Broadstone Golf Club--Harry Colt Restoration

[Sean_A]

Frank

Very fine.

What about the 11th?




Are the bunkers on 16 getting a profile lift?

Ciao

[Frank Pont]

Sean,

Have patience, the right thing will be done to restore  the important elements, we will know later this year after the members have had their say how fast things will move.

[Jud_T]

This place looks awesome!  How come I've never even heard of it?  Good luck gents, looks like a fine project in the right hands...

[Paul_Turner]

Jeffrey and Frank

It's most impressive work with perfect heathland bunkers.  Should be a majestic course when you're done.

8th:  I remember looking at some recent photos of the hole and I couldn't work out what was going on with that green.  It looked different from when I played it and I had feared it had been redone.  But Jeffrey's "2000's" photo shows a larger green not much different than the B&W photo; so at some point in the last few years the bottom portion was abandoned?

11th:  Fingers crossed with this one!  I hope there's a good pic of the green contours available before it was redone (2005 ish).

7th:  I hope the green is expanded.  And unusual as that whirly shaped bunker is...the old photos of the 4 separate bunkers are more impressive.

14th: Cool to see the central bunker resurrected after just a few years of death.

5th:  The hole needed some character drummed into it...hope it works with the new bunkers, looks like the green is still open enough to have a crack at it.  Bit surprised there was a safety issue here though?  From the 6th?  I can't see it.

Any plans for tree clearing?  The 4th would be the best candidate for opening back up.  Nearby Parkstone (which is about as good as Broadstone) cleared a load of trees out fairly recently.

Is Colin Robinson still at the club?

[Frank Pont]

Jeffrey and Frank

It's most impressive work with perfect heathland bunkers.  Should be a majestic course when you're done.

8th:  I remember looking at some recent photos of the hole and I couldn't work out what was going on with that green.  It looked different from when I played it and I had feared it had been redone.  But Jeffrey's "2000's" photo shows a larger green not much different than the B&W photo; so at some point in the last few years the bottom portion was abandoned?

11th:  Fingers crossed with this one!  I hope there's a good pic of the green contours available before it was redone (2005 ish).

7th:  I hope the green is expanded.  And unusual as that whirly shaped bunker is...the old photos of the 4 separate bunkers are more impressive.

14th: Cool to see the central bunker resurrected after just a few years of death.

5th:  The hole needed some character drummed into it...hope it works with the new bunkers, looks like the green is still open enough to have a crack at it.  Bit surprised there was a safety issue here though?  From the 6th?  I can't see it.

Any plans for tree clearing?  The 4th would be the best candidate for opening back up.  Nearby Parkstone (which is about as good as Broadstone) cleared a load of trees out fairly recently.

Is Colin Robinson still at the club?

Hi Paul,

thanks for the compliment, Jeff and I really enjoyed the work in such a special heathland site.

Re 8 I think the bottom part of the green was abandoned much longer ago. I have only seen that part as green on very old B&W pictures

Re 11 unfortunately I have not seen any good close-up pictures of the old green, but will continue searching and asking

Re 7 the green will be expanded and the 4 bunkers as per the old pictures will be restored

Re 14 funny enough that went easier than expected, just like Tandridge 3. Probably Blackmoor 13 will also get an old short cross bunker restored...

Re 5  I drove the green once with the new bunkers so its possible. Safety issue is duck hooking from 5 tees onto 6 tees

Tree clearing will be steady going, already a lot is being done. Agree that 4 will be much improved with trees gone left

Don't think Colin Robinson is still there

[Frank Pont]

Some more pics of the finishing work at Broadstone



Hole 6 before



After with sand in. Notice tree reduction, still a lot to go more on the right



Closer look



Zoom in



Bunker detail




Hole 14

[Jud_T]

Nice article by Adam in the new GCA Magazine about the renovation...

[Frank Pont]

Last week visited Broadstone under perfect summer conditions and managed to make some pictures.

Here are some after and before pics:

Hole 14



Here a view from the side of the 13th green. The hole is a traditional Colt hole in that you play from a high tee over a deep valley to a fairway leading up to a higher well defended plateau green.



Here the view from the tees of the 14th holes



Here a detailed view of one of the restored bunkers



This is how the hole looked before we got to work on it


Hole 8

First the old pictures (the first picture was taken after Fowler did some bunker works after Colt, therefore the lack of sand faces and heather faces instead)





The situation before we did work last year, notice the vegetation and big oak between the tee and the green. Also notice how the green had shrunk to only the top plateau.



And here the hole as it was last week. You can see the tree is gone and virtually all vegetation giving the heather a good chance to regenerate. Also the green has been extended back to the lower plateau as well, be it not as far as we would like it, but the grass wasn't suitable to be mown at green height yet this year

[Frank Pont]

Hole 6

No historic pictures. This hole was claustrophobic, and after extensive tree clearance we are almost there, but we will need another swipe through.
Here the before situation:



This is how it looked last week:



Even though its a relatively short hole it plays quite difficult because the green is so shallow.
The path that ran in front of the green has been closed, this is now only for carry bags, the path has been moved to the right side of the green
We have good hope the whole area in front of the green will regenerate as heather!


Hole 5.

A short par 4 that lacked interest, character and visuals.

Here the before (no historic picture):



We reinstated the large bunker that was there (we knew from old aerials), and brought back two bunkers on the right, and reshaped the bunker left of the green, and moved the green bunker from the left to the right. We also significantly (15 yards+) widened the fairway over the whole length. And finally expanded the green by between 5-10 yards to the right.

Almost all trees between hole 5 and 6 were removed, still to go are some birches and the conifers (!) next to the tee.





We also added significant amount of drainage to the fairway and bunkers and improved the run of the creek in the valley you carry with your tee shot.

[John Mayhugh]

Hole 6 before



After with sand in. Notice tree reduction, still a lot to go more on the right



Closer look



Zoom in



Bunker detail

That looks awesome.  It reminds me a lot of the 4th at Swinley - which sure isn't a criticism!

[Tom Kelly]

Brian,

I'm sure Frank will chime in with more detail at some point but I played Broadstone for the first time last time Friday and was really impressed. From what I could tell they haven't done anymore bunker work since the last photos were put up on the thread but it looked like lots of tree clearance had been done and was still under way along with a few new tees being built. Bunker work looked complete on 5, 6, 8 and 14 from what I can remember.

As I say I was really impressed with the course and the work done so far, I'll definitely be going back soon and once the renovation is complete it will be really worth making the effort to go and play. My only criticism of the course is that it felt like I was playing lots of the par 4's driver/3 wood - wedge. It may have been that tees were abit forward and I understand that I am probably a longer hitter than most amateur golfers but it didn't feel like there was much variation in the length the par 4's played other than 5 and 7 which are polar opposites. 5 is driveable and 7 plays way longer than the card's 422 yards if you do the sensible thing and lay up short of the dip, it was into the wind when I played too. The course reminded me alot of Notts and Coxmoor so I felt quite at home and like Notts it never feels like a tough walk despite covering some very hilly terrain.

A couple questions for Frank;
-Was the right side of the ditch short of the bunker on the 1st every cut as fairway in the past? The existing fairway feels very narrow.
-And just for fun....any chance of a new 17th tee on the 16th side of the railway cutting up behind the green, I assume judging by the signs Natural England and H&S will say no, but wouldn't it be a fantastic tee shot?!

[Ryan Coles]

It is so obvious through the round which holes have been restored/renovated. The "new" holes are fantastic, so much so that the others are a bit depressing thinking what might have (and hopefully soon will) been.

It really is great golfing land and I agree that it could be so much better and the new holes demonstrate this.

Short term note: the course is currently in a terrible state. They've really suffered through the winter and standing water has killed the grass on several fairways. The 18th is currently closed and looks like it will be for some time. Hope the course recovers soon. The welcome our group received was notable for its warmth and it came across as a lovely Club to be a member or to visit.