Last week I visited the Players Club and met up with Adrian Stiff co-owner, golfer, greenkeeper, golf course designer, businessman and boxing ringmaster extraordinaire!, the list is endless! - to discuss GCA in general and also a tour of the Players Club Cossington course and a sneak preview of the new Stranahan course – Adi’s new project – which is planned to open in April 2010. Again thanks Adi for a wonderful tour of the Player’s complex!.
The new Stranahan course is built on 50 acres of land plus some land from the existing Cossington course – I have added some photos – not enough as I was too busy listening to Adi’s views and Ideas of the course. I have suggested that a small band of members of GCA will visit the course as soon as it opens.
It will be around 5500 yards but there are plans to try and acquire further land to build 2 or 3 new holes to increase the course’s length in the future.
Hole 1 – Short Par 3 from the existing championship tees of the current 1st hole on Cossington course.
Hole 1 view from proposed tee
Hole 1 side view
Hole 2 – Short par 4 Painswick like hole which will cross over the 17 hole (Old 2nd hole on Cossington course
Hole 2 view from proposed tee – new green is obscured by stand alone tree
Hole 2 a closer view of green from tee
Hole 3 – uphill medium par 4 with rumpled fairways created out of landfill giving the new part of the course an undulating linksy feel
Hole 3 view from tee
Hole 3 view to front of green
Hole 4 – short downhill par 5
Hole 4 view from tee – green is left of the trees in background – Hole 14 is on the right whose green is centre of the trees in the background – the flag is just visible
Hole 4 closer view to green with newly planted trees in the background an attempt to shield the view of the 16th green on the Cossington course
Hole 5 – dogleg right par 4 whose green was influenced by the first green at Carnoustie.
Hole 6 – short par 3 with a large undulating green reminiscent of CBM/Raynor Short Holes.
Hole 7 – short par 5 with tiny green.
Hole 8 – short par 4 just over 255 yards with a tight fairway a promising and exciting short par 4.
Hole 9 – medium par 4 with hedge all the way down the left hand side.
Hole 10 – medium par 4 with a large green with the back right area of the green undulating for additional pin positions of difficulty.
Hole 11 – short par 3 with small water hazard or marshy area at front.
Hole 12 – Adrian’s version of the Sea Headrig hole at Prestwick – this could be the best hole on the course or the whole complex!.
Hole 13 – Long par 4 slight dogleg right
Hole 13 view from rear of the green.
Hole 14 – medium par 4 parallel to Hole 4.
Hole 15 – tree lined short medium par 3.
Hole 16 – medium par 3.
Hole 17 – Old 2nd hole on Cossington course – being split into 2 different greens rather than a boomerang green there is a dip in the middle I suggested that could be a large green with a dip like the 16th green at North Berwick.
Hole 18 – medium par 3 – the current water hazard is planned to be filled in to make the hole easier for the average player
Hole 18 rear view of green – split level sideways – like the 16th green at the Belfry Brabazon
Having toured the 2 courses at the Players Club – I would play the Cossington (over 7000 yards from the back tees) in competition but would rather play on the Stranahan most of the time as its will be more fun and quirky to play on – I look forward to the course being open for play and future improvements to it by Adi. The only concern for the Stranahan course is that the tees and greens are very close together – its tight but should be ok if common sense prevails. I have seen other courses where it is very tight in the areas between greens and tees as well as crossovers that work well.
I admit that i am not a fan of opening par 3 hole or even a closing par 3 hole but it would be interesting to see how this will work here.
Well done Adi for the hard work, effort and the passion put into creating a very interesting golf course which has lots of future potential.