The main priority for the trip to Egypt was to visit our El Ein Bay project on the Red Sea. This resort style golf course is currently finalising construction on the back nine and growing in on the front nine.

The landing area for the reachable par 5, 7th hole.

The landscape is maturing well on the front nine and will frame the golfing experience very well for the golfing public.

Tee shot for the short par 4, 10th hole. Try and drive it over the left bunker.

The 10th hole is a great short par 4. The ideal drive is up the left side of the fairway which will give a short pitch up the whole length of the green. The course at El Ein Bay is not long but it will hopefully be a fun and interesting test of golf. Does the world need another ‘Championship Golf Course’ anyway?

View from the left side just short of the bunkers on hole 10.

The first nine holes has been growing in for over a year now and it is really taking maturity. The second nine continues with construction despite the trend seen in Egypt after the revolution. Tad King is our construction manager and doing a great job of managing the local labour force to build a truly international golfing experience.

Long par 4, 14th hole. Grass recently planted and growing in.

We have been using Paspalum platinum TE for all playing surfaces. The turf quality is excellent despite the low fertilisation programme that has been applied to it.

Some of the detailed bunker work on hole 15.

It has been great to see the back nine develop over the past year. There are some great holes out there with a great depth of golf to the land plan.

Some of the fairway bunkering on hole 16.

We are hoping to have the first nine open shortly. News to follow soon. Tim and Tad played the first nine on the Thursday and really enjoyed the experience. The turf needs a little grooming and the height of cut to come down but we are not far away from the green light.

Just prior to flying back on the Friday Gerard Bent (GM at Katameya Dunes) invited us to play nine holes of the newly opened course designed by Faldo/ Schmidt-Curly. The course and facilities were fantasic and set a new standard for golf in Egypt. Congratulations to all involved.

A lovely par 3 at Katameya Dunes. Love the use of ice plant around the features.

The use of Ice Plant at Katameya Dunes looked great and it was particularly interesting around the tees to create the island effect. It’s only drawback is that is it a lost ball if hit in there. But the playing areas are generous so in our view you should not be in there.

We look forward to getting back to Egypt again soon. Egypt has a strong future as a golfing destination. With some political stability and careful tourist ministerial planning we are sure that the country can reach it’s potential.

Good golfing.

Tim

First stop was Royal Jersey Golf Club where Thomson Perrett & Lobb is undertaking a full golf course strategy review. The Club is the home club of Harry Vardon and Ted Ray and very much steeped in history.

Peter Thomson and Tim Lobb with Royal Jersey Club officials on second tee

Peter Thomson undertook a course review with particular attention spent on the design solutions proposed for holes 3 + 9 where a bottle neck occurs in the layout.

Review of Harry Vardons memorial stone, located within putting distance of his house

Some of the TPL bunker strategy work is to start construction in October with holes 8 + 11 commencing the programme.

Peter Thomson catching up with Royal Jersey legend - Tommy Horton

Next stop on Peter’s tour was to visit  The Richmond Golf Club where Thomson Perrett & Lobb is half way through construction of a strategic review and re-bunkering process.

Richmond Golf Club's General Manager, John Maguire discussing some of the works

Works on the second and final phase of the bunker review at The Richmond Golf Club is to commence in October. We look forward to completing construction of this project and seeing the course being played in it’s complete form.

Les Howkins (Course Manager), Peter Thomson and John Maguire in front of the rebunkered 4th hole, Richmond GC

Next stop was just up the road to Wimbledon Park Golf Club where again TPL are undertaking a full strategic review of the golf course and preparing to commence works with the bunker re-construction in the coming weeks.

Peter Thomson with Club officials at Wimbledon Park Golf Club

During the final day of Peter’s three day visit to our UK projects he spent time with Tim Lobb at our design office in Ripley discussing some of the international new course design work ongoing in Egypt (3 courses) and Saudi Arabia (2 courses) as well as upcoming work from our new African office in Cape Town lead by Andrew Goosen.

Tim Lobb and Peter Thomson at our design office in Ripley, Surrey

Peter Thomson founded the foundation design practice in 1965 in Melbourne, Australia. Since that time Peter has shown a great energy and passion in the business of creating enjoyable golfing experiences.

Peter is actively involved in the business and is an inspiration for all that come in contact with him.

Peter and his wife, Mary will be enjoying themselves in St Andrews for the remainder of their annual UK holiday and competing in the R & A, Autumn Meetings in the coming weeks.

Good golfing Peter.

We salute you.

Andrew Goosen (Senior Design Associate - Africa) of TPL was invited by a resort development company based in Johannesburg to take part in a site investigation as part of a larger development team for a mixed use resort on the Mozambique coastline.

Mozambique is well known for its luxury accommodation beach and lodge resorts, what it is missing are ancillary activities to attract a wider tourism market.

The stunning coastline of Mozambique.

The site,  consisting of a little over 800ha, aims to do just that, one element of which will be the golf course.

The expansive site in Mozambique

In all, the site is one gigantic undulating sand dune, and is flanked on one side by the Indian Ocean and on the other by a lagoon.

One of the inland lagoons onsite.

The dunes consist of a number of different ecosystems.

The Indian Ocean coastline is a turtle breeding sanctuary. The dunes climb to heights of over 70m in places, and is covered in a variety of dense tropical low level forests, and combination of African bush and savannah grasslands can be found in the internal areas. In addition there are a number if inland freshwater lakes, and finally a mangrove swamp on the lagoon side.

Some of the stunning landscape diversity onsite.

The design approach will be primarily to have as small an impact on the ecosystems as possible and to include them in the planning of a diverse experience for the visitor.

The brief for the golf course is for an 18 hole golf course and practice facility, there is also the possibility of a 9 hole short course, and with the location, topography and space, it promises to be a very special golf course, and a first for the region!

A unique opportunity awaits.

http://www.golfbusinesscommunity.com/golf-business-forum-home

Thomson Perrett & Lobb has undertaken many projects in the Middle East and would be delighted to meet with other delegates during the conference to discuss our experiences.

Please contact Tim Lobb on tlobb@tpl.eu.com

Bunkering plays an important part in assessing the strategic value of a golf course and we have started some preliminary re-building works at both courses.

The great thing is that bunkers come in all shapes and sizes as seen with our two examples below. However the importance of correct bunker placement is always at the core of all strategic appraisals for any golf course.

Rebuilding revetted bunkers at Royal Jersey GC

At Royal Jersey we are keeping with the traditional Links styled bunker and going with the revetted face. The above is the rebuilt greenside bunker on hole 5.

More of a freestyled bunker form at Wimbledon Park GC

The prototype bunker above is being constructed to the left of the 4th green at Wimbledon Park GC. We are trialling The Blinder Bunker Liner in the base and look forward to seeing a positive reaction.

The two different bunker examples above are great demonstration of how bunkers should be fit for their purpose and suit their environment and maintenance budgets as opposed to the a golf course architects ego.

To be continued.

TPL is working with HOK Architects on an exciting new project in Jeddah

The site in Jeddah is 120km2 and could be something very exciting. More information will be available in the coming weeks.

Some of the dramatic terrain in Jeddah

After Jeddah Tim flew directly to Cairo for some meetings regarding our new design project there. We are working on a large integrated residential/ golf development in the suburbs of Cairo.

On the last day of the trip we visited New Giza in Cairo to inspect the progress of bulk earthworks on holes 10 + 18.

Tad King (our construction manager) looking down the 10th hole at New Giza.

New Giza is definately going to be something special. Bulk earthworks will take quite a while as it is heavy going.

Lake being excavated out in front of 18th ladies tee/ 10th green at New Giza

Just before going home Tim and Tad went to Greg Normans new design in Cairo (Allegria) and met with course superintendent Don Johnson. Don was kind enough to give us a tour around the course.

Keep up the great work Don - Allegria GC in Cairo (Greg Norman Design)

That was the last trip for the year. 2010 started off pretty slowly but the end of the year has ended well and we have quite a few new projects to be working on in 2011.

PRESS RELEASE

Thomson Perrett & Lobb to consult on improvements to historic Channel Island golf course

(London, England – November 26th, 2010) Thomson Perrett & Lobb, the international golf course architecture practice founded by five times Open Champion Peter Thomson with partners Ross Perrett and Tim Lobb, has been appointed by Royal Jersey Golf Club to carry out an audit of the historic Channel Island golf course and make recommendations to enhance the playing strategy.

The view from the Napolenic Fort that adjoins the first fairway

Founded in 1878, The Grouville Links, as the course is known, occupies Grouville Common which comprises about 70 acres of rolling, sandy heath land and is bordered to the East by the magnificent coastline which was so admired by Queen Victoria that she commanded it to be named the Royal Bay of Grouville.

Harry Vardon, the six-time Open Champion, was famously born in Grouville, as was another Open Champion, Ted Ray. So the appointment of TPL to review and upgrade the famous links, with its own five-times Open Champion, Peter Thomson, is entirely appropriate.

Coastline, gorse and great golf at Royal Jersey GC

Tim Lobb, TPL principal, said: “The history and traditions of Royal Jersey Golf Club are of paramount importance to us and they are sure to be a key consideration as we undertake our work over this famous links course.”

Among TPL’s objectives at Royal Jersey is the improvement of the bunkers. Design work begins this month with the team working closely with the club’s head greenkeeper, David Crawford.

Golf hugging the coastline. What drama.

David commented: “Thomson Perrett & Lobb are a natural choice for Royal Jersey Golf Club. Not only were they recommended to us and then, subsequently, gave a very detailed proposal, but there were also sentimental reasons attached to our decision.

“Our club’s history and its association with the Open Championship alongside that of Peter Thomson, who won the event five times, is a very good reason to be working together. It will be the first time in 35 years that an outside team of architects has studied the Royal Jersey layout.

Perhaps the most frightening first tee shot in golf.

“One of the key aspects of TPL’s work will be to ensure the course is still a fair test of golf, particularly when you consider how advancements in equipment and golf ball technology over the past 10 years have significantly influenced how far all levels of player hit their shots.”

We look forward to working with Royal Jersey Golf Club

For further information and videos about Thomson Perrett & Lobb, visit the company’s website at www.tpl.eu.com, or visit www.royaljersey.com for additional information about the Royal Jersey Golf Club.

ENDS

Press release issued on behalf of Thomson Perrett & Lobb by Landmark Media International Limited. www.landmark-media.com

MEDIA CONTACT

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Happy reading

PRESS RELEASE

TPL to design new golf academy at Moscow’s Olympic Stadium

Golf to be introduced at the Luzhniki Olympic Complex, Russia, Europe’s largest sports centre

(London, United Kingdom – October 19, 2010) Thomson Perrett & Lobb, the golf course design practice founded by five-times Open Champion Peter Thomson with partners Ross Perrett and Tim Lobb, has been commissioned to design a new golf academy at Moscow’s Luzhniki Olympic Complex.

The Olympic Stadium at Luzhniki, Moscow

The landmark development will introduce golf to Europe’s largest sports centre, venue of the 1980 Olympics and 2008 Champions League Final between Manchester United and Chelsea, and which boasts facilities for more than 40 different sports with five million visits per year.

The new golf academy will include a new 9-hole par-3 golf course, driving range, practice putting, family adventure golf, plus a spacious clubhouse with indoor golf simulators.

The Olympic Stadium will form a great backdrop for the Academy

TPL principal Tim Lobb said: “The golf academy at the Luzhniki Olympic Complex will be an important development for Russia. This will be the closest golf facility to the city centre and will be a family friendly and social venue that will enable the people of Moscow to experience, enjoy and learn to play golf.

“It is a very exciting project to be working on and, with the return of golf to the Olympics in 2016, is befitting of the Luzhniki Complex’s vision to be a legacy of Olympic sport.”

Among the Russian sports stars who have benefited from the facilities at the Luzhniki Olympic Complex are tennis aces Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin. The question is, could Russia’s first golf star emerge from Luzhniki’s new golf academy?

Dimitry Aleshin, Deputy Director of Development and Commercial Affairs of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex, said: “We were impressed with TPL’s proposals for a golf academy and their skills in precisely realising our vision for this unique sports complex.

Dmitry and Tim at Luzhniki Olympic Stadium

“TPL also has significant experience taking golf into new markets and understands what it takes to make golf an attractive and complementary choice to the established sports in Russia. We look forward to welcoming the people of Moscow to their first city centre golf academy, at the Luzhniki Olympic Complex.”

Andrew Goosen and Tim Lobb will be onsite next week and will update our readers further.

Additionally we will be visiting our new project called Barwa New Cairo. Further information to follow.

The par 3, 8th hole growing in nicely.

The par 4, 4th hole is fully grown in now and ready to see some play.

9th green, with clubhouse in background in construction

Par 3, 5th hole. Difficult hole over bunkers.

We look forward to updating you on the progress of our various Egyptian projects after we return from our site trips.