Feature Interview with Chris Haspell from Castle Stuart

[Ran Morrissett]

For a change, golf architecture fans were treated well by televised events in 2013. Because of their ‘major’ implications, events broadcast from Ardmore, East Lothian, and Brookline head the list. However, for drama with wild swings of fortune, it was tough to beat the 2013 Scottish Open from Castle Stuart outside of Inverness Scotland. Phil Mickelson hit a series of world class shots on Sunday and famously won in a play-off. Much of Sunday’s round was televised stateside and I didn’t budge from the couch. The course was perfectly baked and in prime shape, leaving the golfers a plethora of options for tackling all of the design’s 1/2 par holes.
 
Having played there two months prior, I was especially keen to watch events unfold and Phil the Thrill didn’t disappoint. In many ways, the event reminded me of another personal favorite  – Coore & Crenshaw’s Plantation Course at Kapalua. Remember that epic Tiger/Els showdown in 2000?!    Again, there was a course with width and 1/2 par holes that brought out the best from the best. Much of the challenge lies in how the golfers will handle the terror of short grass because there are oceans of it on both courses. Of course, Castle Stuart enjoys the added benefit of being in a temperate climate whereby fescue grasses flourish. Both courses highlight the move away from the more one dimensional designs of 1950-1985. No wonder so many of us became interested in golf course architecture when we did!
 
While at Castle Stuart, I met Chris Haspell, Course Manager and fellow GCA.com’er. He has seen and been involved in many projects across Europe for 25 plus years and I prevailed upon him for a Feature Interview. After providing perspective on golf in Europe, we largely concentrate on the evolution and maturation of Castle Stuart in this month’s Feature Interview. As is always true for someone with a wide command of languages (Chris speaks four), his use of words is fascinating. I am telling you right here and now, I am going to steal his expression ‘... caught in the rumple.’ How perfect is that?!   Born near Delamere Forest in England, Chris’s first exposure to links golf was Hoylake and Wallasey. Not a bad start!

Chris Haspell to the right in the blue shirt and his two sons lower left.

 
Happily, Chris has been on board from the start at Castle Stuart in an example of the ‘right man at the right place at the right time.’ A course like Castle Stuart possesses heart and soul with something there for all players to enjoy, featuring both big (vast views) and small (intricate ground game options) components. Throw in the running, bouncy-bounce conditions courtesy of Chris and his greenkeeping staff that allow the design to shine and it’s no wonder Castle Stuart has been a darling of the GOLF World Top 100 rankings ever since opening.
 
Ironically, one reason that Castle Stuart stands out is that it was built for the right reason a.k.a. to provide enjoyment to the maximum number of people. It is tragic that this isn’t the mission statement of virtually any and all new courses but we all know that it isn’t. Castle Stuart differentiates itself from the pretenders though in the spectacular manner in which it delivers on this stated goal. Like the Old Course at St. Andrews, Royal Melbourne, and NGLA, you can hit lots and lots of fairways and greens and still not play to your handicap. The design coupled with the firm conditions that Chris & crew provide put a premium on finding the right spot in the fairways to attack the day’s hole location. Get slightly off to the side of a knob green like the third or on the wrong part of the convoluted thirteenth putting surface, and you can see 2 shots turn into 3 or 4. Yet, all the while, you can get clean contact on your ball with your club. To me, that epitomizes enjoyable golf. Chris goes on  to point out the desire to keep the rough wispy and that ‘We have never been Par precious and don’t intend to become so.’ It is such an enlightened approach by guys like Chris who truly get it. What a great shame   that Ballesteros never got to play here as he would have been dazzling to watch.

Managing Partner Mark Parsinen’s opening statements in the yardage book should be required reading for all. Chris drills down on these words from Mark: ‘Castle Stuart itself reflects an appreciation that the game of golf is more about error and recovery than it is about perfection. Its ethos is more about redemption than punishment.’ That philosophy is light years ahead of the guiding principles behind most modern courses. Few other developers get it though. Mark assembled a team including Chris because he knew they could deliver the goods. And so they did.
 
Chris provides a most insightful view into that story. Hope you enjoy it!

Best,

[David_Tepper]

Ran -

Thanks for the interview with Chris Haspell. I have met Chris and gotten to know some of the people involved with Castle Stuart. The success of the project does not surprise me at all.

DT

[Grant Saunders]

I had the pleasure of working with and learning from Chris. It was a fantastic experience and his knowledge and approach to turf management was very inspiring. He's also a top bloke and what we refer to in NZ as a "good bastard".

[Thomas Dai]

An excellent and informative interview. Really interesting.

I'm curious to know however, why CS is shut from late Nov to late March when, for example, the two other nearby major courses, Royal Dornoch and Nairn, plus all the other local lesser courses arn't?

As to playing CS, and having been and seen it with my own eyes I'd love to, and I know that multi-play deals and stay-n-play packages with other courses are available, but for a non-local at £175 in high season against Royal Dornochs £110 and even with the lesser green-fee of £130 in April/Oct (RD's equivalent is £100 and Nairns is £95/£75), well the difference in ££ will pay to play some of the other splendid courses nearby like Brora and Golspie and Tain and Fortrose & Rosemarkie and Nairn Dunbar so justifying a visitor game at CS becomes harder on the pocket. Several friends and I very much wanted to play CS last year but balked at the price and went to Royal Dornoch plus some of the others named instead.

I wish the CS venture all the best though and hope that one day such price variances will disappear, but until then, and given that CS don't even seem to hold amateur 'opens' in the way many other courses do (even Trump Aberdeen now does) the likelihood of me ever playing CS is extremely slim. A great shame coz it looks a cracker and the Moray Firth/Black Isle/Dornoch Firth area is a lovely part of the world and nicely accessible with Inverness Airport practically next door.

All the best.

[David_Tepper]

"I'm curious to know however, why CS is shut from late Nov to late March when, for example, the two other nearby major courses, Royal Dornoch and Nairn, plus all the other local lesser courses arn't?"

Thomas D. -

While I wouldn't presume to speak for Chris H. or the management of CS, it is logical to assume that CS, primarily being a resort/destination course with no resident/country membership (unlike Royal Dornoch and Nairn), would not receive enough visitor play during the winter months to justify the cost of operating the course.

With regards to the cost of the green fees, we are all fee to choose how we spend our money and what we feel offers appropriate value for money. A Swatch tells the same time as a Rolex, but Rolex sells plenty of watches.

It should be noted that CS does offer attractive green fee discounts for area residents and SGU/SRR members.

DT      

[Jon Wiggett]

Thomas,

like David says there is probably not enough GF traffic to justify being open through the winter as well as the fact that I dobt that the memberships of the courses you mention would be very amused if after having the significant compromise of so many GF players through the summer the course was then closed for the winter. From CS' point of view I think that having little to no traffic through the winter gives the course time to retain the condition rather than entering the spring having to recover. The people at CS have done an incredible job and as Ran says they have succeeded in the core aim of the project.

Chris is a very knowledgeable person and he is very generous with his advice. Thomas, the GF at CS is top end but they have been very open to the local golfer many of whom have played the course and I have yet to hear anything but praise for it. This includes the £200 4ball fee (£50 pp) and the open competition which is held at the end of the season costing £75 both of which are good value if you ask me.

Jon

[Thomas Dai]

I think it's terrific that significantly lower prices are available for locals, and don't get me wrong, I'd love to play Castle Stuart, and if I had a local postcode I'd certainly have done so already. But for a non-local resident visitor, and one who is not a member of a discount receiving golf-business organisation, at nearly £10 per hole, well that's pretty expensive golf in UK terms. Deep pockets time. Closed through the winter as less likelihood of visitors, recovery time, okay I can get that a bit, but others arn't. I have nothing against Castle Stuart at all, quite the opposite in fact, it's just that it's green-fee structure doesn't match my and my friends price point, and it's not the only course in that category either. Winning the lottery however, would change things totally, in which case CS would be one of several courses I'd immediately be heading for. In closing I would like to say that was very impressed with Chris's interview, thank you to him for undertaking it, and with the openness of his comments. I wish Castle Stuart every success.
All the best