The global journal of golf design and development I S S U E 69 J U L Y 2 0 2 2
WELCOME 1 As I write, Sheffield’s Matt Fitzpatrick has just been crowned the 122nd US Open champion: naturally, something that makes this Yorkshireman very happy. The championship has been hailed as a classic, and the course at Brookline received plaudits, for its presentation and for the Gil Hanse-led restoration. To be sure, lovers of classical architecture might quibble about the extremely narrow fairways and the hay that lined them, but these are hardly new for a US Open. In short, it was a great event on a great course. In the long run, though, what happened the week before the Open might be of more importance (except perhaps for Fitzpatrick!). The USGA and R&A joint notice to manufacturers floating the possibility of an equipment rollback, issued on 8 June, signals that golf ’s governing bodies are potentially intending to be significantly more aggressive in dealing with the distance that elite players now hit the ball than anyone had previously believed possible. The ball specifications hinted at in the notice would render most of those in use today non-compliant, but it is the suggested limits on club, especially driver, technology at the top end of the game that would be most dramatic. The notice hints at a severe limit on the spring effect of driver faces, potentially to be implemented by way of a ‘model local rule’ – which is to say, bifurcation between recreational and top tournament golf, something the authorities have spent many years railing against. According to Mike Stachura in Golf Digest, the change discussed in the notice would roll back driver technology to a level not seen since the early 1990s and the introduction of the first titanium drivers. The notice also discusses the possibility of a rollback on the moment of inertia of clubs, or in other words their level of forgiveness of off-centre hits. We should note that this letter is a long way from being implemented. But if the changes were brought in, they would clearly have a significant impact on the distances achieved by elite pros. The clubs would simply not hit the balls as far, but in addition, the lowering of forgiveness would make it far riskier for players to swing at maximum force every time, as seems to be the case nowadays. Perhaps our classic courses may yet survive? ADAM LAWRENCE About time too
GOLF DESIGN
The Links course at LA Hacienda Alcaidesa, Spain Redesigned by Bowman Golf Design Photographed by Gary Lisbon bowmangolfdesign@gmail.com WITH A SOUL
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SPONSORS 9 Arnold Palmer Design Company With a storied history of projects in over 37 states and 25 countries, Arnold Palmer Design Company senior architects Thad Layton and Brandon Johnson bring an unparalleled depth of knowledge, expertise and Mr Palmer’s influence to every project. www.arnoldpalmerdesign.com Art Schaupeter Art Schaupeter offers full design services for both newbuilds and renovations of existing courses, working closely with his clients throughout the design and construction process. www.schaupetergolf.com Atlas Turf International Atlas Turf International provides turf on a global scale as a worldwide distributor of the highest quality turfgrasses for golf courses and sports fields. www.atlasturf.com Clayton, DeVries & Pont CDP is a partnership of three of the world’s foremost regional architecture practices: Clayton Golf of Australia, DeVries Designs of Michigan, and Infinite Variety Golf Design of the Netherlands. www.cdpgolf.com Golf Course Architecture By Caspar By Caspar is the design firm of golf architect Caspar Bay Grauballe, whose aim is to help improve the beautiful game of golf by creating and refining exciting and spectacular golf courses. By Caspar aims to develop golf courses with a clear and unique signature – a signature that enables clubs to attract more players. www.bycasper.com Golfplan David Dale and Kevin Ramsey have designed over 200 courses across the world, providing clients with market-oriented design solutions through an approach that is innovative, user-friendly, and environmentally and financially sustainable. www.golfplan.com Harradine Golf Donald Harradine founded the family’s golfing practice in 1929. Harradine Golf has designed, remodelled, constructed or supervised construction of 200+ courses in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Many have won awards and some host PGA tournaments. www.harradine-golf.com Pure Seed Pure Seed is the global leader in turfgrass genetics. With award-winning plant breeding, Pure Seed is dedicated to developing the world’s best turf varieties. www.pureseed.com Rain Bird Since 1933, developing and manufacturing innovative irrigation products has been Rain Bird’s sole focus. Rain Bird Service Team’s sole focus is irrigation and water conservation. We call it The Intelligent Use of Water. www.rainbird.eu Rees Jones, Inc Rees Jones, Inc is internationally recognised for its customised design and construction supervision of new courses for private clubs, resorts, real estate communities and public facilities, as well as renovating, restoring and updating existing courses for everyday play and major championships. www.reesjonesinc.com Robert Trent Jones II With headquarters in Palo Alto, California, Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects is a global golf design firm that has created more than 275 courses in over 40 countries on six continents.. www.rtj2.com Southwest Greens Construction The official construction arm for Southwest Greens International, responsible for all major golf course construction projects. The Southwest Greens product is the preferred putting surface for more than 40 professional golfers on the PGA and LPGA Tours. www.southwestgreens.eu Stirling & Martin Blake Stirling and Marco Martin have successfully designed golf courses for 30 years. With a motto of ‘SM-art Golf ’, the firm provides clients with a complete range of design services, construction supervision and budget control, ensuring high levels of satisfaction. www.stirlingmartingolf.com Tee-2-Green For over 50 years, Tee-2-Green has led the field with game-changing bentgrass like Penncross, the A’s and G’s, and Pure bents. We set the standard for quality and purity with groundbreaking varieties bred to improve playability, resist disease and tolerate extreme conditions. www.tee-2-green.com Toro The Toro Company provides innovative, efficient solutions to help homeowners and turf care professionals worldwide enrich the beauty, productivity and sustainability www.toro.com Whitman, Axland & Cutten Whitman, Axland & Cutten (WAC Golf) is an international design-build practice with more than 90 years of collective experience specialising in thoughtful, field-driven solutions. www.wac.golf Arnold Palmer Design Company
11 14 This issue’s Tee Box opens with news of Scott Macpherson and Greg Turner adding nine holes at Millbrook Resort in New Zealand, and includes reports from recent projects from around the globe 48 Par threes are usually perceived to be simple tests of execution rather than requiring a lot of strategy. Adam Lawrence asks, is this view correct? 52 Mark Wagner considers whether the anniversaries of the births of Donald Ross and Frederick Law Olmsted will reignite a discussion about a return to golf ’s democratic roots 56 Golf course architects share their thoughts on why sand bunkers are such a prominent part of golf and what makes a good bunkerless hole 64 Mike Clayton talks with Toby Ingleton about the Seven Mile Beach project, his design philosophy, his early career in the industry, and his plans for the future 70 Toby Ingleton reports on the major revitalisation project that the Robert Trent Jones II firm has completed at Vidauban in the south of France 78 Kurt Bowman has rebuilt the Links course at Hacienda Alcaidesa on Spain’s Costa del Sol, and Adam Lawrence came away extremely surprised 84 We hole out with a look at Kevin Hargrave’s short layout at a Kentucky racehorse farm CONTENTS ON THE COVER The par-four seventeenth at Vidauban in the south of France. Read more on page 70 Photographed by: ©Patrick Jantet/Switzerland
13 MA I L BOX Dear Editor Transformative adaption… it’s midsummer now in Scotland and outside the window the fairways are turning an inimitable shade of golden links brown that gets golf addicts excited. The ground is firm, running… and almost hollow sounding when the ball lands. For a moment, I think to myself, perhaps if the water gets turned off – or doubles in price – I might even be able to keep hitting the ball 40 yards further until November this year! The courses (and specifically the grasses) around me are adapting to the changes in climatic conditions, and it’s great to see. Nature does this constantly (and increasingly quickly), coping with the natural cycles that happen throughout the year as well as the larger systemic shocks that impact our natural systems. As humans, we need to understand and learn from nature – genuine adaption to our surroundings demonstrates the greatest creativity and interest. The best golf projects to my mind have not been the ones with the biggest budgets – in these cases creativity can sometimes give way to showmanship and laziness – but it is the ones with stiff constraints that lead to the most creativity. In the situation of tight budgets, limited resources and time constraints, we need bravery and ingenuity to be able to move away from what is (and has been) comfortable and instead push forward with a new idea and chart unchartered territory together as a team. The existential constraints on projects are increasing – land, water, sand are key ingredients in the golf course cake mix and they are all under increasing pressure in most parts of the world. What has been so good to see over the past few years has been the ratcheting up of efforts in good project teams to find creative, and often low-tech and low-input, solutions. The result is golf courses that are not only cheaper to build but are also much better crafted to fit their sites, allowing them to deliver great golfing grounds despite numerous untold compromises. Perhaps every golf project is like this – I don’t know – and that is part of the mystery behind the various ways in which you can go about building a golf course in the 21st century! Last week I walked a site where the owner has next to no money to create something – the mantra was, “let’s do what we need to do, not what we can do”. Work with what you have and celebrate the moments of quality, character and memorability that your land gives you, and the rest should follow… with a bit of effort! Sam Thomas North Berwick, Scotland We are delighted to receive letters from readers, and the best in each issue will be rewarded with a golf shirt. Send to 6 Friar Lane, Leicester, LE1 5RA, UK, or email us at letters@golfcoursearchitecture.net Sandy was in California for April’s competition, on the ‘Duel Hole’, the par-three seventh at the ultra-exclusive San Francisco Golf Club (back here at GCA Towers we are racking our brains to figure out how he got on), so named because it was the venue for the last legal duel in the US state in 1859, when senator David Broderick fought California Supreme Court justice David Terry. A (fairly) local reader, Merrill Hiserman of the Alister MacKenzie-designed Meadow Club, the other side of the Golden Gate bridge, was the first correct answer drawn, and wins the prized golf shirt. Another very highly rated venue for Sandy this month, a course created rather more recently than some of its famous neighbours. Reckon you know where he is? Send your entry to gopher@golfcoursearchitecture.net. GOPHER WATCH
TEE BOX NEWS EDI TOR : R I CHARD HUMPHREYS 14 Macpherson and Turner add nine holes to Millbrook South Island resort will host the 2023 New Zealand Open over Remarkables and newly expanded Coronet courses
Millbrook Resort near Queenstown, New Zealand, has opened nine new holes to extend its Coronet layout to a full 18. The South Island resort opened its first 18 holes, designed by John Darby and major winner Bob Charles and now named the Remarkables course, in 1992. Scott Macpherson and former professional Greg Turner added a nine-hole Coronet layout in 2010 and revamped four holes of the original course. In 2014 Millbrook purchased the former Dalgleish Farm on its western boundary, allowing it to move forward with the $50 million Mill Farm development: two residential developments and another nine holes. Millbrook returned to Macpherson and Turner for the new holes, now the Coronet’s stretch from six to 14, which Macpherson describes as “amongst the most scenic and challenging in the country”. “The routing deliberately gives golfers a tour of all the best features of the wonderful landscape, including the rocky canyons, babbling streams and wetlands, whilst offering incredible 360-degree views of the surrounding mountains and lakes,” said Macpherson. “While moving between Photo: Millbrook Resort The new ninth hole on the Coronet course, which sits below the Remarkables mountain range 15
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17 TEE BOX rocky outcrops, the fairways have been designed with the resort golfer in mind – receptive and open, to allow golfers of all abilities to enjoy the course. “Around the greens, the vision is to cut the turf at a low height, so golfers have the option to chip or putt. The green surfaces are generally orientated on an angle to the line of play to add strategic interest, and have a range of pin positions.” The new par-three sixth plays slightly uphill over a small stream to a two-tiered green – defended by two bunkers – angling from left to right. “It has become an immediate favourite,” said Macpherson. “It opens the new sequence with a bang. The hole is made more memorable by the view up behind the green to the Crown Range, and the rocky cliffs immediately to the right of the green, which create the feeling of an amphitheatre. It’s a deeply atmospheric hole.” Turner said: “The new seventh plays up a valley and between rocky outcrops, while the eighth has a gentle dogleg left and is defined by a strategically placed central bunker and a wetland to the left of the green. It appears the best tee shot is to the wider right-side of the fairway, but that leaves golfers with a less receptive approach shot to a green angling toward the wetland.” Holes nine and ten are both par fours that play in opposite directions around a large lake, which collects water from the mountains to irrigate the course. “One particularly noteworthy charm of the ninth hole is its infinity green which sits above a rocky outcrop and looks out towards the popular and historic gold mining village of Arrowtown,” said Macpherson. “Amongst the large swathes of Browntop grass that sway in the fields around the course is the par-five eleventh, which plays from an elevated tee down into a large fairway basin. From here the fairway snakes around an ominous rocky outcrop before climbing back up to the green – this time with a rocky cliff face on its left. Longer hitters will try to get to the green in two, but danger lurks all around. The club professional recommends playing to the front of the green!” The twelfth is a short par three that plays downhill to a large green. The back tee provides panoramic views across the course and out to the parachutists that are often seen leaping from nearby Coronet Peak. “Having taken the winding path down from the twelfth green, for many golfers, the thirteenth is a keenly memorable hole – a short par four where golfers are tempted to try and drive the green from the elevated tee,” said Turner. “However, a wetland guards the putting surface so it’s a risk and reward hole, where a par can be made with little strain for those laying up, but disaster lurks for those letting their ego off the leash. On top of that, it may have the most interesting “ The routing deliberately gives golfers a tour of all the best features of this wonderful landscape” Macpherson and Turner’s new nine holes, which will play as six to fourteen on the extended Coronet layout Image: Millbrook Resort
www.schaupetergolf.com +1 314 443 9029 art@schaupetergolf.com Arthur Schaupeter GOLF COURSE ARCHITECTS Photo: Russell Kirk Maximizing value for our clients Creating unique adventures for golfers Photo: Devin Sena TPC Colorado ranked #89 on America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses – Golf Digest 2021
19 TEE BOX putting surface of the new holes with rolls and plateaus that separate intriguing areas for a hole to be cut.” The last of the new holes is the slightly downhill fourteenth, a long par four that gives golfers two primary options off the tee: either play for the narrow speed slot on the left side of the fairway or to the wider area right of the central bunker that leaves a shot around Mill Stream and over a greenside bunker. “Part of the players’ decision may be determined by the hole position, and the rest by the wind direction,” said Macpherson. “Sometimes the better play may be to the right side of the fairway to get a better angle into the green. It will be interesting to see how the professionals play it in the New Zealand Open. “The new nine is a game changer for New Zealand golf. The 36-hole offering allows for two dramatically diverse experiences and allows members to have exclusive use of 18 holes on any given day while guests enjoy the other course. In this way, the year-round golf opportunities remain dynamic and diverse.” “Despite the interruptions of Covid, the new holes at Mill Farm have been extremely well received by both our members and fee-paying guests,” said Millbrook director Ben O’Malley. “We were extremely excited about the prospect of hosting the New Zealand Open over both of our courses for the first time this year, however due to the impacts of Covid, we will have to wait until 2023 for this opportunity.” Read more about the Mill Farm development and Coronet course on www.golfcoursearchitecture.net Photo: Scott Macpherson The par-five eleventh (also pictured below, being eyed by a herd of hungry sheep) plays from an elevated tee Photo: Millbrook Resort
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21 Portstewart appoints European Golf Design to develop master plan Portstewart Golf Club, located on Northern Ireland’s Causeway Coast, has appointed European Golf Design (EGD) to develop a master plan for its three 18-hole courses and practice facilities. The initial focus for EGD is holes 16-18 of the Strand course (pictured), which was originally designed by Willie Park and later updated with seven new holes built in the late 1980s by Des Griffin. The Strand hosted the 2017 Irish Open, which was won by Jon Rahm, who said: “The golf course is amazing. It’s probably one of the most beautiful golf courses I’ve ever seen, if not the most.” “Working with a company of European Golf Design’s international renown will help cement and enhance our championship Strand course as one of the world’s truly great links courses,” said David Lamont, captain and trustee at Portstewart. “Their input will also assist us in continuing the development and improvement of our other two courses and in providing a first-class practice facility for the benefit of our members and international visitors.” General manager David MacLaren added: “We know that European Golf Design’s proven skill at improving already great golf courses will enable us to further refine the Strand course. We also have ambitions to build on our already rich tournament heritage, across both the professional and amateur ranks.” EGD’s managing director Jeremy Slessor said: “We are thrilled to have been given the opportunity to work with Portstewart to look at its three distinctive golf courses and practice facilities. To have the chance to elevate the Strand course’s reputation to even greater heights is a genuine privilege. There’s enormous potential to add value to the Riverside course, too, by giving it even more of its own identity and character and we hope that the Old course, with its dramatic, sea-edge location in town, can also benefit from a fresh, modern eye.” Photo: AirSwing Media
22 Rees Jones has completed a renovation project at the historic Tuxedo Club close to New York City. The club was founded in 1886 and, legend has it, gave its name to the jacket in the same year, after member James Potter visited England and found the style to be de rigueur for a dinner with the Prince of Wales. On Potter’s return to America with new tailoring that was soon adopted across the club, the members’ jackets became eponymous as ‘tuxedos’. Tuxedo hosted America’s first interclub match in 1894, with Shinnecock Hills, and another later in the same year where teams from The Country Club and St Andrew’s also competed. More recently it was the proving ground for David Fay and Jay Mottola, both of whom served as caddies and on the grounds crew and would go on, in their time as executive directors of the USGA and Metropolitan Golf Association respectively, to be instrumental in bringing the US Open to New York’s publicly owned Bethpage Black. Tuxedo’s present golf course opened in 1957, laid out by Robert Trent Jones after construction of the New York Thruway forced a move from the previous site close to the main clubhouse. “It was a very exciting project for my father because it was such a high-end established club and he was able to select this wonderful, pristine piece of property within this natural area, where you really feel like you are away from the travails of life in the city, while also being so close to a major population base,” said Rees Jones. Set between mountains, Trent Jones’s routing on the valley f loor, and his green complexes, have survived to this day. The hazards, though, needed attention. Casey Klossner, the club’s director of agronomy, said: “The bunkers were very old, they hadn’t been touched in at least 25 years in some cases. That was affecting conditions, aesthetics and playability, so we really felt like it was time to reinvest in the property.” Jones was hired by the club – “the connection between him and his father with our property is definitely very important to our membership,” said Klossner – and, with his design associate Bryce Swanson, analysed every bunker for its effectiveness, playability and accessibility. A plan was devised to improve the performance of the hazards and in some cases adjust their size and placement to make them relevant to the modern game; “not just for the strong player, but for everybody,” noted Swanson. The most significant changes to bunker placement come at the par fives. “From my father’s time to my Jones fashions new look for Tuxedo TEE BOX
time the par fives have really become par fours, so they have to be adapted to today’s play a bit more” said Jones. “In particular we wanted to make the second shot more thought-provoking and place more demand on the drive, so it wasn’t just an automatic bomb.” Throughout the course, sand is now f lashed lower on bunker faces, with the upper part grassed to restore the bunkers to the original style. The sand line is somewhat jagged, with Jones noting that many of his father’s courses began that way but become more oval-shaped over time. There are now fewer downhill slopes on the bunker f loors, so they are more playable and accessible for members. The new design, combined with improved drainage infrastructure, makes a significant difference for Klossner and his crew. “I can recall times as recently as last fall, before the project, we’d have torrential rain events and it would take us an entire day just to repair the greenside bunkers, and at least half the following day for the fairway bunkers,” said Klossner. “Now, we’ve had rain events of four inches and come out in the morning and they’ve all drained properly. It’s what the place deserves.” Fairway lines have been adjusted too. “The fairways had narrowed a lot and bunkers were surrounded by rough, so shots that were heading towards a bunker would often get caught in the long grass,” said Jones. “We spent a lot of time looking at the fairway lines to tie them back into both bunkers and the green complexes,” added Swanson. The team has also introduced more greenside chipping areas, to provide options for recovery shots. Another major driving force for the project was the desire to improve practice facilities. Jones and Swanson have completely redesigned the ninth hole, with new tees, bunkers and green, to accommodate a new short-game area in the location of the original ninth green, close to the golf clubhouse. The new ninth is almost as long as before, the designers having identified space to push the teeing area back. “The length of the hole has only changed by about 17 yards,” said Klossner. “We’ve made the right changes within the fairway landing area and the new green complex is very unique and protects the hole very well.” “We drew off the old green contours as a guide, and just changed the bunker orientation to make it fit,” said Swanson. “The end result is a new ninth hole that looks and feels just like the rest of the golf course.” Work had originally been scheduled to take place over two winters, but favourable weather conditions allowed the team to complete the project in one, ahead of the 2022 season. Members, many of whom spend the winter in Florida, are returning to a revitalised Tuxedo. “The membership excitement has been tremendous,” said Klossner. “As I drive around the property people f lag me down – they are just blown away by the changes we’ve made.” Short grass now wraps all the way around the front bunker of the par-three fifteenth 23 Photos: The Tuxedo Club
24 TEE BOX THE B IG P I CTURE The fourteenth (foreground) and seventh greens at Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver, Colorado, photographed by Brian Walters. A project completed over the last 14 years by Renaissance Golf Design has included the restoration of many features that were part of William Flynn’s original design. Strategic bunker work has been undertaken on several holes, including those pictured, which have also had their greens restored closer to their original forms. “The recent phase that we have just completed focused on restoring Little Dry Creek, which winds through the inward nine, undoing the engineered ‘channelling’ favoured by f lood control districts of that era,” said Eric Iverson, project lead for Renaissance. “Today, a more natural presentation is preferred, providing greater capacity, less erosion and greatly improved wildlife habitat. It just so happens that the golf is vastly improved as well.” The creek has been returned to its original orientation closer to the greens on holes seven, fourteen and fifteen as well as the sixteenth’s fairway. By doing this, many of Flynn’s strategic shot values have been reinstated. Read more about both Renaissance’s restoration of Cherry Hills on www.golfcoursearchitecture.net
Photo: Brian Walters Photography 25
26 Caspar Grauballe’s new Black Water Links layout design in Poland is now open for play. It is the first 18-hole golf course near the city of Poznan ´ in the northeast of the country. Grauballe has taken inspiration from classic links and heathland courses with “a modern twist”. His design makes use of visual deception, such as on the seventeenth, where bunkers appear to stretch the length of the fairway to the green, but there is in fact ample landing area. The clubhouse is located on the highest point of the site. “This has given me the opportunity to create a course where play on a large portion of the property can be viewed from the clubhouse,” said Grauballe. “The layout is split into two loops of nine holes, although the back nine can also be split into a three-hole and a six-hole loop in case players want a quick game. “The course finishes with two par fives, a feature I really like as it makes it very interesting for both match and stroke play.” Construction of Black Water Links was handled by contractor All Golf Services, with work beginning in autumn 2019. “The cooperation with All Golf Services has led to some very fine details especially around the greens – I have tried to introduce some of the ground game that is found on links courses into the greens and surrounds,” said Grauballe. “This will be one of the features that players will appreciate as it will demand a lot of imagination around greens.” The driving range and practice facilities, including a six-hole academy course, have been open for over a year. Grauballe hopes the combination of these facilities and the new course can attract new players to the sport, especially women and children. “It has been an exciting project as it brings golf to a new area in Poland and I have been lucky enough to have a passionate client who wants to grow golf not only in Poznan ´ , but also in Poland,” said Grauballe. “The ambition for the course and the practice facilities have been set very high and it has ensured that the club is already successful.” TEE BOX Caspar’s Poznan ´ newbuild opens for play Images: Caspar Grauballe The back nine comprises a three- and six-hole loop
27 TEE BOX Golfplan completes renovation of greenside bunkers at Brookside Golfplan has completed work on greenside bunkers at Brookside Country Club in Stockton, California. “The club was happy with the look and style of the course but wanted to upgrade and modernise the bunkers so they were more playable and easier to maintain,” said Kevin Ramsey of Golfplan. “Years of deferred maintenance had taken its toll and there were very few bunker edges remaining, and what little sand remained was contaminated long ago and did not drain.” Golfplan also decided to remove, or reduce the size of, some bunkers that were no longer in a location fit for the modern game or had become irrelevant since the course first opened in 1991. Reconstruction work introduced liners from Better Billy Bunker and new sand. “Our initial study showed that of the 37 existing greenside bunkers, five could be eliminated without any change in character or strategy,” said Ramsey. “By eliminating five bunkers and reducing the size of the rest, we were able to reduce sand areas by 53 per cent, not only saving on construction cost but also reducing maintenance and allowing club staff to be more time efficient. With the cost of labour and maintenance in general increasing every year, this was an important component of the project. “The reduction in cost also allowed us to add sub-surface irrigation system to keep the south- and southwest-facing slopes moist during the hot summer months. We felt this was critical to the long-term success of the bunkers.” The work was completed in early 2022. And in 2023, the club will move onto fairway bunkers. “In the end we kept the bunker style but enhanced the visibility and technical aspects of the bunkers,” said Ramsey. “This may not be as romantic as building a new course in the sand dunes on some long-lost site, but it is the reality many golf course owners are facing now. Addressing it properly is the key to success.” Photo: Golfplan
28 “Getting this project off the ground was incredibly hard” GCA spoke with Jon Hunt of International Design Group about the firm’s comprehensive remodelling of Ingestre Park in Staffordshire, England How did the project come about? The work is being done following the routing of the UK’s new HS2 highspeed railway line through Ingestre’s golf course. The proposed route of HS2 passes close to the clubhouse, cutting through the eighteenth hole and bisecting the course. Safety considerations and HS2 landscape mitigation requirements meant the club would lose 12 holes and would need to reconfigure two within a small area of the course that would remain after the railway was built. The only option available to the club was to accept two parcels of nearby, open, intensively farmed land on which replacement holes could be built. What impact has HS2 had on your design? There would only be four holes which were to be left untouched by the train line, which at one point in the course is on a 12-metre-high embankment. Great care would be needed in reconfiguring the course to minimise the noise and visual impact of the rail line. Our complex routing involves the construction of 12 new holes on adjacent land, using two road crossings to ensure two loops of nine holes can start at and return to the clubhouse. Two of the existing holes – the eighth and eighteenth – are being remodelled to allow for the new boundary imposed by HS2. Since the club committee wanted a cohesive and homogenous playing experience on new and old holes, it decided to renovate retained greens, tees and bunkers, and install a new drainage system. Getting this project off the ground was incredibly hard. Since the project is government funded, agreeing a budget which did not provide any ‘betterment’ was an arduous affair. After studies were carried out on the TEE BOX THE INTERV I EW with Jon Hunt Twelve new holes are being built on new land, with the remainder being reworked in some way Images: International Design Group
29 value of the community asset, a final budget emerged which both sides felt was workable. When work is complete, what will the playing experience at Ingestre be like? The land for the new holes is much f latter and has virtually no trees or other landscape features compared to the existing historic parkland course. The members have come to expect a certain landscape value when playing at Ingestre Park. When surveyed, the majority of members valued the tranquillity of the site above all other factors. The mature parkland site is quite an incredible sight on a sunny day, and we tried hard, within the budgetary constraints set by HS2, to provide something of similar interest. To generate an exciting golf environment and deal with poor quality drainage, the design includes thousands of trees and a complicated series of attenuation ponds and ditches to create a landscape worthy of the original course. Trees are used in the course’s strategy, with zones dedicated to certain species to create a unique feel to each part of the course. We have used water and ditches strategically throughout the round. The new fifth hole, for example, gives golfers two options: a long draw to better access the green from the left, or playing it safe to the right of a ditch but leaving a more difficult approach. The new thirteenth, a medium-length par three, uses the ditch to split the fairway into a lower section in front, and a raised section at the rear of the green. Gently undulating fairways are surrounded by rolling mounding and copses of new trees to give this course a character worthy of its predecessor, although this will take a few years. A visualisation of the view golfers will have from the ninth tee. Top, MJ Abbott is under way with construction, which is expected to be complete by July 2023
30 Construction of a new 18-hole golf course, designed by Stirling & Martin, in Castellon on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, will begin in September. Architects Blake Stirling and Marco Martin were first introduced to the site in 2004. That project, with the working title St Gregory Golf, did not come to fruition, but the architects were contacted about the site again in 2020 by another developer with plans to transform the 300-hectare site into a tourism destination called Los Cálamos. The project includes a golf course plus housing, a football academy, tennis academy, skate park, private park and 20 hectares of land reserved for environmental conservation. Part of the environmental plan is to create a nature reservoir for native turtles and an overf low channel to evacuate rainwater during heavy storms. “As a golf architect, it has been an enthralling task to develop a routing that merges with all the environmental, engineering and land use restrictions,” said Martin. “We are so close to the beach and our site is extremely f lat – there’s less than a one-metre difference in any spot. The water level f luctuates from 0.6 to 1.3 metres, and we are limited with the volume that can be imported. “The owner wanted great views of the opening holes from the houses that will be built, and during the rainy season, we have to take care of – and circulate around the golf course – more than 24 cubic metres of water per second. With the environmental restrictions and archaeological areas that are to be integrated in the design, it makes for a great cocktail Stirling & Martin designs new course on Mediterranean coast TEE BOX “ The final routing is a great example of what a golf course master plan should be when it relates to residential and tourist areas” Images: Stirling & Martin
31 in developing a fabulous golf course routing!” Golf course irrigation will utilise wastewater from the nearby town of Burriana. After several routings, Martin landed on a plan that sees several holes play parallel to housing. “The final routing is a great example of what a golf course master plan should be when it relates to residential and tourist areas,” said Martin. “The first, fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth holes all have excellent views towards the Mediterranean Sea. The golf course plays from 5,000 to 7,000 yards – this will offer golfers many, different ways to play.” Stirling & Martin’s routing includes some heavily bunkered par threes and several holes that interact with water Visualisations of the new Los Cálamos development, which includes plans for a golf course, housing, sporting academies, a private park and land reserved for environmental conservation
TEE BOX The Chain at Streamsong COURSE BLUEPR INT Permitting is under way on a new short course designed by Coore & Crenshaw at the Streamsong Resort in Florida. Measuring a total of 2,925 yards, The Chain will have 16 holes that range from 90 to 201 yards, plus two that are slightly longer, the 251-yard fourteenth and 275-yard seventeenth. The course can be played in loops of six, 12 and 18 holes. The first six is designed to be playable for any level of golfer, meandering through a grove of native live oaks. The course then traverses old mining cuts and along the banks of Little Payne Creek – these holes provide more challenge and opportunities for risk and reward. A putting course, ‘The Bucket’, sits between holes one and seven. “Routed on a highly interesting site, The Chain will feature a variety of holes laid upon a landscape of parkland, live oaks, sand and lakes,” said Bill Coore. “Although diminutive in size, we believe The Chain, when combined with the anything-butdiminutive Bucket putting course, has the potential to complement, perhaps even enhance, Streamsong’s reputation for must-be-experienced golf.” Ben Pratt, senior vice president of government and public affairs at Mosaic, said: “We are thrilled to work with Bill and Ben on this new short course, and we are equally thrilled that Streamsong’s unprecedented success in 2021 allows us to fund the project with cash generated by the resort.” A two-acre putting green called The Bucket will sit alongside the first hole Built on a site that was used for decades to mine phosphate ore, the course will feature plenty of elevation change The layout gives options for loops of six, 12 and 18 holes. The first six are designed for any level of golfer Little Payne Creek is in play on several holes The opening hole is a short walk from the Lodge at Streamsong Golfers can select any spot on the teeing area, rather than playing from designated markers The fourteenth is the second longest hole on the course at 251 yards Image: Streamsong Resort 33
34 The new PGA Garden course, designed by Greg Norman Golf Course Design, at PGA NovaWorld Phan Thiet in Vietnam, has opened for its first full season of play. Construction of the 7,100-yard layout was completed in August 2021 and opened earlier this year. It joined the resort’s other 18-hole course, PGA Ocean, also designed by Greg Norman’s design firm, which opened in April 2021. The two-course project is part of a huge development – led by Novaland Group – of a coastal area in the southeast of the country named PGA NovaWorld Phan Thiet. When complete it will include luxury golf villas, sports and wellness complex, an amusement park, hotels and more. On both layouts, Greg Norman Golf Course Design has worked alongside the resort, Flagstick Golf Course Construction Management, water feature designer WR RockGroup Construction and Sports Turf Solutions, who supplied, planted and grew in Primo Zoysia on tees and greens, and Zeon Zoysia on fairways and rough. The Garden course will provide a base for PGA students in Vietnam to play and practice. “Greg and I both commented on how much the property reminded us of Australia the first time we walked the site, so we knew right away that the sandbelt courses would be the inspiration for our design,” said Chris Campbell, senior vice president of Greg Norman’s design firm. “We put a lot of emphasis on creating a continuous f low of contours not just on individual golf holes, but throughout the entire property, and making a similar transition from maintained turf to natural areas. All this factors into the playability and gives golfers a ton of options, especially as you get closer to the greens.” One of the course’s standout features is a winding stream that crosses many of the first nine holes, working on both an aesthetic and strategic level. Construction wrapped up on the Garden course in August 2021, with RockGroup completing work on a stream project for the fifth hole, a 173yard par three that has a 78-yard carry over a lake. The Ocean course offers panoramic views over the East Sea, with all 18 holes winding between a mix of parkland- and links-style land, with rugged bunkers lined with native grass and undulating fairways. One of the holes that offers a sea view is the TEE BOX New Norman layout in Vietnam opens for first full season
35 par-three fifth, which plays downhill to a small green protected by a front bunker and sharp runoffs. Holes 13 to 15 are collectively known as ‘the Shark Loop’. The thirteenth is a short par five that plays from an elevated tee, the fourteenth is a driveable par four, while the fifteenth is a 660-yard par five that requires players to hit an approach to a two-tiered green defended by a sprawling bunker. ‘Mini fairway tees’, measuring up to 100 metres in length on some holes, allow for a variety of teeing options. Several holes also have speed slots incorporated in the design to provide further options for players. Greg Norman said: “With such a stunning piece of property to work with, it is no wonder those who have been out to play the new courses have been taken aback by what they have seen.” The fourteenth on the Garden layout is a 132-yard par three that plays over water to a three-tiered green flanked by two sprawling bunkers The Ocean’s longest hole is the fifteenth, which can play to a length of 660 yards Photos: PGA NovaWorld/Air Swing 2022
TEE BOX Fry/Straka restores Ross design on Belleair’s West course FROM THE ARCHI VE Dana Fry and Jason Straka are progressing with a restoration of the Donald Ross-designed West course at Florida’s Belleair Country Club, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. “After a full survey of the members, it was clear they desired and supported no mere run-of-the-mill renovation of the West course, but a restoration that embraced its historic significance and pedigree,” said Ed Shaughnessy, chief operating officer at Belleair. “The bunkers and greens definitely required reconstruction. That resolution led to several investigative trips to the Tufts Archives in Pinehurst, where we learned just how important this design is, historically, and the amount of documentation we have from Donald Ross himself – regarding both his original design effort in 1915, and his redesign in 1924. That information enabled us to make informed decisions culminating in a full and faithful restoration.” Every green is being rebuilt to USGA specification with contours restored according to Ross’s 1924 construction drawings. “A lot of older clubs struggle to show that Donald Ross was on site at all when he laid out their golf courses,” said Straka, who is also the president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. “To have a course where Ross was on site so many times, for the initial design, and then for the remodel of his own work 10 years later – that’s incredibly rare. Then, to have such detailed construction drawings – and notes in the man’s own hand. That’s rarer still. “We basically took all the plans from 1915 and 1924 and turned them into modern construction drawings. So, if Ross had a cop bunker seven feet high at 16, we’re building it seven feet high. Ross detailed a lot of ‘cop’ bunkers on this 1924 routing. These are mounds totally in play – that’s what we’re building, because Ross’s own cross36 Images: Belleair Country Club
37 The cover story of the latest issue of By Design magazine – produced for the American Society of Golf Course Architects by the team responsible for GCA – considers how collaboration has helped to address some of golf’s biggest challenges. “People are very willing to share – I do, because it’s validating,” says architect Jan Bel Jan. “Sharing ideas makes it a lot easier for club governors to accept a proposal. When you say this was successful at this club and made that club money, the option is definitely more persuasive.” The Summer issue of By Design also includes insight from Jeff Brauer and some of the designs submitted to ‘The Great Junior Golf Design Challenge of 2022’. To download the latest issue and subscribe to By Design, visit www.asgca.org “Sharing ideas is validating” GOOD READ BY DESIGN Excellence in Golf Design from the American Society of Golf Course Arch itects ISSUE 58 // SUMMER 2022 COLLABORATION How working together helped golf course architects address some of the industry’s major challenges ALSO: // Design prodigies // RainDance National // Red Rocks CC REACHING OUT Jeff Brauer provides insight into plans for his new role as Director of Outreach of the ASGCA section drawings and notes tell us exactly how to construct them!” Straka adds that the work on greens has been akin to an archaeological dig. “Here and elsewhere, we would excavate a green complex and find not one set of old drainage but two or three – all piled on top of each other!” he says. “The inverted-saucer green, such a staple of the so-called ‘Ross style’, is a bit of a fallacy. Those putting surfaces became that way through multiple rebuilds and decades of top-dressing. Ross’s original plans for Belleair make that very clear. They show all but two of these greens were originally designed and built with entries at zero grade. “It’s a pretty rich irony: Ross returned here in 1924 with the intention to make the West course much more difficult, and I’m sure he succeeded there. However, in restoring that design in 2022, almost to the letter, we are making the course far more user-friendly. Yes, we are re-exposing ravines and streams that had been filled in over the years. However, by following the Ross plans, these greens won’t be playing six feet in the air, and we’ll be expanding all the fairways back to their intended width – a full 50 per cent wider.” Belleair is planning to reopen the West course by mid-November 2022. Clockwise from far left, an original Ross drawing of the eighteenth; Ross, who returned to redesign the West course in 1924; The Belleview hotel was located next to the layout before it was torn down in 2017 (a portion was restored as the Belleview Inn); and the fourth green following the redesign
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