Lousy attempts at Golf Course Architecture by Greens Comittees...

[Duncan Cheslett]

I give you the sad story of Mellor and Townscliffe Golf Club in Cheshire.

Mellor is an engaging course in the foothills of the peninnes with some cracking upland holes. In the 1990s, 100 years after the club's formation and awash with surplus cash, the club decided to buy extra land and build some new holes.  Everything was done in-house, with, by all accounts, no reference to architects or outside contractors.

A Google Images shot from 2000 reveals the new holes open and ready for play on the extreme left-hand side by the railway line;




The same shot only nine years later speaks volumes for the quality of the work done;




The holes now lie abandoned, rejected by the membership as so bad as to be unplayable and far worse than any on the existing course. All this at a cost of many tens of thousands of pounds, leaving the club in the same financial state as most other similar clubs in the UK - living hand to mouth.

Any other examples of Greens Chairmen or Comittees letting their egos run away with them and playing silly buggers with members' money?

[Neil White]

Duncan,

Being as far away from the clubhouse as it seems is possible, what exactly was the purpose of these four holes?

Neil.

[Jon Wiggett]

I would put Sandmoor in Leeds forward. I am not sure that the club used a GCA but it was the committee's decision to sell off the first 2 and last 2 holes and add 4 poor holes to the remaining excellent 14 holes. New holes include 2 blind and 2 semi blind holes 3 of which are on heavy soil (old holes on free draining) and off a completely different character to the rest of the course.

Also, Middleton Park in Leeds. Excellent 9 hole course that was upgraded to 18 by the local council. The new holes have no saving graces being out of character with the old holes with dull, uninteresting architecture built on horribly wet land. I suspect the committee who designed this was the council itself

Jon

[Mark Pearce]

The new back tees at Pennard looked spectacularly stupid when BUDA visited.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

The reason for Mellor's new holes was that they were on flat ground. The course climbs a seriously steep hill (it comes back down the hill spectacularly) and ladies, older golfers and societies didn't want to play there. They have difficulty arranging matches against other clubs for this reason.

I don't know if an architect was involved or not, but Abersoch is one of the most disappointing courses today. It was a really beautiful little 9-hole links. But they were desperate to have 18 holes and built 9 new and very boring holes on adjacent meadowland. Unfortunately they have routed the course so that you play a mixture of old and new holes on both nines.

[Ally Mcintosh]

I would put Sandmoor in Leeds forward. I am not sure that the club used a GCA but it was the committee's decision to sell off the first 2 and last 2 holes and add 4 poor holes to the remaining excellent 14 holes. New holes include 2 blind and 2 semi blind holes 3 of which are on heavy soil (old holes on free draining) and off a completely different character to the rest of the course.

Also, Middleton Park in Leeds. Excellent 9 hole course that was upgraded to 18 by the local council. The new holes have no saving graces being out of character with the old holes with dull, uninteresting architecture built on horribly wet land. I suspect the committee who designed this was the council itself

Jon

Hi Jon, I'm not sure about who made the decisions at Sand Moor but here's a photo tour and a little history of the changes from 18 months ago: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,48502.0.html

[Dan Herrmann]

Worst I've ever seen was at Coatesville CC in Pennsylvania.  The cmte completely destroyed a sporty first hole and built a really dumb 2nd hole. 

[Patrick_Mucci]

Duncan,

Going it alone, without consultants, seems almost beyond belief.

Did the Superintendent have any design or construction experience prior to this project.

What was his role in the decision to do the project in house ?

[Duncan Cheslett]

Duncan,

Going it alone, without consultants, seems almost beyond belief.

Did the Superintendent have any design or construction experience prior to this project.

What was his role in the decision to do the project in house ?

From what I understand from a former member who is now at my club, they simply went it alone working on the basis of "How hard can it be to design and build a few golf holes?"

I don't think that anyone involved had any previous experience. Having said that, neither did Dr Mac and his crew at Alwoodley.

[Jon Wiggett]

Ally,

it was interesting to see Sandmoor as it was probably about 1989 when I last played it. The trees have really grown and narrowed the course quite a bit. I always thought that they should have played the last down the practice ground which would have reduced the blindness of the tee shot and left a slightly better second shot. As I recall many of the members used to play the first and skip across to the fifth tee.

My first boss used to say how great the old Moorallerton was. I have yet to see a mature course that changed and ended up with a better course. Moortown, Sandmoor, Moorallerton or Lindrick are all cases of major change that have lessened the quality of the course. Having said that I would say in Moorallerton's case that it could be a good course in the right location but Yorkshire is not that location.

As for Sandmoor, it is hard to imagine how you could pick worse land for the 2nd, 3rd & 4th nor how you could then build worse holes than the 2nd and 3rd on it. I can find no saving graces for them except that they are both shortish par 4s that are thankfully over very quickly. Don't get me wrong, I really like Sandmoor despite these drawbacks.

Jon

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