62 Once he had acquired the land, Horton had no hesitation in returning to Bergin and Jones for the design. “It was like seeing children on Christmas Day!” says Horton, of their first visit to the site. “It stands alone in scope, size, location and first impression,” says Bergin. “It is hard to describe the scale – even a camera can’t quite capture the immense distance and depth of the valley.” Jones agrees: “It is one of the world’s great sites for golf. It doesn’t compare with anything I’ve done because it doesn’t compare with anything that anybody’s done.” Horton gave the design team some key requirements for the routing: there should be clubhouse ‘outposts’ at the northern and southern points of the property, and the eighteenth green was to be built on a specific point on the cliff edge. Bergin, working alongside his son Matt, created the initial course routing and collaborated with Jones and his long-term associate Steve Weisser to fine-tune the strategy for the course. Both teams shared the task of developing green and bunkering concepts – with each taking on nine holes. Once the concepts were finalised, they came together to share notes and continued to refine the design on-site. “We had an eclectic set of greens plans and some contrasting bunker styles,” says Bergin. The team then worked together on connections between holes and consistency of features. “Rees was influential on the design of bunkers – we have a windswept style, which is appropriate for the scale and location of The Keep. He also recommended some additional, strategic bunkers. It’s a well bunkered course – they follow the three forms of bunker art I look for: a nice crestline, sand line and face movement.” Better Billy Bunker was chosen for lining, helping to deliver consistent performance and playability of hazards The diversity in the architects’ green designs remains. “We have some cool greens, but they’re not crazy severe,” says Weisser. “They’re all different and you really notice how interesting they are when you play them. Most of them are receptive to the ground game, which is going to be important on days when the wind blows. They are also quite large with plenty of variety in terms of contours and pin positions. “We have also designed runoff areas that act both as hazards and THE KEEP “ It is one of the world’s great sites for golf. It doesn’t compare with anything that anybody’s done” Photo: Evan Schiller The par-five tenth is one of five holes that play along the cliff edge
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