I can't figure out what is going on here. Are Ben and Adrian in the same office, but having a design conference on this thread, or are you guys with two separate entities? In one day it has been decided to go from about 120 bunkers to 60 and possibly lop off 500 yards. The discussion here involves some detailed design and site specific issues yet it may not break ground until 2020 and it is up for sale. This has been a very strange thread or I am not being very attentive.
Kelly,
Adrian and I are miles away from each other – over 150 miles apart. I have been into Adrian’s office three times this year for a couple of days.
We are not having a design conference on this thread – it’s more like letting people know and sort of knowing what is going on with a golf course design/masterplan during the early stages of a project. We have been as open as possible.
It was already decided that it was to be around 6800 yards with around 40 bunkers to start off with and the course will evolve over time with additional tees and bunkers etc. The 7300 yard was the potential maximum yardage that we could achieve and also is has been a bit of a misnomer. Maybe it would have been a bit easier if I did not put the yardage card up
Also this was a task so that we can achieve the number of units required by the developer plus additional facilities to create a town which resembles a Scottish Golf town. I tried not to make the development enroach the golf course too much so therfore there is flexibility from both the golf course and the development rather than trying to squeeze eveything in.
The design has not been fixed. The front nine layout is more or less fixed and the back nine layout is still a work in progress Adrian and I have several different options. The priority in this drawing was the development side. It is early days – there is no detailed design work at all
this drawing was done by hand and over a CAD contour drawing done by someone else. This is more like a marketing image than the finished article.
The current market in Bulgaria/Eastern Europe for golf developments is dire. It is Adrian’s prediction that it will pick up by 2020 I think it will be sooner. It is handy to work on a design during the quiet times which will help us to prepare better when things start picking up again.
We are letting others know about this opportunity to create a real proper golf course that is fun to play on rather than a resort type course. This does not happen very often. Also very few people put early sketch proposals up on GCA.
Adrian has many advantages over me as he has been to the site many times, he has vast experience from a greenkeeping point of view and the commercial side of golf courses which I have learned from him. I have not been to the site so I am relying on images and contour plans so in some ways from the golf course perspective we are on a different wavelength. The priority at this stage is the development. If there is no development there is no golf course.
Cheers
Ben