Transcendent TREVOSE GC

[Sean_A]

Many years after completing a lengthy, but successful search for the Holy Well near Constantine Church, Penrose Williams bought the land on which Trevose GC now sits. Dr Williams then called upon Harry Colt to build a course which opened in 1925.  Next to step into the picture was John C Gammon, founder of Gammon Construction in India.  Many branches of the company throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa were eventually formed.  Mr Gammon had a holiday cottage near Trevose and eventually the club in 1936.  Through time and circumstance, John Gammon would in 1955 become the sole owner of the Trevose property.  The club has been in family hands ever since and the development of the property into a premier golf holiday resort is largely due to the efforts of later generations.  The aspect of Trevose which sets it apart from other UK golf resorts is the emphasis on family.  There is a plethora of activities and sports for children to enjoy which in my experience is not equalled anywhere else in the UK.  To top it off, the location above Booby’s Bay with its fine beach is heavenly. 

In the past few years the club embarked on a 6 Year Plan to enhance the course and to that end MacKenzie & Ebert were appointed.  To date, some of the planned work has been completed and very well done.  The 4th & 13th were rebuilt. The 4th in particular now takes much greater advantage of its famous setting on Booby’s Bay. The green must be at least 5 feet higher and much more aggressively contoured than previously. The 13th green was moved further down the hill and is now a tough to hit in two par 5.  The green complexes for 2 & 9 were altered and now feature more contoured tie-ins to the greens.  The 10th was extended to make it a three-shot hole.  While these changes are major, the aspect most golfers will notice is the completely new bunker scheme for all these holes as well as 1 & 18.  The frilly style so much in vogue these days is employed. However, far more important than the style of the bunkers is their placement.  The placement of the bunkers has tightened drive lines and created options for tee shots. So far so good!

With all the changes afoot, one thing cannot be changed...the road.  We play over a small lane off the first and coming home on the excellent 18th.  Two other features were left in tact, the fronting mound and tamarisk hedge.  There is little doubt these elements are at odds with the new bunker style, but there is a certain logic to their retention.  I like the mounding, but think if it were shaved it would be more interesting.  I can't say as much for the tamarisk hedge behind the green.  Few hedges remain today, but in days gone by these were serious hazards and far more prevalent. 






The 2nd is a fairly short par 4, but the approach can be tricky in keen conditions.




The short third.  This is a fine hole visually compromised by the cart path.   


More to follow.

Ciao

[Ryan Coles]

Sean


Has the quality of the greens improved in terms of smoothness and trueness?


On my visits they've often been poor.

[Ben Lovett]

I don't believe they have touched 10 green, it has always been fantastically contoured

[David_Tepper]

Sean -

I am looking forward to the balance of your tour. I played Trevose in 2002 and was underwhelmed. But that could be because I had played St. Endoc the day before.

DT

[Sean_A]

Ryan

I would say the greens were adequate...nothing special in terms of conditioning. 

David

I too have been underwhelmed in previous visits to Trevose, though I never thought the course was less than good.  For sure what is happening now is a great improvement.

TREVOSE TOUR CONT

If there is a signature hole at Trevose the 4th is it.  This par 5 is quite short at 465 yards from the daily tee, but the bunkers are very well placed.  In fact, much of the new fairway bunkering is aimed at the 225ish carry from the daily tees and are very engaging for players of my ability.  If you can carry the diagonal bunkers with a hard draw you are laughing, however, for most they will end up on the right side of the fairway with an obscured shot and less than ideal angle. 


If one chooses to layup for the second this is a good position.


The green is fairly severe, though not overly so given the short yardage.




The wonderful opening sequence of holes continues on the 5th, a bunkerless bruiser legging left to a severely raised green.


The 6th strikes me as quite contrived due to the standard right/left bunkering and mounding. That said, most folks fail to mention the terrific terrain of Trevose.  Many fairways roll over humpty bumpty ground as seen below.


More to follow.

Ciao

[Thomas Dai]

I like the sound of the modifications and the look of the new bunkering but would be interested to hear from someone in the busines about the long term bunkering maintenance, especially the squiggle-like top edges.
Played Trevose a few times not long after the Brabazon Trophy was held there a few years ago, for which I believe they'd upgraded the course a bit, and liked it then, although being somewhat resorty the rough was cut back and wide. A return visit would seem in order.
Atb

[Sean_A]

TREVOSE TOUR CONT

The 7th seems to have been altered somewhat, but perhaps I am mistaken.  I have no memory of high ground to the left and I thought the green had a hump on the a left.  I don't even remember the water down the left! For sure the cart path mucks up the scene somewhat.


The short 8th too is a bit of a visual mess, but it is a good hole.  The 9th feels like it is taking us somewhere with its steep uphill approach.  The green surrounds are more pronounced than before and the front bunkering will save a near perfect shot from rolling back to the base of the rise.  My eye is diverted to the tamarisk hedge on the right rather than the task at hand.  I wonder if that hedge shouldn't be removed and more fairway created up the right.  This would offer a safe tee shot, but leave a very difficult 2nd.


The approach.


The par 5 tenth runs back down the hill.  I like the lack of definition on this hole, though many will err left to stay well clear of the ditch running down the right. There is talk of trying to acquire more land near the headland in the background to make the 9 hole course an 18 holer.


A good lay-up spot is in the rough. I am very surprised not to see fairway pushed well wide of the bunker.


The halfway house is very welcoming and well done.


More to follow.

Ciao

[Ally Mcintosh]

This course looks a lot better from photos than I was led to believe.


The bunkers look really nicely shaped although I wish they'd varied the size and frilliness a little more.

[Sean_A]

Ally

Trevose is a good course, made better by the changes I think.  However, most will compare it to nearby St Enodoc and Trevose comes out well on the short end head to head. 

TREVOSE TOUR CONT

It would seem the current owners dug in and decided the 11th is a keeper, but the green is far larger and tiered to cope with the slope. There was talk of moving the green well left to a natural greensite.  I am not convinced this would have been money well spent as the current hole is very good.  If anything, I would probably remove the left hand bunkers and go with only one on the right or none at all.


From the valley floor it looks as if the front of the green was recently raised.  I don't think Colt would have created such an abrupt lip. Maybe increased green speeds are the reason for the alteration.


One of my favourite holes, with a clear view to the green, one must fight the temptation to cheat left on the dogleg 12th.


The hole is deceptively uphill.


On to the new three-shot 13th.  The fairway was pushed away from the public path on the left and the green rebuilt further down the hill.  I am not convinced the shape of the hole quite works as it is difficult to hold the fairway after a straight drive.  One must hit a draw to hold the fairway and offer an up the gut approach.  Otherwise, curiously, the golfer ends up hitting toward the public path on the second.  Other than this hiccup of potential danger, the bunkering and green site pair together very well.


A closer look at the green.




More to follow.

Ciao

[Thomas Dai]

Nice to see the beefed-up par-5 13th. It was a weak hole before.
Would seem from the photos that off the fairway is in its shorter 'resort' mode rather than the lengthier 'event mode.

Interesting comment in comparison to much-loved-by-some St Enodoc. I'd be curious to hear what others reckon in this regard once this photo-tour is fully completed.
Atb

[Sean_A]

ATB

There are tees now which stretch the course over 7000 yards.  I didn't look at the back tees for 13, but they are maybe 500 yards...the champ tees should really be the medal tees as a par 4.  My shot in on 13 was about 230 yards....not much chance of pulling off the carry of the right bunkers and holding the green. 

Ciao 

[Thomas Dai]

As you know Sean I don't give it much of a bash but even I found the previous version of the 13th played short so your point about par-4/par-5 and carry-in is very valid. Some other holes play the opposite though, like the 5th. I believe an overall yardage extension was done for the Brabazon a few years ago. Seems like some more has been added since.
Atb

[Ben Lovett]

7 hasn't been changed yet although I believe some work was done creating the blow out bunker on the left several years ago.
An interesting change would be moving 6 green to the right closer to an existing "burn" which would create more space for 12 tees and 11 green and improving the flow to 7 tees

[Sean_A]

Ben

Is that land right of 6 green a bit lower and perhaps susceptible to the wet?

TREVOSE TOUR CONT

Because the 13th green was moved, so too were the tees for 14.  The hole was always a bit awkward, but now it is very much so. The hole doglegs severely around maintenance sheds creating quite a dangerous situation.  Many flat bellies must be tempted to have a go at the green by playing over the maintenance area.  There are plans to move the fairway further right.  This will resolve the safety issues, but the hole would be far from ideal because of the sharp dogleg.  In fact, there are plans to tackle 14-16 this coming year. Perhaps the 15th is a bit too similar to #12.  Hopefully, the club will consider centreline bunkers as a way to separate the two holes, but I don't think there needs to be major tinkering.  Below is the tee shot for 15.
 

The last par 3 is a bit unusual for Colt....maybe he didn't design it?  Colt being adverse to blindness, it is curious the berm blocking the view of the green wasn't removed (there are plans to smooth out the berm).  That said, if Colt did design this hole, I think it is imperative to retain the blindness.  Instead of two bunkers fronting the berm I would replace them with one horrible looking bunker.  There is something to be said for the odd forward bunker which less talented players must cope with.  Where is it written that 25 cappers don't want the opportunity of a thrilling shot?  There are also two mounds front/left of the green; it would be far better if these were shaved.
 

The two home holes are very good.  There is spare room left over the wee rise to play away from the sand.
 

The green is sensibly large to accommodate the forced aerial approach over water.
 

The 18th had the bunker treatment, but the menacing road remains!  This is perhaps the best hole on the course with it's excellent interplay between slope and bunkers.
 

 

With the full understanding that much more work is to come, I am impressed with Trevose.  While I wish the new bunkers were more varied in size, they are an immense improvement to the strategies of the holes.  Once 14-16 are sorted, the course will be well and truly over the hump.  It is easy to dismiss Trevose because the extraordinary St Enodoc is so near, but that would be a mistake.  The two courses are night and day with St Enodoc being a patchwork of thrill rides and Trevose much more steady and playable.  It is also easy to overlook the lovely terrain and quiet beauty of the setting; in truth, few courses can match Trevose in this regard.  Trevose hits a lot of high notes while retaining a customer friendly atmosphere.  I look forward to a return visit to see what changes come next.  2017

Ciao

[Richard Fisher]

Sean
Thanks for another terrific tour (and I'm enjoying Bude very much too). I haven't been to Trevose (or St Enedoc) for well over a decade, and would certainly have been of the opinion that if glorious St Enedoc was right up in the UK Top Fifty, Trevose was more modestly in the UK Top Two Hundred. Clearly I need to go back now. As you say, a defiantly 'family facility' is clearly doing something very right in the current challenging climate for golf.

As an aside, it's interesting how in recent years St Enedoc seems to have become the North Berwick WL of England, the non-championship course south of the border most beloved of most GCA adherents (with the possible exceptions  of Rye and, arguably, Pennard). As clubs, St Enedoc and Rye have of course a lot more in common than either does with the altogether less pukka Pennard!

[Adrian_Stiff]

Still can't see anything much in Trevose. The bunkers are an improvement, but the background canvas is still unmemorable. It would not make my top 50 in the South West if it never had the 4th.

[Thomas Dai]

Thanks for the tour Sean.
Trevose seems to be seen as the ugly sister to photogenic St Enodoc but imo, and each to their own, it's actually rather nice in it's own rather gentler way. Certainly worth making the effort to play, even more so now with the revisions you've highlighted, and a particularly fine place to stay/play during the off-season.
Being resorty perhaps the usual set-up is a little softer than GCA regulars might appreciate or prefer.
But you're right, when in the area play both St E and Trevose....plus Perranporth as well....and moorland Yelverton on the way down/back is also worth playing. In fact a trip into deepest darkest Devon/Cornwall if carefully planned can include some rather fine golf with links, moorland, and clifftop all available.
atb

[Sean_A]

Richard

I would give Trevose a few more years, but even now I think it is comfortably top 75 in England and arguably top 50 England/top 100 GB&I.

Ciao

[Ally Mcintosh]

Played Trevose for the first time yesterday evening and it exceeded my expectations.


It is a very classy links, elegant hole after elegant hole, something you now expect with Harry Colt.


I’ve been somewhat critical on here previously about all the links work being undertaken - sometimes unnecessarily in my opinion - by the same firm. But here at Trevose, I am absolutely sure that the work has improved the course greatly (remembering I never saw the course previously). It has been implemented very skilfully. Only negative I could find would be the uniform size of the bunkers but that is nit-picking.


Was this a Tom MacKenzie job? I suspect it was Tom rather than Martin. The love of approach bunkers shines through.


Excellent set of greens by the way, old and new.

[David McIntosh]

Ally,

Glad to hear your positive review of Trevose.

From what I've read elsewhere, MacKenzie & Ebert's work to date appears to have been well received and, as you say, an improvement on what was there. I've never had the impression that there was an abundance of warmth for the course (which is a little surprising given its Colt heritage, terrain and setting) and assumed that's because it is naturally measured against nearby St Enodoc. Alternatively, maybe there is a simpler explanation and people just didn't think it was that good of a course.

M&E's website states that their work will complete in 2019. I'm heading down that way in October and assume they'll be finished by that point so will be good to see the end result.

[Thomas Dai]

Nice to read these positive comments. Sounds like I need a return visit.
Atb


Later edit - a photo from quite a long time ago

[Sean_A]

Played Trevose for the first time yesterday evening and it exceeded my expectations.

It is a very classy links, elegant hole after elegant hole, something you now expect with Harry Colt.

I’ve been somewhat critical on here previously about all the links work being undertaken - sometimes unnecessarily in my opinion - by the same firm. But here at Trevose, I am absolutely sure that the work has improved the course greatly (remembering I never saw the course previously). It has been implemented very skilfully. Only negative I could find would be the uniform size of the bunkers but that is nit-picking.

Was this a Tom MacKenzie job? I suspect it was Tom rather than Martin. The love of approach bunkers shines through.

Excellent set of greens by the way, old and new.

Ally

Agreed, the bunker work is very well done. 

Do you have an explanation as for why there is very little size variety with the bunkers?  I played Whittington Heath last week and the same issue crops up there.

Ciao