Good article James...
I figured there might be some crossover in England but I knew that in Ireland, no golf courses are deemed special areas of conservation... For clubs who want to develop their existing land, this leaves less of a problem with planning... Whether it is the right thing to do from an environmental point of view is a separate issue...
Do you know of any existing clubs in England that have been refused permitting for renovations / redesigns because the site is registered as an SSSI?... As the article states, the SSSI designation was often given because the area was a golf course...
At The World Forum, Paul O'Brien stood up and suggested that we lobby for The Old Course to be designated a World Heritage Site to stop any further development...
Ally,
I'm not aware of any courses being prevented from developing. In fact I know Burnham to be a SSSI and as Sean has mentioned we have recently had several new tees and bunkers added as well as a large reservoir. I think Natural England are a lot more open to these developments these days, but maybe they stood in the way of them in the past???
Sean and Adrian,
Thinking it over a bit more, the flatter holes still have the larger dunes as a backdrop, which is very pleasant, so no need to go running every hole through the dunes themselves. The one change I'd make at Burnham would be to cut the 7th fairway further to the left (not quite a makeover in the spirit of this thread, but an improvement none the less). This would hopefully make the central spine more of a key feature of the hole?
And Adrian, you should join us in September to see some of the changes that Sean mentions.
Cheers,
James
Boony
It would seem make over means some tweaking. Since Burnham is the course I play most here is what I would like to see happen.
#2: create tee further left on top of dune
#3: Use lower left section of daily tee on #17 as championship tee
#4: build a large, blind bunker to the right of fairway; extend fairway further right at about 220 out up to where the ground rises suddenly around 260 out (I am sick of looking for balls over there - smae goes for next suggestion); widen fairway left for second shot - near the 100-75 yard area
#6: build new tee right of the right tee - sort of behind the fifth green
#7: create fairway between bunker and oob (as you suggest); fairway cut to the water on right then again about 50 yards short and up to the green (I want to know if the ball is in the hazard or not plus the rough saves balls in the winter); tear out shrubbery behind green; sand cap right side of fairway to water; eliminate rough patch in fairway
#8: fairway left of new bunkers; create a proper fairway right of the water; sand cap right side of fairway to the water and up to the bridge; eliminate rough patches in fairway by extending dune line from left with sand capped fairway
#10: bunker on left maybe 40 yards short of #11 tee; fairway cut much further left over the hill; move green just in front and right of the right tee for #11
#12: create tee for par 3 as originally intended (perhaps used mainly in nthe winter)
#13: abandon new tee in favour of old tee - maybe create another tee left
#14: smooth out hollows right of the green
#16: create one large fairway with #3; build new tee on end of dune where current tee exists - maybe 25 yards forward and further right (makes the green drivable for more moderate hitters, but one must go over all the trouble and the green isn't receptive from this angle); sand cap fairway from about 125 out from the green
#18: take out left greenside bunkers (let balls kick left into trouble)
Ciao