Le Touquet restoration
In 2011 Le Touquet became our second French client, where we received the mandate to start extensive restoration works at Le Touquet La Mer, a beautiful Links course on the North West coat of France that was designed by Harry Colt in 1930.
The course was massively damaged during WWII by the fortifications the Germans built in the dunes, and the course was only back to 18 holes sometime during the 1990's. However a number of holes and greens were not restored to their original state as they were before the war. We have ben given the mandate to restore the routing, holes, greens and bunkers as much as is possible back to the original state, an important and sizeable task that take a number of years.
As a first step the bunkers of holes 2,7,9 and 10 were restored back to their original Colt style, sizes and locations during late Autumn of 2011. The hole shown above is the 9th hole with its newly restored bunkers.
Hardelot Les Pins restoration
In 2011 Hardelot became our third French client, where we received the mandate to start extensive restoration works at Hardelot Les Pins, a beautiful Tom Simpson course in the wooded dunes of the north west coast of France.
In contrast to nearby Le Touquet, Hardelot came through WWII virtually unscathed, and as such is still almost completely in its original state. However over time many of the bunkers have lost their trademark Simpson shapes, and it is in the area of bunker restoration that most of our work will focus here in the next few years.
The first hole we did work on was the 5th, a beautiful and delicate par 3, with a green surrounded by large irregularly shaped bunkers. The picture above shows the hole with the original bunker shapes restored.
Construction of De Swinkelsche progressing nicely
The construction of the spectacular new golf course De Swinkelsche, located near Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands, is progressing nicely.
De Swinkelsche will be a 27 holes course with with a unusually high ambition level for the Dutch golf market. This is caused by a number of things: first the site is almost 250 acres and is enclosed on three sides by beautifull pine and oak forests, second the soil is pure sand with a low groundwater table, third five holes will be carved out of existing forests where the existing landforms will hardly be touched and fourth there is the budget to move enough earth and do enough plantings to recreate the old heathland landscape that occupied this location until early in the last century. Finally, the shape of the site allows for an interesting, varied and very walkable routing, where the player has the feeling of space and traquility.
At the end of 2011 the first 9 holes of De Swinkelsche had been shaped and seeded, and the par 3 course was on track to be opened during the summer of 2012.
Click here to see the Masterplan of De Swinkelsche.
New partnership in France with Patrice Boissonnas
Infinite Variety Golf Design has formed an exclusive partnership in France with Patrice Boissonnas, a young French golf architect. Patrice is a new entrant to the world of golf architecture, although he comes from a family who has been in the golf business for many years. While he graduated from ESSEC, one of France's top business schools, he also studied Philosophy at la Sorbonne up to a master degree. He then spent a decade working for L'Oréal and LVMH in various senior management positions both abroad and in France. Wishing to steer his life into a more creative direction, he decided to quit his job and studied History of Architecture for a couple of years. But his teenage dream of designing golf courses finally sprang up after being introduced to Frank Pont whose successful example convinced him he could live for his passion. Patrice has been working with Frank for the last several months and he now feels ready to engage in a far reaching partnership with his Dutch counterpart
The goal of the partnership is to serve the French market better, specifically in the area of restorations of classic Colt and Simpson courses, renovations of modern day French courses, and last but not least, in the area of designing new golf courses.
Royal Hague and Kennemer make huge jumps in Golf World rankings
In the latest 2011 Golf World Continental Europe Top 100 rankings two of our clients, Royal Hague and Kennemer, made unprecedented large jumps in the rankings.
Royal Hague jumped to the number 3 from the 16th spot, based on the many positive reviews by Golf World raters. Specifically Golf World wrote: "A huge jump for Royal Hague, but one which it fully deserves as a result of the work carried out on all 18 greens by Frank Pont. In truth, it could have been rated higher in the past with several respected judges strongly arguing its case for inclusion in the top 10 in previous years. So this rise has long been touted."
Kennemer also made a huge jum to number 7 from the 21st spot, based on the positive feedback of reviewers who really liked several renovated holes, the intorcuction of much more short grass around the greens and a massive tree clearing program to bring the course back to its Links roots.
In total eight of our clients made it onto the Top 100 list, validating our title as Europe's premier restorer of classic golf courses.
Brancepeth Castle GC new client in the UK
At the end of 2011 Brancepeth Castle, a beautiful Colt course located close to the historic university city of Durham, became our third client in England.
Brancepeth Castle has many of the hallmarks of a typical Colt course; a varied routing, beautiful green complexes, well thought out bunkering, a number of unique par 3 holes, and last but not least a large number of memorable holes.
Our work at Brancepeth Castle will focus on restoring the bunkers back to their original style, sizes and shapes, widening the playing coridors back to their original widths and bringing back all the intricate details of the magnificent green surrounds on many of the holes.
Tyneside GC new client in the UK
At the end of 2011 Tyneside, the oldest golf club in Northumberland and the proud owner of a classic Harry Colt designed course, became our second client in England.
Tyneside has many of the hallmarks of a typical Colt course; a very smart routing on a very slopy site, interesting green complexes, well thought out bunkering, a number of strong par 3 holes, and last but not least a large number of memorable holes.
Our work at Tyneside will focus on four areas: restoring the bunkers back to their original style, sizes and shapes, bringing back the fairways to their original widths, making sure the trees don't inpinge on the strategy of the holes and trying to introduce more texture around the fairways on many of the holes.
Restoration Tandridge front nine holes completed
In autumn of 2011 the second phase of the restoration of Tandrdige, a beautiful Colt course just south of London, was succesfully concluded. During this phase we restored the bunkers and tees of the remaining holes of the front nine. The work was complete in five intensive weeks, which will allow play just after the winter ends early 2012.
The reactions on the first results have been very positive, both with the club and in the press. Adam Lawrence, the editor of Golf Course Architecture Magazine specifically wrote: "Perhaps the most dramatic restoration of a Golden Age golf course yet attempted in the UK is currently underway at Tandridge GC in Surrey.... Huge in scale, the restored bunkers at the fourth hole in particular show how radical the transformation will be if the programme is followed through across the entire course"
Click here to see more about this ambitious restoration project.
Last phase Hoge Kleij renovation succesfully completed
In autumn 2011 the last six holes were renovated as part of the three year extensive renovation of all 18 holes of De Hoge Kleij, an old Frank Pennink design.
The goal of the renovation was twofold: first to make the majority of the holes more strategic or heroic in nature, through a better placemnt of hazards such as bunkers and heather, and second to make the holes visually more attractive bt creating more variety in landforms, bunkers shapes and textures of the holes.
Although the greens themselves were not changed, many of the greencomplexes have become nuch more interesting through asymetrical placement of bunkers and the addition of short mown run off areas, without making the course harder for the average player.
A good example is the new sixteenth hole (shown above), a 4200 yard par 4 hole from the mens tips.
Tees of Royal Hague holes 2 and 7 renovated
After our succesful restoration of Royal Hague's greens and bunkers, we continue in 2012 with our multi-year program of improving the tees of this beautiful links course.
This time two sets of tees will be renovated, namely first the tees of the second hole will be changed so as to fit them better into the existing landscape. Second the tees at hole 7 will be reworked to make them look more natural in the surrounding dunes landscape.
On GolfClubAtlas.com, the world's leading site on golf architecture, Ran Morrissett recently wrote that: "Royal Hague gets my vote as continental Europe's best course". In the detailled review he wrote on the course he furthermore states: "Word is out on the transformation that Haagsche has gone through, largely under the direction of Netherland based golf architect Frank Pont. It's nice to see it on the GOLF Magazine ballot for consideration as a world top 100 course. Personally speaking, I have yet to see fifty courses that I would rather play than here." Click here to read the whole article.
Vlagheide new project in the South of the Netherlands
Since the summer of 2010 Frank has been making the first design sketches for a 27 holes golf course De Vlagheide, that will be built on a former land fill site between the villages of Schijndel and St. Oedenrode in the south of the Netherlands. What makes this project unique is the fact that although the site is a former landfill, it is very suited to play golf on. The reason for this lies in the fact that with the design and operation of the land fill the final use of the site as a golf course was always anticipated. One can still see this in the mellow angles of many of the slopes allowing for good and interesting golf holes.
The site has an almost Scottisch character, with sheep grazing the hills, and is reminicent of the links courses at Gullane. The available space, the very un-Dutch altitude changes and the beautiful surroundings of the site make this another potential site for great golf.
Last phase of Gelpenberg renovation succesfully finished
In the summer of 2011 the renovated holes of the Dutch course De Gelpenberg were officially opened.
The whole process of renovating all 18 holes took several years during which the course remained in play during most times, something that was achieved through careful planning and the choice to speed up the grow in by using gras sods during the renovation. The course used to have two very different nines, an old part in the heathlands and woods which had been designed by Frank Pennink and a new part in former agriculture land that was rather flat and featureless. The goal of the renovation was to bring the character of the new nine closer to that of the old nine, by introducing undulations, new trees and heather.
We expect that once the course has had some time to settle in and people have had a chance to play the course again it will start a steady rise in the Dutch rankings.
Perkpolder spectacular new project on the Dutch coast
We at Infinite Variety Golf Design always enjoy locations close to the sea, and in this case it's even better; a site that will allow us to build a golf course directly on the Westerschelde, a North Sea inlet in the southern Dutch province of Zeeland.
This new project not only will yield spectacular views, but also has some other unique elements. One of them is the fact that the existing dykes will be transformed to natural dunes landscapes through massive amounts of soil that will be excavated locally and also be brought into the site. This will allow us to create a very varied golf course with holes in the dunes, along ponds and lakes and over undulating links land.
But in one sense it will be truely unique in The Netherlands, in that it will be the first golf course with direct sea views from six holes.
De Turfvaert, a big success two years after opening
After De Turfvaert opened its fairways in the summer of 2010, the golf course has had one succes after the other. Reviews of the press were very positive, with large articles appearing in the Dutch golf magazines GolfWeekly and Golfers Magazine. But more important is the fact that De Turfvaert is a commercial succes story, whilst many golf courses in the Netherlands are struggling under the current dire economic times. The success seems to have been caused by the fact that golfers have discovered that De Turfvaert is a frienly place which is truely good value for money, and that the golf course is a real "players" course which at first sight seems rather forgiving, but requires the best of ones play to really score well.
The quality of De Turfvaert has not gone unnoticed outside of the Netherlands. Golf Course Architecture Magazine ranked the course in an article about the Dutch market along the likes of Kennemer, De Pan and de Dutch. Furthermore the course will feature in a full chapter of the compendium Golf Course Architecture: A Worldwide Perspective Vol. 6, about the best golf projects world wide of the last two years.
Click here to read a description of the holes of De Turfvaert.
Kennemer hole B9 gets thorough transformation
In the summer of 2010 hole B9 of the Kennemer underwent a thorough transformation, particularly the area around the green and between the hole and the driving range. Reason was the work that was being done to to build a lockerspace for the member of the Kennemer underneath the parking next to the clubhouse. This on the one hand allowed for more space to be created between the backside of the green of B9 and other hand yielded a lot of sand that came out of the building pit that could be used to create new dunes between hole B9 and the adjacent driving range, to shield the players from ugly views. In the proces the green of B9 was shifted 5 meters to the right and also slightly expanded in the same direction to create more pin positions on the top shelf situated back right of the green.
The result is a visually completely different hole, where ones eye is immediately drawn towards the clubhouse, rather than to the concrete driving range on the left which now is hidden by the new dunes. When in time these dunes will have matured, many of the players won't realize that these landforms haven't always been part of the landscape at Kennemer.
De Dommel likely to expand to 18 holes in 2012
It looks very likely that the expansion for De Dommel to 18 holes, through the consruction of 6 extra holes, will finally become reality in 2012 after many years of waiting for this Dutch club.
Possessing 9 holes that were originally designed by Harry Colt in the last century, the club in the past already had expanded to 12 holes by adding 3 holes that were designed by Donald Steel and Hans Hertzberger. However the club always had their sight set on adding another 6 holes to become an 18 holes course
Through the purchase of additional land this became possible, but the club ran into long running permitting issues, halting progress. Finally it seems the last hurdles have been taken away and construction seems likely in 2012.
Infinite Variety Golf Design is responsible for the design of the 6 new holes and will also assist the club during the whole building process.
Henri Chapelle new client in Belgium
In the autumn of 2011 Henri Chapelle became our second client in Belgium. The course of Henri Chapelle lies in a beautiful hilly landscape with magnificent views, and has 27 holes in play.
We helped the client with the renovation of a number of holes, focussing on improving the playability of the holes and at the same time increasing the strategy and esthetics.