that involves the construction of six new greens, and two completely new holes. “We’ve finished holes 4–8 and we’ll do 12–14 this autumn,” he says.

This article first appeared in issue 1 of Golf Course Architecture, published in July 2005.