All change
One of the recurring themes of my course visits this year has been returning to see the improvements made at a good number of layouts. I was very impressed by the reawakening of Chart Hills, the story of which will be featured in a future issue. With no need for redesign, the focus here has been on conditioning and presentation, and this very distinctive parkland course is heading in very much the right direction. Nick Faldo’s first UK design is already looking far better than I have seen it in several visits since it opened for play getting on for 30 years ago.
I was also very taken with Tom Mackenzie’s changes at Liphook, so much so that I made the 140-mile round-trip twice! The new holes are already blending in very nicely, and the ingenious new routing works extremely well. Not so far away, Reading Golf Club completed its relocation earlier this year after selling its original course for housing. Having purchased Caversham Heath, the members now enjoy a fine course that has been renovated by Canadian architect Tom Mcbroom. There are several cracking holes, and I am sure this entertaining downland/ heathland mix will only improve with time. It is always a pleasure to see how standards are rising all the time.
Did you know? Work at Chart Hills involved stripping every fairway, installing thousands of metres of irrigation piping and laying more than 30,000 tonnes of sand.