Golf Course Architecture - Issue 65, July 2021

31 Nelson & Haworth Golf Course Architects is progressing with a 36-hole renovation project at Mimosa Plus Golf Course in the Philippines. The Mimosa golf complex was built in the mid-1990s on Clark Field, a former US air base that was damaged in 1991 by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. With the ownership passing to the government, golf design firm Nelson & Wright created a new 36-hole golf complex on the property in the mid-1990s. Mimosa now comprises the 18-hole championship course (Mountainview) and two nine- hole layouts (Acacia and Lakeview). Following years of lack of investment and poor maintenance standards, Filipino property developer Filinvest took over the complex in 2016 and appointed Nelson & Haworth to create a master plan for renovations of all 36 holes. “The client wished to develop a shopping mall and other developments on part of the existing golf course, and several holes needed to be rerouted to achieve this,” said Brett Mogg, partner at Nelson & Haworth. “They also wanted to improve course conditions while also making improvements to playability, mainly to make them more enjoyable and playable by their primary clientele, a mixture of local members and visiting golfers, principally from Korea.” Aside from four holes on the Lakeview course being moved to create land for the new shopping centre, Nelson & Haworth’s master plan has retained the existing routings. “A large part of the modifications, especially to the Mountainview course, was to make them more playable for higher handicap players,” said Mogg. “The Mountainview can be tough to play, particularly off the back tees, but we wanted to make it more playable from the middle and forward tees, so some bunkers that only come into play for higher handicappers were removed. Now there is more room to run the ball on to the green and more bailouts. “It is a fine line though, and dramatic, visually exciting holes are part of what visiting golfers are looking for, so the bunkers that remain, and are in play, have been re-finished and rebuilt to be more visually striking. New bunker liners help achieve this goal, and these were not around when the original courses were built.” Greens are also being rebuilt. “They are now not only larger, but have more internal contouring than the originals, which were generally quite simple in terms of grade and contour,” said Mogg. Read more about the Mimosa project at www.golfcoursearchitecture.net Nelson & Haworth gives Mimosa a new lease of life Photo: Nelson & Haworth Four holes on the Lakeview course will be moved to create land for a new shopping centre