73 a greater impact on strategy. Their depth and pitch provides sufficient challenge to be worth avoiding, while at the same time making a successful recovery at least a possibility for regular members. The course is also well protected by water, which comes into play on all but a handful of holes and is a defining characteristic. The lakes provide great visual appeal but with sensible play can be avoided. “We wanted to make sure that the ball would not roll into the water if you did hit your target,” says Jones. This has involved the construction of some retaining walls, including at the tenth and eighteenth, so that ground around greens could be flatter, rather than sloping down to the water. The final two holes have been cleverly switched, meaning the course’s previously underwhelming finishing hole is now replaced by a dramatic par four that plays alongside a lake to a green in front of the clubhouse patio. For the best chance of getting on in regulation, the tee shot will need to thread the needle between the lake and a distinctive tree in the centre of the fairway, behind which lies a bunker that will be in play for longer drivers. The final approach will test the nerves, as a large greenside bunker looms for those who shy too far from the water. At the par-four ninth, a pot bunker bisects the approach to provide two distinct entrances to the wide green. Right: Rees Jones with Padraig Harrington, who won the 2023 TimberTech Championship on the newly renovated course Photo: Broken Sound/Evan Schiller Photo: Scott Halleran
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