75 easier given that Spey Bay’s current routing is essentially out and back – only a couple of holes, the eighth and fifteenth, both par threes, presently play in a direction that is not parallel to the coast. That said, Spey does have quite a bit going for it. The course’s site is dominated by gravel ridges that also run parallel to the sea; most of the holes occupy the low ground between these ridges. The reconstruction will see a number of gaps cut into these ridges to enable holes to play in a less parallel fashion. In front of the newlyestablished maintenance building, in what used to be the driving range, the team has excavated a huge hole to extract sand and gravel. If a more rapacious developer had bought the club and managed to secure a permit to do so (which would most probably, and thankfully, have been impossible), quite a lot of money could have been made by selling these materials. What the gravel does, though, is ensure, even by links course standards, quite phenomental drainage. Water just hits the course and goes straight through – Mackay told me, during my visit, that the club had just hired an extra person on the greens crew whose job would essentially be watering – all day every day. Spey’s greatest attribute, though, is its ground contour. I have genuinely never seen a golf course with so much microcontour in the fairways – to the extent that, Mackay told me, mowing the golf course takes a hugely long time, because the machines have to move so slowly. It reminded me in places of some of the most famous old links that do not have big dunes and are essentially about small-scale ground contour, most obviously and famously St Andrews. No course that brings the Home of Golf to mind can easily be dismissed. A lot of new tees, and several new greens, will need to be built to bring the reversible courses to fruition, but the site has great potential. CDP partner Frank Pont says: “When changing an existing course into a reversible one, the main challenge is to ensure that the existing greens have shapes that allow for play from two directions, and that their locations work for a dual layout. When either of these conditions are not met, new green complexes have to be built, something which we try to avoid due to the additional cost and disruption. Again to mitigate costs and also for maintenance reasons, a secondary issue is the need to ensure that as many tees as possible can handle play in both directions. Ideally, the angle between the two different playing lines into greens should be between 90 and 180 degrees. “Spey Bay is an excellent candidate for ‘reversing’ as many of its green complexes offer compelling play from two directions. When finished, the two versions of the course will be noticeably different but equally fun to play.” A substantial hotel, the Richmond Gordon, used to stand next to Spey Bay’s eighteenth green: it burned down in the 1960s. But the purchase of the golf course came with a lot of additional land in the form of woods to the interior: it is likely that woodland lodges will be built in here to accommodate visiting members. The transfomation of Spey Bay is in its early stages. I do not yet know how well it will work out – there is plenty of potential for things to go wrong. But watching it develop will be exciting and I look forward to returning to see what is done. “ The two versions of the course will be noticeably different but equally fun to play” CDP’s plan is to transform Spey Bay into a reversible layout with the creation of new tees and greens Image: CDP
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