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The Case for Renovation by Howard Swan
A golf course, being a living, breathing creature, grows old. It may age gracefully,
looking better and playing better the older it gets,
but after a time it begins to show its age.
Its holes become too short... Its bunkers no longer seem menacing...Its greens lose character... One of three things must be done.
So wrote Geoffrey Cornish, one of our Honorary Members, in the preface of his
masterly tome, The Architects of Golf.
What he didn't say, but assumed, was that this work would be executed
in professional hands. Unfortunately for our profession,
it is not always the rule.
There is every sound reason to keep up to date, or in fact to keep in front
of it, to protect the asset, to maintain it in good condition
and add to its value.
 In the commercial world, this is just common
sense and practice.
The golf course is no different. It
is arguably a Club's biggest asset. It needs to be maintained,
not just on a regular basis in the sense of routine
greenkeeping, but in the sense of a continuous evolution,
a continuous development of its natural structure.
Failure to do so results in a deteriorating product,
a less attractive one to player and Club, owner or
operator alike.
Sadly however the structure of many of our golf
club operations does not allow this to happen.
Committees may be in office for just one year...
Captains similarly. Green Chairmen not always much
longer. Such a turnover does not favour gradual, consistent
evolution of the course as it so badly needs, as nature
warrants. Improvements tend to be some staccato, inconsistent,
personal. Passing fancies and fashions prevail. Captains,
Committee Members leaving their mark for the future.
Just as Geoffrey Cornish says so eloquently,
reconstruction, restoration, renovation is essential
-professionally conceived, created, designed and managed
to ensure success.
Modern technology - the clubs, the ball, the
fitter body perhaps - has brought many courses to their
knees.
The best players may hit the ball over 300 yards
consistently, but many of the rest don't. Some
may hit it further but not always in the right direction!
The clamour for longer and longer courses is
evident. Safety and security is therefore a bigger
problem than most care to recognise.
Lengthening the course may not be the answer,
certainly not alone and not at the expense of the ruination
of its tradition or the strategy of its design. Did
putting 300 yards on Augusta National defend it against
the Tiger on the Tour? I wonder. One solution, and
one only! Perhaps not the right one?
Better to look at the routing
of the course so creating a better balance in each
nine and between each nine, a better shot variety,
a better use of the land - the original or perhaps
some additional area - available. Better to create a
better rhythm in the
holes, a roller coaster of emotions for the player.
Improving golf course safety cannot be ignored
and, as part of any renovation exercise, an audit of
the holes needs to be undertaken and revisions made
should risks not be acceptably manageable.
Once the
overall design has been considered, with its safety, then the components
of the course
need to be assayed.
Greens
Their size, depth, width, shape, contour, number
of pin positions; their construction profile and drainage
performance; the quality of the sward, and the grass
type; the adequacy of entry and exit from the green;
the quality of the feature surrounds.
"Committees
may be in office for just one year... Captains similarly.
Green Chairmen not
always much longer. Such a turnover does not favour
gradual, consistent evolution of the course as it
so badly needs, as nature warrants."
Tees
Their size and wear tolerance; their shape and
location (with regard to improvements to the strategy
of play for the hole); the profile of their construction,
drainage and rootzone.
Bunkers
Their size, shape, style (is it consistent and
appropriate?), location (are they in the right place
to define the hole, to guide the shot?), drainage,
a consistent colour and depth of sand; shape of their
moundwork need to be thoroughly investigated, researched
and their performance, technical and golfing, evaluated
with recommendations made for their improvement.
Couching such measures in the context of the
natural setting, enhancing the natural environment,
creating improving habitats must be a part of any renovation
and in doing so enhancing its beauty, its attraction...
and its value.
Whatever style, whatever rhythm is put into
the renovation, it is essential that the environmental
impact of the work involved is assessed professionally
by a suitably qualified specialist, together with the
golf course architect, having made an ecological evaluation
of the existing course, its character, its habitats,
its natural value.
Paying scant homage with the bulldozer is all
too simple, but it is merely not for today's
world! Then there is irrigation, drainage, traffic
management... landscape improvements...
and the presentation of the course - mowing
shapes and patterns of greens, collars and approaches;
tees and their embankments, fairways, semi rough, golfing
and non golfing roughs... ongoing management of the
roughs, improving the natural framework, managing woodlands
in a progressive yet reasonable way.
Communicating the thoughts of the golf course
architect, the auditor is an essential part of the
renovation process. Not always easily done when facing
political and personal objection, obstruction, antagonism
which, sadly, is common from those who do not want
to see change.
The opportunity to present an audit, to explain
the analysis of the existing design and to determine
the recommendations for a way forward are mandatory
and need to be professionally taken.
Comprehensive reporting by word and drawing,
the use of photography on a "before and after" basis,
creating photomontages of how holes will look after
renovation all help to justify the case to show those
who doubt how it could be. Personal presentations to
members are equally important in the communication
process, albeit sometimes taxing and quite difficult.
The professional golf course architect needs
to harness all these, and perhaps more, in demonstrating
his or her skill and application.
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