Golf courses are not built to last forever. As the quality and charisma of older courses diminishes over the years, they can become less appealing. Greens, tees and bunkers can loose their quality and visual attractiveness due to shortcuts in the maintenance regime and due to a bad construction standard. In view of the constantly rising demands on the design and maintenance of golf courses, redesigns are increasingly becoming more important. Less profitable golf courses are competitive again once they are redesigned.
Timeless classics:
Super modern can tire the eyes very quickly – classic preserves its charm for long. This also applies to golf courses. We design courses that not only emit beauty for just five to ten years following some trends – they shall display their beauty for longer. Possible is this by embedding the redesign in a harmonious way into the original course and the natural surroundings. Short flying visits followed by a plan on the computer is a taboo for us. The basic principle for the designs are the parameters given by the existing course. By getting the feel for the course and its natural features, the proposed enhancement through redesign can be achieved without turning the original course upside down. Sometimes although a more aggressive approach to a completely feature-less course can be the right way for improvements.
Studying old „classics“ and famous architects:
An important part for responsible design is the study of classic golf courses and renowned architects and their philosophy. By having played over 100 of the famous British links and inland courses a good knowledge of what is important for every Golfcourse is gained – be it a redesign of a classic (designed by a great past architect) or a redesign adjusted to the requirements of modern society and the modern golfing structure. On every project a good amount of sure instinct is needed. Learning from the classics allows the introduction of a more „old-fashioned“ styling to modern courses (i.e. Bunker with natural looks) that make the look more time-less.
Ecology and sustainability:
Together with our philosophy we take advantage of all methods of ecological design and construction and we focus on saving as much precious structures as possible – we believe that we owe that to our nature. On a course with no or very low ecological value we increase it by creating new precious features during every redesign process. This approach normally also speeds up all necessary permissions. Only a redesign that keeps fitting into its natural surroundings will give the golfer the feel of ease and enjoyment.
Economic maintenance:
We form our redesigns in a way that they can be maintained in an ecological and a cost-saving manner. By no means is this a loss in quality. Ecological maintenance in several areas of the course opens up resources for the important playing surfaces.
Climate change:
Climate change is a fact: Golfcourses need, apart from renovations or redesigns, to be prepared for changes in the environment and the climate. We consider this aspect in our redesigns. Part of this are, depending on the demand,
- The reduction of turf-areas by turning no- or low-play areas into natural areas with low or no maintenance
- Optimizing and modernizing the irrigation system /design to reduce unnecessary use of water
- Changing the type of grasses