Tom Doak "Retained to Rework" Pennard (Wales) and Woodhall Spa (England)

[Benjamin Litman]

My first golf trip abroad, in 2009, began in Wales with a wonderful pas de deux at Royal Porthcawl and Pennard. So memorable was my experience that my Pennard ball marker--with the white-and-green Welsh flag and its red dragon on one side, and a silhouette of the Pennard castle ruins against a black background on the other--has been with me for every single round of golf I have played in the years since.


So, when I see the course mentioned, I perk up. Several minutes ago, Ron Whitten tweeted the news that Tom "has been retained to rework" both Pennard and England's Woodhall Spa, which I unfortunately did not get to on that trip. Congratulations are certainly in order, as both are among the most beloved courses in the United Kingdom.


Perhaps this is "old" news, as I see that our own Adam Lawrence already wrote and posted an article about Tom's Pennard appointment on the Golf Course Architecture website in late November: http://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/content/pennard-appoints-tom-doak-to-consult-on-bunker-rebuilding-work. But I do not recall it having previously been mentioned here, at least officially (Tom did allude in a January 18 post to having "spent the day consulting at Pennard").


Two days ago, Golf Course Architecture posted a separate article about Tom's appointment at Woodhall Spa: http://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/content/tom-doak-to-advise-on-national-golf-centre-development-plan. The England Golf website also has an article from the weekend: http://www.englandgolf.org/news.aspx?itemid=8727&itemTitle=Top+golf+architect+Tom+Doak+appointed+by+National+Golf+Centre&sitesectionid=38&sitesectiontitle=News


Hopefully Tom or others will provide additional details soon.


P.S. For those unfamiliar with Pennard, see Sean Arble's excellent "In My Opinion" piece on the course here: http://golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/pennard-golf-club/.

[Tom_Doak]

Benjamin:


Yes, I just returned from a week in the U.K., making my first visits to Pennard and Woodhall Spa and also interviewing at another course.


I decided last year that since I was planning to spend a lot of time in Europe the next two years for The Confidential Guide, and since I now have two young associates based in Europe -- Clyde Johnson in the UK, and Angela Moser in Germany -- that I ought to take up a few consulting assignments there instead of passing on them.  And it just so happened that two of my favorite courses in the UK were looking for a consultant!


Pennard is embarking on the reconstruction of all its revetted bunkers with a synthetic material, and we will try to help them get the artwork right.  Eventually, there are a couple of greens that will need some work [they're so steep there are barely any hole locations], and some safety issues to sort out with all the walking paths that traverse the course.


Woodhall Spa is trying to re-establish more of the heathland feel it's always had, and to sort out how to reconstruct and maintain some of those very steep bunker faces they've got.  We also identified that they've lost good hole locations on many of the greens through years of shrinkage, so they will start this winter to mow the greens back out to the edges of slopes, and closer to the green side bunkers.


I found out last week that it is not very convenient to get from one course to the other so maybe we can find a couple of other clients in between.  Clyde and I did stop in at Cleeve Cloud briefly before dark on our way across England, and though it was mostly covered by frost, it was certainly an eye-opener!  I'll leave more time to play my next trip through.


P.S.  We've also signed up one other new consulting client, in the other direction from home:  Bel Air, in Los Angeles.

[Joe_Tucholski]

How many people are torn in their feelings about work being done at places like Pennard?  When mention of safety I immediately wonder if holes 3/4 are on the chopping block.  I understand why safety concerns need to be addressed if there is increased play, which is a good thing for revenue but a bad thing for the feel of the course.

[Tom_Doak]

How many people are torn in their feelings about work being done at places like Pennard?  When mention of safety I immediately wonder if holes 3/4 are on the chopping block.  I understand why safety concerns need to be addressed if there is increased play, which is a good thing for revenue but a bad thing for the feel of the course.

Joe:


Holes 3 and 4 are not "on the chopping block" although they just did a bit of work on #4 before I got involved, to make the walkers more visible. 


Every course does some "work" at some point, whether it's just rebuilding existing features or making changes.  Between when I first saw Pennard in 1982 and today, they've rebuilt both the 4th and 5th greens away from the property boundary, changed the 16th green, and taken out a dune in front of the 13th green and the two greenside bunkers there.


A lot of times, I'm involved in advising clubs NOT to do that sort of work before they've thought it all through.  If we do change things around, it will be on us to keep the work in the same rugged spirit as the rest of the course, of which I am very fond.

[Sean_A]

I fear for Pennard's 16th green    I can't think of any other greens which are remotely troublesome for slope because the greens don't get quick.


Tom - I still think you should get involved in building a wee par 3 course on the land beyond 1 & 2. 


Ciao

[Bill_McBride]

Pennard #4 is a very confusing hole to me even after three rounds there.  Never did get a handle on the best line for either of the first two shots on that par 5.   I thought #3 was a pretty straight forward, very solid par 4. 


If I understand correctly, there's a new green on 2.  Could someone describe it?  It was one of the smallest greens I've seen.

[Joel_Stewart]

P.S.  We've also signed up one other new consulting client, in the other direction from home:  Bel Air, in Los Angeles.

I don't want to high-jack this thread and didn't want to start a new one until I knew the Bel Air news was out in the open.  Can you comment on what work you will be doing and specifically the 7th green and cement ponds on 8?

[Sean_A]

Pennard #4 is a very confusing hole to me even after three rounds there.  Never did get a handle on the best line for either of the first two shots on that par 5.   I thought #3 was a pretty straight forward, very solid par 4. 


If I understand correctly, there's a new green on 2.  Could someone describe it?  It was one of the smallest greens I've seen.

Ace

Sounds like user error....there is an aiming pole in the middle of the 4th fairway  ...and the shot isn't even blind      You aren't long enough to reach trouble on that line so your play should have been obvious...no?  I can understand the confusion for the second...its blind most of the time. 


Ciao

[Mark Bourgeois]

Bel-Air verrrrry interesting. I thought Fazio was entrenched there. Sounds like more than consulting - Tom what have they asked you to do?

[Tom_Doak]

Bel-Air verrrrry interesting. I thought Fazio was entrenched there. Sounds like more than consulting - Tom what have they asked you to do?

When Volume 2 of The Confidential Guide was released, I did an interview [perhaps the very one on this forum, I'm not sure] where someone asked me what course I'd most like to restore, and I volunteered Bel Air.


As it turned out, there are several members of Bel Air whom I know, who saw that, and so I was asked to come and explain myself.


We are just starting the process, so it's too early to say exactly what we will and won't do there.  Not much will happen until after they host the U.S. Amateur stroke play rounds alongside Riviera, in the summer of 2017.  However, I've told them that my basic philosophy about the course will be to restore every feature back to the way it was in Thomas' day, unless there is a specific reason not to do something in particular.

[Tom_Doak]

I fear for Pennard's 16th green    I can't think of any other greens which are remotely troublesome for slope because the greens don't get quick.

Tom - I still think you should get involved in building a wee par 3 course on the land beyond 1 & 2. 

Sean:  Yes, the 16th is one of them.  The 11th is the other ... it would have to be pretty slow to use the back half of it, although I guess not many people hit past the hole off the tee.


I don't know when you were last there, but last year the club tried to mow out a nine-hole par-3 course on the land beyond #1 and #2, and working out around #3 also.  It's beautiful land.  But so far they haven't put any work into trying to get the kids in the neighborhood to use it, so when I was there it was being used as a lovely dog park.

[Bill_McBride]

Pennard #4 is a very confusing hole to me even after three rounds there.  Never did get a handle on the best line for either of the first two shots on that par 5.   I thought #3 was a pretty straight forward, very solid par 4. 


If I understand correctly, there's a new green on 2.  Could someone describe it?  It was one of the smallest greens I've seen.

Ace

Sounds like user error....there is an aiming pole in the middle of the 4th fairway  ...and the shot isn't even blind      You aren't long enough to reach trouble on that line so your play should have been obvious...no?  I can understand the confusion for the second...its blind most of the time. 


Ciao

"User error" is not usual for me as you know!   Now that I think about it, doesn't the pole start one off pretty far right?   It's been a few years...

[Thomas Dai]

Clyde and I did stop in at Cleeve Cloud briefly before dark on our way across England, and though it was mostly covered by frost, it was certainly an eye-opener!

Tom,


You guys did well to even find Cleeve Cloud given the fog!


I'd be interested to hear more about the synthetic bunker revetting material. I believe it's being promoted by a South Wales company and that Southerndown have already used it. What are your initial thoughts?


atb

[Sean_A]

I fear for Pennard's 16th green    I can't think of any other greens which are remotely troublesome for slope because the greens don't get quick.

Tom - I still think you should get involved in building a wee par 3 course on the land beyond 1 & 2. 

Sean:  Yes, the 16th is one of them.  The 11th is the other ... it would have to be pretty slow to use the back half of it, although I guess not many people hit past the hole off the tee.


I don't know when you were last there, but last year the club tried to mow out a nine-hole par-3 course on the land beyond #1 and #2, and working out around #3 also.  It's beautiful land.  But so far they haven't put any work into trying to get the kids in the neighborhood to use it, so when I was there it was being used as a lovely dog park.

Tom


I always thought it a good idea to lessen the grade behind the 11th green as the green was carved out of the bank somewhat crudely...this would help make the rear of the green more usable for hole locations.  Its very narrow green and balls do get hung up on the rear bank a little too often. The 11th is one of the few longer par 3s I hope to play into the wind simply to get the ball to hold. That said I would be very hesitant to alter the green surface because now it is the toughest green to read...befuddling at times.


Ace


Yes, the pole on 4th is right...right in the middle of the fairway.  The dangerous aspect of the hole is the path hard on the OOB line down the middle of the fairway.  So many people hit out to the left rough (especially if the hole is downwind) toward the 9th tee and the same footpath that hugs the OOB line. I suspect the club would like to do something more because of aspect of having to wait for pedestrians than safety...in summer it can be maddening when walkers don't pay any attention to golfers, but walkers have right of way.


I think the path down th left of 9 is more dangerous than on 4.  The visibility on 4 is better so its easy to know when not to hit.  On 9 people are walking uphill and seem to appear from nowhere.  There are bunkers on that side to help with safety, but as the fairway lunges right, many people aim up the left side and go a little too far left, thus endangering the path.  I think the best way to solve the problem is to widen the fairway a ton on the right.  There is plenty of space.  Sure, it lessens the quality of the hole some, but in truth now it is a little harsh in the summer because holding the fairway is near impossible...creating a situation where people play further left than they want to.  Besides, its still a very challenging shot from the far right even if one has a good lie 


Ciao

[Ben Lovett]

Thomas on the subject of the synthetic bunker revetting They've done one bunker on the 9th at St Enodoch and I'm undecided whether I like it or not. I can see the benefits of not having to redo it after several years.
 And although it has a build up of algae it still stands out

[Adam Lawrence]

Clyde and I did stop in at Cleeve Cloud briefly before dark on our way across England, and though it was mostly covered by frost, it was certainly an eye-opener!

Tom,


You guys did well to even find Cleeve Cloud given the fog!


I'd be interested to hear more about the synthetic bunker revetting material. I believe it's being promoted by a South Wales company and that Southerndown have already used it. What are your initial thoughts?


atb

I've seen Ecobunker in a number of locations and Rich Allen, the founder and inventor I count as a friend. It uses old astroturf instead of real turf for revetting. Very simple in concept, quite clever. It looks good, but obviously _very_ clean edged. If you're the sort of greenkeeper who likes absolutely perfect revet you will probably like it. If you like your courses a bit rougher round the edges, it might not suit quite so well.

[Eric Smith]

Some photos of the bunker work being mentioned at Pennard, via the PGC Facebook page:


Hole 5:

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Hmmm.


My first impression of this new bunker is too big and modern looking and not an improvement visually of the original traditional two.


Is there an explanation??

[Adrian_Stiff]

I think the synthetic revetting just looks too thin. You kinda need the turf to 2" thick and the astro turf is 3/4". But I suppose that's not really a sensible reason why not to like it.

[Niall C]

John


No doubt Tom will speak for himself if this is his handy work but I like the fact that the new single bunker may or may not offer the opportunity to play more than just a splash out type of shot, even if it is with the loss of some nice contouring around existing bunkers.


Niall

[Niall C]

How long does the ecobunker last for and is it completely maintenance free ?


Niall

[Thomas Dai]

.......[size=78%]_very_ clean edged. If you're the sort of greenkeeper who likes absolutely perfect revet you will probably like it. If you like your courses a bit rougher round the edges, it might not suit quite so well.[/size]

Be interesting to see how things develop given that some folk expect, even like, courses such as Pennard to be a bit rough around the edges and that the essential 'roughness' of the course, 'character' some might call it, is one of the reasons for visiting.


Atb

[Clyde Johnson]

The suggestion for altering the 5^th bunker was mine. Even though Tom hadn’t had the opportunity to visit until last week, Pennard have been keen to push-on with things. Those two pots were very penal – both walking into them, and playing out. It seemed that extending the rear bunker a touch closer towards the tee, while also tapering it out slightly, with the remainder filled as a shallow hollow would help.  That the green complex wasn’t original made the recommendation easier.

Apart from two days that I spent trying to get to grips with the ‘ecobunker’ at the start of the process back in October, neither of us have been on site to guide the details. These bunkers have lifespan of 20 years plus (no one really knows yet, of course)...bringing the cost savings, but locks things in from an artistic perspective! They plan on spreading the bunker work out of three years, tackling the most problematic ones this winter.

If the anticipated economics ring true, I wouldn’t be surprised to see quite a few more courses in the UK follow suit!

[Mark_Fine]

I love those two courses and I hope the trend is not away from the pot/gathering style bunkers 

[David_Tepper]

Ecobunker video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtaNac_yyXI

Ecobunker at Southerdown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiYWT6UWJZU