Ground Contours A sustainable solution?

Paul Jansen Jansen Golf Design & Construction www.jansengolfdesign.com 10th March 2015 – Amata Spring, Thailand 1.) How can I improve the experience without needing to spend a lot of money i.e make it MEMORABLE, INTERESTING and FUN

2.) How can I REDUCE OPERATING COSTS without compromising the experience?

3.) Our golf course has a lot of engineering issues and most are related to DRAINAGE and water shedding? How do I improve this with a limited budget?

GROUND CONTOURS

Ground Contours Making a case for GROUND CONTOURS

The Golf Team • Costs – Operating costs (Cost of Maintenance – product of the Design & Construction, ) • Golf Experience • Design (memorability, interest, fun factor, pace of play etc) • Condition

The Golfer • Costs – Cost to play (product of Maintenance – design and construction) • Golf Experience • Design (, memorability, interest, fun factor, pace of play etc) • Condition

What Matters Bunkers and Ground Contours comparison

COSTS

DESIGN

CONDITION

Bunkers – Understanding the Cost: Construction 1. Cost of Earthworks 2. Cost of Detailed Shaping 3. Cost of Drainage 4. Cost of Liner (in many cases) 5. Cost of Sand 6. Cost of Landscape Detail (in many cases)

Bunkers – Understanding the Cost: Construction

Contours – Understanding the Cost: Construction 1. Cost of Earthworks 2. Cost of Drainage (in some cases) 3. Cost of Grass 4. Cost of Landscape Detail (in some cases)

Contours – Understanding the Cost: Construction

Pennard /

Bunkers – Understanding the Cost: Maintenance 1. Style 2. Numbers / Sand Area 3. Climate

Bunkers – Understanding the Cost: Maintenance

Contours – Understanding the Cost: Maintenance

Woodhall Spa / Hotchkin

Bunkers – Understanding the Cost: Pace of Play 1. The Average Golfer / Difficulty 2. Club selection / desired shot 3. The process of playing a bunker shot

Woodhall Spa / Hotchkin

Bunkers – Understanding the Cost: Pace of Play

Zoute/ Harry Colt

Contours – Understanding the Cost: Pace of Play Bunkers and Ground Contours comparison

COSTS

DESIGN

CONDITION

Country Down / Old Tom Morris

Bunkers – Design

Country Down / Old Tom Morris

Bunkers – Form over Function

“The mad desire to have men and women groping around eighteen holes in sand, straining their glazed and agonizing eyes for a bit of fairway” Albert W Tillinghast

Bunkers – Bunkeritis

Bunkers – Variety

Bandon Preserve / Coore

Contours – Design

“Clever architects make the natural undulations on the ground play an important role in the game – to carry such undulation may mean many additional yards, while to fall short may make the next shot beyond ones powers” Robert Hunter

Contours – Design

Contours – Design

“It is these unequal stances which bring out the true ability of the golfer. It is not at all difficult to hit a ball when the stance is what may be termed plumb and the lie a good one: this is the A B C of golf; but it is a very different thing to hit a ball when it is lying at an awkward angle and you have to take stance with one foot placed inches above the other. The playing of such shots requires a good deal of the knowledge of the game and the application thereof.

Contours – Design

Walton Heath / Fowler

Contours – Variety

Swales gave us the following advantages: they cheapen and facilitate drainage. They gave us plenty of soil for making greens and creating undulating ground, and above all, they gave the place such a natural appearance that the undulations appear to have been created by the effects of wind and water thousands of years ago. Mackenzie (Spirit of )

Contours – Drainage, Drainage, Drainage Bunkers and Ground Contours comparison

COSTS

DESIGN

CONDITION

Bunkers – Golfers Perception Quote 1

“While an otherwise nice course it was very disappointing that not one greenside or fairway bunker was maintained. They were hard as rock with puddles of water in some. While it may have rained a little the day before we finished our round at 3 in the afternoon and did not see any work being done on the bunkers. In the interest of fair play anytime someone landed in a bunker we had to rake out an area to hit from. There are lots of other courses around that are better maintained and treat you better. It didn't seem like it was that busy that they couldn't be more friendly and helpful. Even the bartender was rude”

Quote 2

“The overall design is bad, the location of the eighteenth hole is a disaster, from the terrace of the club house view is on the driving range. Fairways are poorly maintained regardless of the lack of water. Greens are good but Bunkers are better for water than sand. Too expensive for the value! The staff in the club house is friendly unlike the staff at the bar.”

Quote 3

“I've played this course once a year since it first opened and it is sad to see how much it has deteriorated. When it opened it was a lovely course. Now the cart paths are washed out in quite a few places and the sand traps are a mess. It is definitely not a course for beginners. I hope it survives though as it is close by my home and it would hurt the home values in the area if it fails”.

Bunkers – Understanding the Cost: Maintenance Prestwick / Old Tom Morris Waterman

Contours – Golfer Perception The hillocks and hollows make it essential to play a running up approach to the greens. They create a most fascinating variety of approach shots which never bore and never tire the golfer. A golf course which merely caters for an everlasting pitch at every hole can never be entirely satisfactory. Alister Mackenzie

“Interesting features such as closely mown hillocks, hollows and swales offering fascinating strategic problems” Alister Mackenzie

“hummocks (mounds) provide a test in playing the ball from all kinds of stances”. and “Ideal golfing terrain, consists of knolls and dips that reach right onto the green to test stance, swing and shot placement”.

“The science and beauty of the game is brought out by men having to play the ball from any stance”. C.B Macdonald

“Some of the best holes to be found anywhere show the approaches in a perfectly natural state, with contours in every way admirable. Wherever it is possible, the selection of a natural approach to a green should be considered almost to the extent as that given to the green itself”. Albert W Tillinghast

Invent short shots that no other form of hazard can call for – undulations. Pete Dye

Contours – Golfer Perception Summary

Operating Cost:

1. Cost of Construction 2. Cost of Maintenance 3. Condition (Time to focus on the play areas) 4. Engineering – Drainage

The Golf experience

1. Variety of shot options / opportunities 2. Creative play, intelligence play – fun and memorable 3. Pace of Play

Summary

Durban / George Waterman

Contours – Examples

Laguna Phuket / Paul Jansen

Contours – Examples

Hong Kong Old

Contours – Examples

Lang Co / Sir & Paul Jansen

Contours – Examples