Southfield's Oxford - The've lost the plot

[Richard Muldoon]

I was having a drink with my former boss who is a member at Southfield's (Now called Oxford Golf Course) and he told me the disturbing news about a change that is going to be made to the 18th.
Apparently a member has bequeathed the club some money and it has been decided to build a pond in front of the par 5 18th.  This pond will also be 3 different levels so in effect there will be 'miniture waterfalls'.
Didn't know Trump was a member there.
Although not one of the stronger holes on the course this will take out the risk/reward of the 2nd shot for all but the longest hitters.
Unfortunately it seems this work is imminent and will be in place by April.
I can't find anything on there website to confirm this but I can't see any reason for my old boss to make this up.
Harry Colt must be turning in his grave.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Oh dear!

[Adam Lawrence]

I heard about that too. It's insane. I'm relieved I didn't continue my membership there. Sadly I think it is in terminal decline. There is no club atmosphere, they are cutting membership deals that make very little sense in my eyes, and sooner or later I fear the city council will zone at least part of the property for housing.

[Kris Shreiner]

Sounds ghastly!? They should call in the Donald to consult...Trump Course Design could have a hand in delivering the greatest cascading pond ever created for a golf course property. In a way it might work. Build it deep enough and you could have a classy diving board featured, with a flagstone patio for the membership so they could sit by, sunbathe and have tea. They'd be right on the pulse of what I read constantly coming from the industry press regarding clubs..."They need to appeal to the family lifestyle." Bring it on I say.

Cheers,
Kris

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I feel very strongly about this. I played at Southfield a lot as an undergraduate more than 40 years ago. It was very unsophisticated, but it was a good layout on an interesting site. There was something rough and ready about it, unkempt hedges here and there, lots of mud in winter, and the surroundings were Cowley Road rather than The High. But Colt had made brilliant use of the terrain. He didn't need to trick it up. It looked right in its surroundings. Just look at the place. This is working class Oxford, not some gated private estate of condos in Florida or the Algarve. How out of place such an eyesore will be! Surely the Colt fraternity need look no further than the daft pond introduced at Camberley Heath to point up the stupidity of this folly.

[Adam Lawrence]

It is _far_ from working class now, Mark. Houses in Divinity Road fetch six or seven hundred thousand.

[Tony_Muldoon]

For pictures of the course.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,43021.0.html 


Sadly predictable.


St Georges Hill are adding tees, I think it's being done in house.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Adam,

Divinity Road was a sort of middle class outpost in working class Cowley Road in my day. I'm not going to debate the current situation because I am no longer an undergraduate there - by many years! But there is probably some sort of correlation between situation and expectation. You simply couldn't countenance a Trumpish waterfall at Silloth or Seaton Carew, great courses in average surroundings.

[Paul_Turner]

Do we know exactly where this dumb pond is going.  Taking out the bunkers? See Sean's pic:

[Philippe Binette]

It's crazy to see how much money is spent POINTLESSLY on golf courses...

and

it's crazy to see how people simply don't get it...

would you built a grass field in the middle of niagara falls ?

[Scott Warren]

Perhaps they are taking inspiration from Druids Glen.

[Paul_Turner]

Imagine what the club could do with this money rather than build this triple deck pond....plenty of interesting features at Southfield that could be restored:  center line bunkers to liven up the par 5s, recapturing the original green sizes, loads of invasive tree removal.

[Frank Pont]

The average sheer idiocy of many golf clubs never seizes to amaze me....

Reminds me of the hidious pond Sart Tilamn (Simpson) put in two decades ago

[Tim Nugent]

Does the topography even have enough upslope to accomodate a three-level pond?  I find these hard to do unless the terrain is higher at the landing area, providing a a downhill view and an upslope to bench the pools into.  Plus, there has to be a stream coming from somewhere to feed the upper pool or it isn't logical.  Lakes in hillsides just don't start from nowhere. Water features are expensive to build and expensive toamintain and if they require a recirculation sytem just to make work, you have to add the cost for the pumps and the ongoing electric cost.

[Richard Muldoon]

Tim,
If I get the chance next week I will pop into the club and have a look at the plans and report back.
From what I can gather from my old boss it doesn't seem that they have fully considered the maintenance issues.
Unfortunately there were a lot of people there when I was talking to him and I didn't get the chance to get all the details.

[Tom Birkert]

This is staggering. I play there on occasion and it will look totally out of place and really tacky. The bunkers in front of 18 are quite visually clever, and create a problem with gauging distance to them and to carry them.

The money would be much better spent on clearing some trees away, especially on the 3rd hole, where the effective fairway width to have a decent approach shot is about 15 yards!

[Paul_Turner]

Small photos of the new pond.  Brilliant!  Right up there with Camberley Heath's 16th pond as ...worst additions to a Colt course ever.

http://www.oxfordgolfclub.net/index.php?page=gallery

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

I love the stone bridge ; very Swilcan Burn bridge-ish!!