Peter Thomson, 5 times British Open Champion and Chairman of Thomson Perrett & Lobb visited a number of our projects over the past few days while he is in the UK.
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.
Written on September 14th, 2011 by Tim and stored in Our projects, Peter Thomson, Tim Lobb, Travels
Today Tim took his almost 5 year old daughter to the World of Golf (Beverly Park) Adventure Golf experience. In essence the golf is putt putt but themed in a dinosaur style with moving dinosaurs, nicely manicured landscapes, interesting water features and dinosaur audio for effect.
See below some pictures of this great fun hour of golf.
The greens were running pretty fast on the Stimp. Love the dinosaur in background.
I personally hope that we see more of these facilities and know of a new Adventure Golf park by the Burhill Group at Abbey Hill Golf Centre in a Pirate Theme. Will have to go for a look one day.
The last few holes were under the waterfall and in the cave. Very clever.
The game took about an hour. We didnt really keep score but it was great to see the kids loving playing golf but not the trudgery of a driving range.
This one scared my daughter a bit but was pretty interesting.
The dinosaur theme was really interesting and there was information boards on the way explaining facts about dinosaurs which was interesting.
The last hole next to the waterfall also provided some chance to advertise the F+B offering.
Costa Coffee were also onsite which offered a good chance to rest and relax after the game. This golfing experience had it all in my view for kids who have never really tried golf before.
This dinosaur had full movement and audio. It was great.
Go and have a go at Adventure Golf at World of Golf – Beverley Way
Good golfing…
Written on September 8th, 2011 by Tim and stored in Golf News, Tim Lobb
Royal Melbourne Golf Club has long been one of our favourite golf courses in the world.
Dr John Green has compiled this fantastic book and we are helping to spread the word.
Contact us if interested in purchasing a book
http://www.royalmelbournehistoryofcourses.com/
Written on August 11th, 2011 by Tim and stored in Golf News
PRESS RELEASE – 22 July 2011
Golf seminar planned for Marrakech
The team behind the successful ‘Golf in the Middle East – The Next Generation’ seminar, run in Abu Dhabi last September, has announced its second event.
Some of the international guests that attending the Abu Dhabi Seminar in 2010
The seminar, entitled ‘Golf in North Africa – Setting The New Standards’, will take place at the Meridien N’Fis hotel in Marrakech, from 9-10 November. As with last’s year’s event in Abu Dhabi, attendance will be free of charge and by invitation only. Guests will include leaders from across North Africa’s golf industry. The keynote address will be given by leading Moroccan development firm Compagnie Générale Immobiliére, which is involved in a number of golf projects across the country.
Golf has a long history in North Africa, but in a crowded golf tourism market, the region’s courses – and developers considering new courses – need to rethink their approach to remain competitive. This need is all the more urgent given the political and economic upheavals that have shaken North Africa this year. The seminar aims to help developers, operators and managers position their region at the forefront of the golf industry, and will include visits to a number of new golf facilities.
Organised by Andy Brown of Toro, Adam Lawrence of Golf Course Architecture, and Tim Lobb of Thomson Perrett & Lobb, the seminar is supported by Braemar Golf and Jennings Turf International.
ENDS
Written on July 25th, 2011 by Tim and stored in Golf News, Philosophy, Press Releases, Tim Lobb
July 20th 2011
The annual Thomson Cup (TPL Golf Day) was played yesterday on the magnificent Red Course at The Berkshire Golf Club. With weeks of rain and sunshine preceeding the event the course was in great shape and the greens running as smooth as ever. Well done to Ian Morrison and all the ground staff at The Berkshire who presented such a wonderful golfing experience for us.
Sixteen invited guests from the golfing industry competed in the event and the pre game banter was strong as ever. An individual stableford event with the philosophy of ‘winner take all’ was adopted and part of our regular format.
Throughout the round there were a couple of very heavy summer rainstorms which only served to enhance the golfing challenge.
Some great scores were posted including Keith Haslam 36 points off 5, Tim Mote 36 points off 7 and Hugh Knowles 38 points off 21. However defending titleholder Sir Rocco Forte reigned supreme in the competition with 40 points off 12 handicap. During his acceptance speech he was also quick to point out that his handicap had dropped 2 shots since last year, hence squashing any thoughts of a handicap review.
Tim Lobb presenting the Thomson Cup to Sir Rocco Forte
In addition to winning the Thomson Cup for the second year running, Sir Rocco Forte also won a prize of a fourball with lunch at the Stoke Park Golf Club (represented by John McGuiness) which was kindly donated by the Stoke Park.
Participants of the Thomson Cup 2011
We love the gathering of our friends within the golfing industry at our Golf Day and thank The Berkshire Golf Club for their help with staging the event.
We are looking to host our event at The Richmond Golf Club next year where we will be able to all road test our completed re-bunkering programme undertaken to the course over the past two winters.
Till then – good golfing
Written on July 20th, 2011 by Tim and stored in Tim Lobb, Top Courses
June 28, 2011
Tad King, our construction manager at El Ein Bay sent some pictures of the splendid progress and grow-in that is being achieved at our resort style golf course on the Red Sea just 100km East of Cairo.
The view down the 9th fairway from the clubhouse
We have planted Paspalum Platinum TE, supplied by Jennings Turf based in the US. The turf is really growing in well.
View looking down hole 4 from one of the villa balconies
Coming into summer now the newly planted turf is growing in very well.
Alot of care and attention has been given to the bunker detailing
11 holes are fully grown in now and shaping works is ongoing on the remaining holes.
The tricky par 3, 5th hole
The golf course has been constructed with local labour under the supervision of Tad King and the Galalah management. It is a testament to sensible construction practices and well thought out solutions by the whole team.
The short par 4, 10th hole
We anticipate grassing of the entire course to be completed by the end of the summer.
The tranquil water features of the golf course
We cant wait to see golfers start to enjoy this golf course.
Written on June 28th, 2011 by Tim and stored in Our projects, Tim Lobb
http://www.tpl.eu.com/news-13.php
Click on above link to access our Summer Newsletter, 2011
Written on June 27th, 2011 by Tim and stored in Andrew Goosen, Our projects, Peter Thomson, Press Releases, Ross Perrett, Tim Lobb
On June 1st, Tim Lobb visited The Richmond Golf Club to meet up with Course Manager, Les Howkins to review the grow in for the first phase of bunkers that have been re-constructed. The first phase of works consisted of approximately 50% of the bunkers being re built during last winter.
The newly constructed bunker at the 1st green
The new bunkers were constructed by the groundstaff at the Club using the newly purchased 3 tonnes mini digger with swivel bucket. A great investment for the Club.
New fairway bunker on 3rd hole to tighten drive up
Andrew Goosen from TPL worked closely with the ground staff to achieve the desired design philosophy for the re-bunkering project and spent much time onsite fine tuning shaping and slopes.
The par 3, 4th hole looks stunning with the re-shaped bunkers
In our design philosophy we have tried to make the bases of the bunkers quite flat so as to allow for a fair and reasonable stance.
The bunker edges are getting stronger each day
We look forward to building the remaining bunkers this coming winter.
New fairway bunker on 18 to help direct play
More information on this project can be seen in our portfolio page.
http://www.tpl.eu.com/current-proj-05.php
Written on June 2nd, 2011 by Tim and stored in Andrew Goosen, Our projects, Tim Lobb
May 9-12, 2011
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.
Written on May 16th, 2011 by Tim and stored in Andrew Goosen, Our projects, Travels
Gary Johnston (Chairman) and Tim Lobb are both members of the Education Board for the European Institute of Golf Course Architects. During the recent AGM in Potsdam, Germany Gary and Tim ran various design workshops for the EVQ Educational process set up by the EIGCA.
Gary presenting site analysis philosophies
During the two day workshop the four new students were introduced to the new Moodle Website that has been created to allow for ‘at home’ education. This has been a great achievement for the EIGCA and will prove successful form of educational transfer for years to come.
After the adminsitration lessons on how to use the Moodle website we threw the students in the deep end and starting working immediately on a golf course routing for presentation later in the workshop.
Simon from David Krause's office presenting his plans at the end of the workshop
The presentations by the students at the end of the workshop were really great and showed that they had clearly been through a design evolution to arrive at their presented material. Gary and Tim were particularly interested to see how this design evolution had been considered and how this impacted on the final solution.
Good luck to the four students undertaking the Education Programme. It was great to see that out of the four students we had countries represented from England, Netherlands, Poland/ Czech, German.
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