Bois d’Arlon Golf and Resort in southern Belgium has opened nine holes of its new 18-hole Heath course, designed by Stuart Hallett. Hallett’s design was created to complement the site’s natural landforms. “I picked out a few green sites on my first visit thanks to some very exciting features,” he said. “I wanted to exploit the natural landscape to build what I believe are some standout golf holes, including the fourth green, holes five, six and fourteen, and part of fifteen. This interesting corner appears in both loops; a crossroads in the course routing. “We worked hard on a couple of the so-called weaker holes with some good ideas and skilful shaping helping to produce some very interesting holes, such as the third and eleventh.” GolfLink Evolve handled construction and a Rain Bird irrigation system has been installed, as they did for the resort’s nine-hole Park course, designed by Jonathan Davison of Create Golf, which opened last year. Pirkkala in Finland selects design team for nine-hole project Golf Pirkkala in Finland is to extend its facilities from 18 to 27 holes and has hired a team comprising of architects Tim Lobb and Kari Haug plus Kai Hulkkonen and Jim Ferguson of Turnkey Golf, a development and project management firm. The site is hilly, rocky and in some areas forested. “We are hoping to sandcap certain areas, but we are going to have to use the native soil, and we don’t yet have a clear idea of what it is like – except that it is pretty rocky,” said Ferguson, who will serve as project manager. Pirkkala has Finland’s largest junior golf programme, with 500 junior members, and many female golfers. Lobb, who has built a close relationship with Haug from European Institute of Golf Course Architects (EIGCA) meetings, knew this was the perfect project to partner together on. “The tender documents made specific mention of the needs of the club’s junior and senior membership,” said Haug. “But in our response, we went much further – we will install forward tees to give everyone a choice of length to play. We will include rest stops along the way, which is very important because the terrain is hilly, and the average age of members is 59.” Photo:Pirkkala Golf TEE BOX Bois d’Arlon in Belgium opens Heath course Kari Haug and Tim Lobb pictured with Pirkkala’s chairman Mika Viitaharju and general manager Markus Junni Photo: Steve Hallett 34
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