(re)GOLF collaborates with RTJ II at Miklagard Golf

Golf course architecture firms Robert Trent Jones II and (re)GOLF are working together on a renovation project at Miklagard Golf near Oslo, Norway, which includes the design of five new holes.

The course was originally designed by RTJ II and opened in 2001. (re)GOLF has worked with the club since 2008, looking at plans for new holes, the practice range’s relocation, a new practice academy as well as tweaks to the course. These projects have been held back while a hotel development was going through the planning process, but in autumn 2017 the hotel was given the green light and its construction began a year later.

“When that happened, we were given the brief to reroute the golf course and find a new position for the practice range inside the existing boundary given that the old practice range was planned to become the new hotel site,” said (re)GOLF’s Christian Lundin.

“We came up with a plan together with the original architect Robert Trent Jones II, where we were appointed to lead the work, but to collaborate with RTJ II so that the course is kept in its existing style, which is very highly rated in the Norwegian and European markets.”

The plan includes five brand new holes, as well as the remodelling of the opening hole.

Contractor Nelson & Vecchio began the project in August 2018 with the plan to have all golf course areas seeded by August 2019.

“The site is extremely rolling with heavy clay soil – definitely not ideal to build a golf course in, but this makes for some very interesting and dramatic holes,” said Lundin. “Miklagard has always been famous for being one of the most testing layouts around and we believe that we have added a good test. We have, more importantly, added versatility in some shorter holes that may look easy but will bite back when a shot is not accurately executed.

“The finishing stretch at Miklagard has been given a touch up and I am sure that the reachable par-four fifteenth, the tough three-shotter sixteenth, long par-three seventeenth and the very strategic and demanding eighteenth will create one of the best finishing stretches of any course in Scandinavia.”

Harris Kalinka visualisation of planned holes at Miklagard Golf.

“David Nelson has been extremely clever in hiring Bob Harrington as project shaper – one of the original shapers of this site,” said Lundin. “A great move which has saved us massive time and resources, I would say.”

The new practice range is expected to open in August, with the course fully reopening in spring 2020.

This article first appeared in the July 2019 issue of Golf Course Architecture. For a printed subscription or free digital edition, please visit our subscriptions page.

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