Just thought I would share with the DG my project in Kerns, Switzerland which just opened up its six hole par 3 course two weeks ago. The owner of this facility told me at the beginning that he wanted a practice facility that should be interesting for golfers of all standards, should cost as little as possible and be maintainable by one person.
Up until now the response from the players about the course has been very positive although many have been suprised at how challenging the course plays. The land itself is well draining and the almost square in shape. The rootzone mix is the local soil mixed 1/1 with sand out of a near by lake. Earth movement was kept to the minimum and it has no irrigation system so the grow in was purely watered through rainfall. The seed mix for the greens was a pure fescue, seeding took place in October last year and the fairways are cut out of the existing grazing land. We have only used plant based, organic fertiliser and have not sprayed against weeds or had any desease problems. The greens are playing well for their age but I would say that wouldn’t I.
As well as the design work/planning permission, I also did the shaping and led the grow-in. The whole project including the driving range (six covered bays and 2500m2 grass tee), machine park incl. building, 6 hole course and chipping/bunker/putting greens cost just under CHF.310’000 (£175K) to construct. The range which opened in May 2007, has 145 members and is more than paying its way.
View of the putting green which is 750m2 and on two tiers.
Practice chipping/bunker green
Looking across the grass tee towards the Chipping/bunker green.
Looking down the range
and yes the tree is in the middle of the range. I wanted to cut it down but they wouldn’t let me. What I thought would be a problem has been received very well by the golfer.
Looking down at the first green. This hole is 83m long. The car park is just behind it which is the reason for the mound. It will be seeded in the autumn. The bunker on the left is about 1m deep.
Green 2 which is 145m long and semi blind. I had a problem with the bunker on the left as it is cut into the bed rock. In the end we decided to wooden clad the face. The green has two tiers with the left side been the higher of the two
Green 3 105m long with bunkers on both sides and a half meter high ridge running though it diagonally from right to left.
Green 4 190m long. Sorry for the poor photo but will try to post a better one soon. There are no bunkers on this hole but the green is raised above the fairway and the green is split in two levels, left and right.
Green 5 120 m long with the green set into the hillside leaving a delicate chip if either long or short.
A view of Green 6 looking from green 5. The top level of green 6 is almost 4 meters (12ft) above the bunker
Green 6 is only 70m long but leaves a very tricky shot if played short and you don’t want to be long.
Now my wife and I are getting ready for the start of our own 9 hole project in Scotland which will be starting in the autumn.