Tuesday 28 September 2010

Celtic Manor, Wales, starring Colin Montgomerie an...

Designer Golf Courses: Celtic Manor, Wales, starring Colin Montgomerie an...: "Celtic Manor has 3 courses and its Twenty Ten Course to be the venue for the Ryder Cup in 2010. Can you see what they've done there? But the..."

Thought I would repost this one, having seen Colin Montgomery on the news today discussing the fact that he has not spoken to the groundsmen at Celtic Manor to ensure the lie of the land favours the European Team....Well why not. The US Captain appeared shortly after looking very bemused even incredulous that the host team captain had not taken up his right to tip the balance of the course in his favour. We will see. I am not sure what could be done and am going off for further research, but I feel sure every advantage should be taken, especially against the US, and especially at the Ryder Cup!!!!!

Wednesday 28 July 2010

Re-designing Golf- The 9 Hole Golf Course

World Golf.com is reporting that there is a new design feature for Golf courses; They assert that Golf courses with fewer holes could be the game's next wave.Is that a 9 hole course then? New Wave? Theres been a few 9 hole courses around for a number of years so its hardly an epiphany is it?

There has been some thought gone into this surprising innovation though- 18 holes can take so much time out of the day that you are less likely to go for a game at all. Surely the answer to this is agreeing to play half the course.

Building a nine hole course might save you a lot of money though. That's half of the design bill, without necessarily losing the amazing skills of the professional golf designer. Ground staff wage bill, water, sand, turf and just 9 flags!!

It is a fact that many golf course around the world are being sold off for residential property developments because they are simply no longer viable as businesses. If you were to sell of half the land for redevelopment, redesign the remainder into a really good 9 hole golf course, and your residential property can now be described as "much sought after"+"adjoining golf course" with the resultant property price hike.

If golfers want to play 18 holes they can go round again, or pop into the "10th" hole for well deserved round of drinks.