22 TEE BOX “ What is nice is that 25 years later they still want me back” GCA spoke with Jonathan Gaunt about returning to Breinholtgård Golf Club in Esbjerg, Denmark, to oversee a renovation project How did the new project come about? I designed the golf course in 1992 for the previous owner, Preben Christensen, which is within a few kilometres of the west coast of Denmark on the Jutland peninsula. I was quite young at the time, 28 years old or so, when I designed 18 holes – the Sletten and Skoven nines – with a local building architect, Michael Møller, designing the Ådalen nine on his own later. Breinholtgård has happily – and profitably – operated since then and, a few years back, I was invited to the club’s 25th anniversary - their jubilæum. I went to the event, and I was asked, “when are you going to come back and advise on some course improvements for us”. Following the jubilæum event, I returned to the club twice and soon after completed a full course review and created a master plan, with various upgrades across all three nines. What work have you completed so far? Last autumn we worked with Polish contractor All Golf Services on the fourth and ninth holes of the Sletten nine. We’ll be working on all 27 holes over the next two or three years – we’ll be resuming renovation work on the Sletten nine again this coming autumn. Our work on Sletten’s par-three ninth included creating a new spring-fed irrigation lake, extending the green, rebunkering, and creating a new tee complex… it is effectively a new hole. At the fourth, another par three, we have extended that hole into an area of grassland beyond the green. So, we’ve turned it from a par three to a four – there were already three par threes – so that nine has now become a par 36. The site is amazing – it’s rolling heathland, pine woodland and sandy grassland… it’s a really beautiful site, with wider views of the surrounding forest and farmland. What is nice is that 25 years later they still want me back. I designed THE INTERV I EW with Jonathan Gaunt Work on Sletten’s par-three ninth includes rebunkering, extending the green and the creation of a new irrigation lake Photo: Mogens Mikkelsen
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