30 TEE BOX Mackenzie & Ebert in progress with changes at Nairn Tom Mackenzie of Mackenzie & Ebert is overseeing the first phase of a range of changes at Nairn Golf Club near Inverness, Scotland. The work includes new greens on the first and seventh holes, extension of the fourteenth green, rebuilding all fairway bunkers, reshaping greens surrounds on more than half of the holes, new forward tees on twelve holes and back tees on four holes. One of the primary drivers of the project was to address the existing disparity of satisfaction of the golf experience between members. “What surprised me was the divergence in opinion between the shorter and longer-hitting players,” said Mackenzie. “For example, how could golfers not like the sixth? It’s such a great golf hole. But when played by shorter hitters into even a moderate breeze, there’s a bunker about 140 yards from the tee that meant that they just had to pull out the driver and take their chance. There was no bail-out option.” The club has a strong championship history including the 1999 Walker Cup and 2012 Curtis Cup. “Over time the revetted bunkers were becoming smaller, steeper and, in some cases, deeper,” explained Mackenzie. “Fairway bunkers that lie alongside rough areas will be converted to rough-edged bunkers, and generally a bit larger and more forgiving. All bunkers in closelymown areas will remain revetted, although some will be filled in or removed and replaced with hollows and swales, allowing for more types of recovery shot around the green. This work will be done on 12 holes as well as the new greens.” The current phase of work will be completed in early 2019 and the second phase, which includes the remainder of the fairway bunker work and the addition of forward tees, will be completed next winter. A few miles east along the coast is Lossiemouth, where Swan Golf Designs has completed the third phase of a renovation programme on the Old and New courses at Moray Golf Club. The Old course, which dates from 1889, is an Old Tom Morris layout and the New was designed in the 1970s by Alex Swan, alongside Henry Cotton. New bunkering on the fourteenth and sixteenth holes of the Old course is the latest work to be completed, part of a long-range plan that was Photo: Swan Golf Designs
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