Latest changes at Swinley (2020)

[Adam Uttley]

I was lucky enough to play at Swinley today and more new changes have appeared over the winter.  I couldn’t see another post with pictures of these in, so apologies if I’ve missed them and I’m real eating them.


The focus of the changes this time have been the 7th and 12th greens.  The changes I noticed were:

• Removal of rhododendrons to the right of the 7th green and behind the 12th green.
• Removal of the Bunkers to the right of the 7th green and the creation of a run-off area down the bank
• Creation of mounds to the left of the 7th green
• New back tee on 8th
• The bunker to the right of the 12th green has been brought closer to the front of the green and a run-off created behind it.

The result is spectacular in terms of creating views.  From the 8th green you can now see down the 12th and even see most of the 9th through the trees.  This is a panorama shot showing the new view.   






The mounds to the left of the 7th green appear to be designed, at least in part, to provide some protection for golfers on the 8th tee.  This hasn’t worked as a friend of mine was hit there today!  However, the mounds and lack of rhododendrons do encourage the golfer to push their approach shot further right than it used to, but they do so at their peril; that run-off provides for a very tricky recovery. 


These photos are of the 7th green, taken from front-left and front-right.









The changes at the 12th are more aesthetic and the backdrop certainly looks strange - but no less good - with heather instead of rhododendrons.  I personally don’t think this adds or takes away from the hole significantly but by facilitating the new views from the 8th the change is positive.


Here is photo with the new backdrop on 12:







EDITED to include photos instead of links (I hope!)

[John Mayhugh]

Thanks for these photos. If you select BBCode link on Flickr, you can embed the photos instead of a clickable link.

The backdrop at 12 is vastly different from when I saw the course 11 years ago. I think that's a very positive improvement.

There's nothing kind to be said about the mounds on 7, though.

50170788202_d1912df2ce_b

[Adam Uttley]

Thanks for these photos. If you select BBCode link on Flickr, you can embed the photos instead of a clickable link.

The backdrop at 12 is vastly different from when I saw the course 11 years ago. I think that's a very positive improvement.

There's nothing kind to be said about the mounds on 7, though.

50170788202_d1912df2ce_b

Thanks John. Try as I might, I cannot get it to work.  I have tried Embed, BBCode and the link generated from download but I just can't get it in there. 

[John Mayhugh]

Adam,
Have you tried this? When you are on the sharing page, click on BBCode. Then when the box below fills in, click on the text to highlight it. Once it is highlighted in blue, right click on the highlighted text, select copy, then paste that into the text of your post. Should work. Also, note that you can change the size of the photo that's embedded. For the forum, 1024x768 is as large as you want to get.

flickr link by john mayhugh, on Flickr

[Ira Fishman]

I agree with John about the mounds leaving much to be desired. I do not remember anything similar on the rest of the course so they look particularly out of character.


Ira

[Conley Hurst]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Unfortunately, SF is doing the opposite.


Removing the rhododendrons seems like a positive change. But I cannot understand the more substantive changes. The alterations to 17 (discussed elsewhere) are shocking.

[Clyde Johnson]

Thanks for the pics Adam.


Do you know who is directing the 'updates' at Swinley? It always seemed such a timeless place...and mostly for the better!

[Adam Uttley]

Thanks for the pics Adam.


Do you know who is directing the 'updates' at Swinley? It always seemed such a timeless place...and mostly for the better!

I don’t first-hand but from the previous thread, the suggestion was that it was in-house.


https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,66750.msg1610874.html#msg1610874


I’ve certainly noticed a change over the past 5 years.  They have embraced visitors much more and conditioning appears to have become more of a priority.  Despite being in the middle of their 5 year plan, they went to the trouble of updating their strokesaver last year, even when they knew it would be out of date just a year later. That’s clearly not member driven.

[Robin_Hiseman]

Frank Pont was their consultant. I don't know if he still is.

[Adam Lawrence]

Frank Pont was their consultant. I don't know if he still is.

I don't believe so.

[Scott Warren]

Robin, Adam, In the thread about 18 months ago about the desecration of the 17th green, Frank said he was no longer advising the club.

[Adam Uttley]

Adam,
Have you tried this? When you are on the sharing page, click on BBCode. Then when the box below fills in, click on the text to highlight it. Once it is highlighted in blue, right click on the highlighted text, select copy, then paste that into the text of your post. Should work. Also, note that you can change the size of the photo that's embedded. For the forum, 1024x768 is as large as you want to get.

flickr link by john mayhugh, on Flickr

Thanks John.  Got there in the end!

[Niall C]

I'd be really interested to see pictures of the 17th green from 20-30 years ago. I recall doing a tour of the course c.2000 with the then greenkeeper (a Scots guy, can't recall his name) and at that time they had just finished some work to the 17th. If I recall the work involved putting in a bunker half way down the left hand slope of the green to "catch balls". They were also doing an awful lot of work in terms of clearing out trees to create views throughout the course. From memory it was all being down in-house although whether they got any professional advice in the first place, I can't recall.


What I don't remember too much of is the 17th green itself, and even whether it had bunkers front left and right. In terms of what's there now, they look pretty standard Colt/McKenzie/Simpson/golden age reproduction bunkers with their heather and hairy lip (assuming I'm looking at the up to date images).


Niall

[Marty Bonnar]

Niall,
my photo of 17 c.2002:

[Marty Bonnar]

And a couple more from closer in:

[Frank Pont]

Robin, Adam, In the thread about 18 months ago about the desecration of the 17th green, Frank said he was no longer advising the club.

Last I heard was that they were talking to Ebert.
So I would expect routing changes and new greens are being planned 

[Ben Stephens]

Robin, Adam, In the thread about 18 months ago about the desecration of the 17th green, Frank said he was no longer advising the club.

Last I heard was that they were talking to Ebert.
So I would expect routing changes and new greens are being planned 

Maybe the 17th will then revert to the previous design due to historical aerials 

[Gib_Papazian]

Is Ian Pierce still the Club Secretary? I had an incredibly fun day playing with him. You can make the argument Swinley is one of the few golf courses you could play every day - well into your dotage  - and never grow tired.