http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhzjyFSCc4Q

What a swing.

The original 18 hole course was laid out by Colt in 1908 and is set amongst a 18th Century Capability Brown/ Humphrey Repton Landscape. Additionally the magnificent 18th Century Mansion House has been the scene for many movies including Goldfinger (James Bond), Layer Cake and Brigitte Jones Diary.

Stoke Park is a great golfing adventure, subtly integrated into this important landscape.

See below some pictures of the journey undertaken:

Some of the interesting bunker detailing at Stoke Park

John McGuiness, Paul Thomas and Andrew Goosen in front of the splendid clubhouse

Looks like a newly built bunker. There were some disparities in the style and playability of the bunkering

Golf in a grand landscape. Perfect subtly and respect.

John putting on the short par 4, 20th hole. The new nine was done by Donald Steele and fits in well with the spirit of Stoke

Golf can be a great driver to create revenue and finance to help restore historic destinations. Lets hope that planning authorities can hear this

Stoke Park is a great golfing and historic experience. Go play and enjoy the afternoon exploring the Clubhouse, afternoon tea on the lawn and photos in locker room.

www.stokeparkclub.com

By the way. John and Paul beat Tim and Andrew 2&1.

PRESS RELEASE

TPL host industry leaders to talk bunkers

(London, United Kingdom – March 5, 2010) Thomson Perrett & Lobb, the golf course design practice founded by five-times Open Champion Peter Thomson, hosted golf industry leaders for a seminar on bunkering, embracing the three disciplines of design, construction and maintenance.

The seminar, held at Burhill Golf Club, Surrey, brought together golf course architects such as Dr Martin Hawtree (Hawtree Ltd), Martin Ebert (Mackenzie Ebert), Gary Johnston (European Golf Design) and Greg Letsche (Els Design) and golf course managers from Sunningdale, Wentworth, The Berkshire, Walton Heath and The Emirates Golf Club to name but a few.

The 29 delegates joined TPL’s Tim Lobb and Andrew Goosen to discuss the various aspects of bunkering, and listen to presentations from companies specialising in the bunker construction.

Representatives from bunker lining manufacturers (BunkerMat, Sportcrete, On Course Solutions) were given the floor to explain their products and the benefits of bunker liners, while Nigel Wyatt of MJ Abbott discussed bunker construction techniques and Charles Henderson from the Sports Turf Research Institute explained the importance of particle size and shape in bunker sand.

Presentations from industry experts were educational and topical

A lengthy round table open discussion brought proceedings to a close, with a number of important topics debated, including the merits of bunker maintenance, bunker renovation and course length.

Tim Lobb, who chaired the seminar, said: “We wanted to bring golf industry leaders together, and the subject of the seminar is one close to every course architect, developer and manager. Bunkers have to be designed, built and maintained and to have such knowledge in one room discussing the subject so deeply, intensely and passionately was great.’

“Everyone was quite open in the discussions so we could really go into depth on the issues brought up.”

Craig Haldane, The Emirates Golf Club course superintendent, travelled from Dubai to be at the seminar.

He said: “It was amazing to have so many industry experts sitting around a table talking about a simple hazard, it was well worth the trip.”

TPL are planning to host similar seminars on various topics of golf course design and management in the future.

Delegates of the TPL bunker seminar in front of Burhill's magnificent clubhouse

In these times of glossy magazines and seductive/ touched up photos of exotic golf courses it got me wondering – has golf lost its ‘fit for purpose’ importance. Is the golf industry really creating golf courses that fit into each and every golfing environment that they are found in?

On a recent trip to Australia via Malaysia the need for diversity of mindset to produce a golf course that is 100% fit for it’s purpose was exemplified. Malaysia has torrential heavy rain to cope with while in Melbourne, Australia the golf courses are facing severe and prolonged drought conditions.

Hopefully the pictures below will help to explain.

Silty soils and torrential rain greets golf construction in Malaysia

The above picture was taken from the re-construction of the Bunga Raya course at Saujana Golf & Country Club, just out of Kuala Lumpur. The old firm I used to work with, E & G Parslow are undertaking the works and have to contend with very difficult conditions to produce a golfing product that is ‘fit for pupose’

Next on the tour was a visit to Yarra Yarra in Melbourne. Yarra Yarra is in the famed sandbelt region and ranked in the top grouping of Aussie courses. Recent design work has been undertaken by Hawtree Limited and the 10th green complex re-built to produce a fine example of a subtle renovation blending into the existing course.

The new 10th greensite at Yarra Yarra

On the Mornington Peninsula, just an hours drive from Melbourne there is some of the best golfing territory around. Rolling landform, deep sands and sea views make the perfect foundation for some of the best golf courses in Australia.

The natural and dramatic bunkers on The Ocean Course, National Golf Club

The silky swing of a 5 times British Open winner - Peter Thomson

Thomson, Perrett & Lobb enjoying a round. We all love playing golf. Some are better than others of course.

Last week also saw the hosting of the Nationwide/ Australian Tour event, The Moonah Classic on The Open Course at Moonah Links. The course was designed by our Melbourne office (Thomson Perrett) and has the good fortune of being built in perfect golfing land within the Mornington Peninsula.

18th green of The Open Course, Moonah Links, what drama

6th West at Royal Melbourne, natural terrain for a great hole.

Richard Forsyth, Course Superintendent at Royal Melbourne Golf Club was kind enough to show me around the West and East course to inspect the ongoing re-grassing activities. A major re-grassing exercise has been undertaken in preparation for next years Presidents Cup and it looks as if Royal Melbourne will be back on top of the perch once all grown in.

The final course visited was Riversdale Golf Club, 20 km out of Melbourne. It was my old home course and it brought back alot of memories to go back there.

Hole 10 at Riversdale Golf Club, a tempting short par 4.

It is always great to meet up with golf industry leaders in various golfing regions and environments. The underlying key to success for each and every region is that the individuals involved with the golf courses, whether it be the design, the construction or the maintenance of the golf course is that they produce a golfing product that is fit for the purpose.

That purpose will be environmental, financial, social and cultural considerations.

Back to the UK next week to enjoy some cold weather again.

During our trip to Dubai this week to review the design for Emirates Golf Club and visit Dubai Golf City we were fortunate enough to enjoy the hospitality of Jumeirah Golf Estates and play the newly opened Fire Course. The course is of championship length with wide fairways, subtle sloping greens (very fair and interesting) and striking bunkers with a lovely contrast of textures achieved through clever ornamental grass plantings.

Please see below some picture to help describe this achievement.

Lovely textured bunkers

Hole 2 is a cracking par 3 with significant challenge

So refreshing to see a natural looking golf course in the Middle East

Dramatic bunkering at the forefront of this design

Congratulations must go to Greg Norman Design, the onsite construction/ maintenance guys and to the Jumeirah Golf Estates team who are rapidly developing this into a world class golfing experience.

Please follow our upcoming blog posts in the near future describing the modernisation works that we are going to be undertaking on the Majlis Course, Emirates Golf Club. Good luck to all the guys at Emirates Golf Club for the upcoming European Tour event – Dubai Desert Classic.

In Surrey we have had a good fall of snow in the last 12 hours. We probably have about 8-10 inches on the ground and roads are impassable. Working from home today and below is the scene from my house. It is a magical scene but gets you thinking about climate change and how it is all going to affect us in the future if the current trend continues.

Will this be a common scene in years to come?

The winter in the UK thus far has been one of the coldest on record with quite a lot of snow already. In recent weeks I have been lucky enough to attend various environmental and climate change seminars. The overriding story is that our weather is becoming more extreme and unpredictable. Colder winters and hotter summer with rain events becoming more extreme will be the scene in the future if we don’t change our ways.

So how does this affect us in the golf course design world? Well in our world of golf course design TPL have always tried to create a golf course that melds perfectly and in harmony with the environment that we are working in. For example if we are in the desert we try to produce a water conserving design with a minimal grassed footprint to reduce the water consumption requirements. In Northern Europe or colder climates drainage is key and the need to keep playing surfaces dry and playable as a primary concern. But in the UK prolonged snow and icy conditions has meant that some of our courses are struggling to recover from the conditions and to remain open for play.

Whilst working at European Golf Design I was lucky enough to work on a project in Finland called Linna Golf (Opened in 2005). During that project many things were learnt to help the golf course cope with snow and the effects of extreme cold weather of Finland. Whilst the snow was a beautiful blanket in winter it also could cause damage for the Spring time opening and playing season.

Some of the tactics used in the design of Linna Golf might have to be adopted for the UK should these extreme winter condition continue. Tactics included:

-          Cut off drains to capture snow melt in early Spring prior to it hitting the playing surfaces.

-          Where possible avoid north sloping greens so as the green would receive maximum sun exposure.

-          Ensure plenty of sun light from the southern side.

-          Flush out and empty irrigation lines prior to the onset of winter.

Perfect playing conditions at Linna Golf, Finland

 With the UK and many parts of Europe currently covered in snow should we start to consider these extreme winter design techniques? Will rainfalls start to get so heavy that major storm water drainage systems (like in tropical areas) be common practice for traditional constant rainfall locations such as the UK and Ireland?

At all costs we need to stem the effects of this rapid climate change and revise our practices to create a smaller footprint of consumption. Golf is also part of this picture as our designs and practices need to ensure that a complementary golfing environment is designed and implemented in all various conditions encountered. Additionally the need and necessity for specialist environmental consultants such as GEO or the STRI being part of the design team is never as important as it is right now to create a golf course that is in fact an advantage that the pre-existing environmental conditions encountered and not a burden.

To be continued with further thought.

(www.golfcoursearchitecture.net)

A sustainable approach to golf and the cultural landscape

Tim Lobb of Thomson Perrett & Lobb, the golf course design practice founded by five-time Open champion Peter Thomson, shares his ideas on how a correctly used natural landscape can transform a golf course design.

It’s an exciting time in any golf course architect’s life when you venture on to the site of a new golf course for the very first time and glimpse the topography and landscape that lies before you.

 The creative juices always start flowing and lots of ideas begin to buzz around in the head – I guess it’s the same for anyone involved in ‘making things’, whether they be fashion designers, leading chefs or even artists.

 For us, the starting point in the creative process begins with the cultural aspects of the area we are to work. What I mean by ‘cultural’ are the features and any flora or fauna that has naturally developed in the area over time.

 Perhaps the best way to explain what I mean is to take a course my colleague, Ross Perrett previously designed, as an example. When he walked onto the site of Finna Golf Club in Indonesia he was greeted with something which, at first, looked like a huge obstacle to the development of the course, but in the end became a trademark for the property and a turning point in the design of golf courses in the region.

 The natural landscape seen was rice paddy fields, which had been used by locals to grow rice and had become an important economic and cultural symbol for the area.

Golf blending into the rice paddies of Indonesia at Finna Golf

After much head-scratching and thought the conclusion was only one real option, and that was the design the golf course, incorporating the paddy fields into the layout of the holes. At this particular time – 15 years ago – this type of approach was rarely used in any golf course design, but now, looking back, it proved to be the most significant part of the course’s design and became its calling card over the following years.

 This philosophy, working with the natural features of the area, rather than trying to work around them or, at worst, change them, has always been of primary importance to any design process that we start.

 At the recently opened Carya Golf Club in Belek, Turkey, Ross Perrett, Peter Thomson and myself walked onto the site for our usual ‘what’s good and unique’ conversation and we quickly became aware of some key features that would become hugely significant in the development of the course.

 Unlike most courses in Turkey that are situated around resorts and feature primarily parkland or resort style layouts, we were greeted with 10ha of dense heathland countryside (Erica manipuliflora) growing naturally on the lower end of the site, reminiscent of the great English courses like Sunningdale, The Berkshire or Swinley Forest.

 It was immediately clear we were going to enhance this heathland landscape and attempt to create a course different to the norm by proliferating a beautiful natural landscape that already exists, like the paddy fields of Indonesia, the heather of Carya became the course’s signature landscape feature.

 To enhance this naturally growing heathland we actually propagated heather sprigs from on site in eight greenhouses, creating up to half a million cuttings plants which were planted across the course. This foundation work will in time perpetuate and enhance the sustainability and look of the golf course for years to come.

One of the eight onsite poly tunnels set up to propogate cuttings from the indigenous heather stock at Carya Golf Club

However, one of the biggest challenges in any golf course design project is to get a grasp of the scale of the project when making decisions. It’s not like you are trying to design a garden, golf courses are huge developments that require sustainable features with an over-riding theme that can live on during its lifetime.

 Desert designs bring with them a different challenge but are always very rich in features that link in with the area’s culture. Our New Giza development in Egypt must be one of the most culturally rich environments on the planet, as you can actually see the Pyramids from our site!

 During the initial stages of this project we visited the Professor of Botany at Cairo University to develop a list of plants we could use during the construction that were indigenous to the area. It’s important to plant things which you know are, a) going to look ‘right’ in the landscape and b) grow in the weather and soil conditions of the region.

 It may sound obvious but you would be amazed how many conversations you can have with potential developers who have an idea to develop a course and you immediately know their vision is almost impossible to achieve due to the limitations put on you by Mother Nature. For that reason, you won’t find many lush parkland layouts in Dubai and you won’t find many desert designs in central Europe.

 When it comes to golf course architecture so many people forget about the overall theme to the course, marrying traditions of the area with the challenges of each hole. A golf course is a living organism and the whole package including the cultural landscape must be considered in the design process.

 When we think of the great golf courses of the world we don’t just think about the individual tees or greens that we play on. We think about the landscape that they sit in and how the indigenous/cultural landscape effortlessly blends into the background as if the golf course has been there forever. That in essence is the key to creating a golf course that has it all.

He spent four years flying with the South African Air Force during World War II and these were, I suppose, his prime years as a golfer. It was a similar story with Henry Cotton, Tommy Bolt and a lot of others. Locke returned to golf after the war and his experience in combat stiffened him so that he became such a very fierce, mean character on the course that he didn’t enjoy any popularity with his fellow players. He almost went out of his way to irritate them and, at the end of his life wasn’t much mourned.

Locke & Thomson played 63 rounds of golf together over 9 weeks in South Africa (1951-52)

Also, if we look into the annals of the game, he doesn’t feature as prominently as he should have. Nevertheless, he was a hell of a good player with his own distinct style. He played bare-handed, always played sensibly, and was a good putter, although not with the brilliance of more recent players. For example, Gary Player, who came behind him, holed 10 times as many putts as Locke ever did. As for Arnold Palmer, nobody holed long putts like he did. In Locke’s time, it was thought ridiculous to try and hole a three metre putt as the greens simply weren’t as good, so the aim was to get it near enough to the hole to make the next putt a certainty. Locke always left his first putt dead by the hole, so therefore had a reputation for being a good putter.

Taken from Peter Thomson’s book ‘Lessons I have learnt’

Today we attended the Club Managers Association of Europe (CMAE) sponsors golf day at The Berkshire Golf Club. As official suppliers to the CMAE it got me thinking how useful are professional affiliations and associations in our careers and individual industries?

Besides the camaraderie and friendships formed in such Associations, it is the cross pollination of ideas and experiences where most of the value lies. The role of education is paramount for such Associations and forms the backbone for the progression of our individual industries further and more successfully into the future.

Our team members at TPL are members of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects (EIGCA) and Society of Australian Golf Course Architects (SAGCA). In the coming weeks the SAGCA will be hosting guests from the EIGCA and American Society of Golf Course Architects on a study tour to some the great golf courses of Australia.  This tour and time together for the participants will no doubt result in new friendships but more importantly the transference of experiences and further education will ultimately have huge benefit to our industry as a whole.

Are professional affiliations and Associations worthwhile? Most definitely they are if they are founded on the ethos of enhancement, education and betterment of their industries.

I saw Gary Player for the first time in January 1956, while I was on an exhibition tour of South Africa. He was included in a match with Bobby Locke and myself at a club in Johannesburg. Locke bade me pay close attention to Player as he felt him a great prospect. Even then he was in some ways impressive, but he seemed an odd little figure with a peculiar flat swing and an unbalanced action. It was obvious at the same time that he had uncommonly intense application, something I had never seen before.

Peter Thomson in fine form - 1954

He asked me after the match whether I thought he should try his chances in Britain immediately or wait in South Africa a few more years until he thought he was ready. Both Locke and I thought that his swing was not good enough to earn him some money in the golf world, but I still saw no reason why he should wait. The experience he would gain abroad would show him whether he could make the grade or not. As history shows he did, in a most phenomenal way.

He first came to Australia towards the end of that year and he won our biggest tournament ever at Yarra Yarra just before the Melbourne Olympics. By that time he was swinging a little better, although he was still very flat, and he told me that he was worried by constant pains in his back.  It seemed that his long periods of practice, and his rather awkward action, were creating a strain on his back muscles and he wondered if he had many more years left at golf.

I remember telling him that if he liked to stoop over a little more at the ball, he would swing rather upright and find it a lot easier and not such a strain on his back. He practised hard to do this and by the end of the next year he had developed a very good swing indeed.

Taken from Peter Thomson’s book ‘Lessons I have learnt’