Golf Course Architecture - Issue 61, July 2020

69 “The features have deteriorated to the point where they don’t really jump out at you,” says DeVries. “They’ve lost so many of their green shapes and the bunkers have changed,” says Clayton. “The seventeenth green has just shrunk into a tiny round circle and you know it was much more interesting when they first did it.” In 2006, The Addington was bought by Ron Noades, better known as an owner of football clubs, including the Premier League’s Crystal Palace. He died seven years later, but The Addington remains in the family, with son Ryan now overseeing operations. “They have spent the last 15 years stabilising the business model,” says Cartwright. “Mostly, they have invested in the club infrastructure. Now they want to take the course to the next level.” Pont – an expert on Colt, having completed projects on nearly 30 of his courses – had already developed a relationship with the club. And the formation of the new partnership sealed the deal. Cartwright explains: “When we put forward the idea of having Clayton, DeVries and Pont, with all their various skills, on one ticket for this project – we shook hands on the day and we did the deal within a week.” First step for the team was to help the club build an archive. In 1952 a fire had destroyed the clubhouse and all its records. “They lost everything,” says Cartwright. With the help of historian Philip Truett and Stuart Robson – son of Fred Robson, the club’s second pro – plus a social media campaign and member support, the team has started to compile a rich array of resources. Prime among those were some images taken during the course’s original construction. “We suddenly had the most incredible vision of what Colt and Abercromby actually built,” said Cartwright. “And we managed to get a photograph from the RAF in 1947 which has incredible detail – it shows everything from drainage lines to the shape of bunkers.” These materials have given the team a clear picture of how The Addington was originally designed, and therefore how it now compares. Photographs taken during The Addington’s original construction reveal a ‘mystery’ green to the left of the twelfth hole, in an area that is now overgrown with shrubs and trees Image: courtesy of The Addington