Golf Course Architecture - Issue 61, July 2020

70 “Most of the greens have shrunk, by 30 or 40 per cent, really a lot,” says Pont. “We’re going to push them out wherever it’s possible – the biggest issue will be how we keep the mounding that is so archetypal of the design.” “The movement in the greens is unusual in places – there isn’t a formula to it,” says DeVries. “I think they are relatively intact because most of the property has a type of gravel under- drainage. It’s solid, not organic ground. “The fact that the greens are that large says a lot. People say ‘old courses have small targets, they didn’t build big greens’. No, they built huge greens! I think reclamation of those is going to be something that will be really spectacular.” The aerials also reveal that the course was much more open. “Between fifteen and sixteen there were three or four trees, and now it’s a forest,” says DeVries. “If you open that up, seeing the golf course in front of you and the view to London would be just mind- blowing. And bringing the heather back instead of the forest would really make it spectacular.” “Fairways were massively wider,” says Pont, highlighting an image of the twelfth. “That fairway was twice as wide as it is now – and it’s not narrow now. Instead of 40 yards it was 80 yards wide.” That same image of the twelfth revealed an even bigger surprise: an entire green to the left, in an area that is now completely covered in forest. “That’s the big mystery,” says Pont. “We’re still trying to find out where that came in. Was it an extra hole? We’re going to start some archaeology this year to try to find out.” The newly formed archive has also helped the team decipher the role of each of the original architects. “It’s exciting,” says Pont. “A bit like Old Elm in the US, which is the only Colt-Ross cooperation, this is the only Abercromby-Colt cooperation. It was early in the career of Colt. Some of the shaping around the greens is like you would find in courses from around 1910, places like Tyneside and even Swinley Forest, where you have some very steep man-made moundings around greens. They are difficult to mow, but that’s the way they were building things in those days. “There are not many bunkers, those that were there were pretty simple. They would qualify as Colt bunkers of that age. “We think Abercromby did more of the routing than Colt. If Colt were to do a routing, he would put his par threes in the prime spots. Take the ninth, the dogleg par four over a ravine. If it were a Colt course you Looking back over the distinctive par-five twelfth hole, as it is now “Most of the greens have shrunk, by 30 or 40 per cent. We’re going to push them out wherever it’s possible” Image: courtesy of The Addington