[James Bledge]

To give you an idea of the sheer enormity of the site, this is what we sprayed fairways with and still do…. All the fairways can be sprayed before golf..

[James Bledge]

[James Bledge]

[James Bledge]

[James Bledge]

Some of the translated heather on bunker bankings

[Brian_Ewen]

Thanks for posting James.

Drove past last Saturday and wondered what the dome shaped building, that fits so beautifully in its surroundings, was.

[Jon Wall]

To give you an idea of the sheer enormity of the site, this is what we sprayed fairways with and still do…. All the fairways can be sprayed before golf..

James,

How many hectares are the fairways there? I have an ex-staffer from gWest out here in Hong Kong currently who speaks highly of the course.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Thanks James amazing looking course.


Can you shed any news on the Hotel that I believe the course was to serve?  I understood it was to set new unparalleled standards of luxury and service but the timing is all wrong?  As I get older and hopefully wiser I realise there is a price point for Golf that I won't meet and sadly this looks to fall into that category.
More info here
http://www.gwest.co.uk/clubhouse.php#

It's hard to tell exactly what age Mr Mahdi_Al_Tajir is, but does he play golf?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi_Al_Tajir


When most of the sources of information come from one of  Tom Bower's books you know this man is ALLEGEDLY(  ) “interesting”. His son seems to be a charmer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Bower


If I am excited by her pictures but know I'll never meet, then this thread is truly golfporn. I know it when I see it.

[Ben Stephens]

Welcome to GCA James.

The pics of the golf course look great especially the holes which have no water hazards as I feel it looks artificial. It is my understanding that Paul Kimber a former associate of DMK did most of the work - please correct me if I am wrong.

http://www.kimbergolf.com/portfolio/g-west/

The look of the clubhouse is ghastly in my view it looks like a juxtaposition of a modern looking dome and large jenga blocks for me it does not look pleasing to the eye - here is the earlier design proposal by Gareth Hoskins which I think was a better design and less impact on the surroundings even though it may be too modern for certain people's tastes.

Knowing Hoskins work from pictures it would have been a good quality finish. It is a pity this was not built in my view.

http://www.garethhoskinsarchitects.co.uk/projects/commercial/gwest-golf-clubhouse#

Will be interesting to see other views

Cheers
Ben

 

[James Bledge]

To give you an idea of the sheer enormity of the site, this is what we sprayed fairways with and still do…. All the fairways can be sprayed before golf..

James,

How many hectares are the fairways there? I have an ex-staffer from gWest out here in Hong Kong currently who speaks highly of the course.

Hi Jon, Matty Wormald! yeah know him well! he had a good wee spell at gWest! There are 21 hectares of Fairway and semi rough (1 band) so this is over double your average golf course for anyone who is wondering!

[James Bledge]

Thanks James amazing looking course.


Can you shed any news on the Hotel that I believe the course was to serve?  I understood it was to set new unparalleled standards of luxury and service but the timing is all wrong?  As I get older and hopefully wiser I realise there is a price point for Golf that I won't meet and sadly this looks to fall into that category.
More info here
http://www.gwest.co.uk/clubhouse.php#

It's hard to tell exactly what age Mr Mahdi_Al_Tajir is, but does he play golf?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi_Al_Tajir


When most of the sources of information come from one of  Tom Bower's books you know this man is ALLEGEDLY(  ) “interesting”. His son seems to be a charmer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Bower


If I am excited by her pictures but know I'll never meet, then this thread is truly golfporn. I know it when I see it.

Hi There, thanks for the post,

If i recall the hotel was destined to be a 6.5 star boutique hotel with a small number of suites maybe 50 or so but has never really been talked about since. Mahdi is probably around 60 years old and does not play golf although his brother does.

[James Bledge]

Welcome to GCA James.

The pics of the golf course look great especially the holes which have no water hazards as I feel it looks artificial. It is my understanding that Paul Kimber a former associate of DMK did most of the work - please correct me if I am wrong.

http://www.kimbergolf.com/portfolio/g-west/

The look of the clubhouse is ghastly in my view it looks like a juxtaposition of a modern looking dome and large jenga blocks for me it does not look pleasing to the eye - here is the earlier design proposal by Gareth Hoskins which I think was a better design and less impact on the surroundings even though it may be too modern for certain people's tastes.

Knowing Hoskins work from pictures it would have been a good quality finish. It is a pity this was not built in my view.

http://www.garethhoskinsarchitects.co.uk/projects/commercial/gwest-golf-clubhouse#

Will be interesting to see other views

Cheers
Ben

 

Paul Kimber was there every day and over saw the shapers work, Paul is an incredibly knowledgeable and talented architect and I look forward to seeing any future projects he is involved in.

[James Bledge]

[Tom Kelly]

The best modern clubhouse I've seen is at another Paul Kimber courese...The Castle Course.



Castle Stuart is nice too but in a very different way.


The course at gWest looks very interesting though, thanks for the photos James.

[Adam Lawrence]

oops... misread

[Tony_Muldoon]

Put me down as one who loves the look of that clubhouse.


Confident, elegant, uncompromising and unique. Using modern materials to provide a twist on an old classic, isn't all that commendable?

I'd much rather that, than another faux Victorian pile.

[Tom Kelly]

delete...!

[Ben Stephens]

and wondered what the dome shaped building, that fits so beautifully in its surroundings, was.

Sarcasm?

Ben: are you actually joking? Hoskins' design looked horrific. What ever happened to a nice teracotta colour roof and whitewashed walls a la Muirfield or any of the wonderfully harmonious unobtrusive structures to be found everywhere in Great Britain and are its hallmark? Have planners lost their minds?

Brian,

No I am not joking having 20 years of architecture experience and it being my job these days - the clubhouse they have built is shocking/amateurish and would be given a low mark by my tutors if I had produced this at university its a blot on the landscape IMO and better suited to places like Dubai not Scotland or UK.

The Hoskins proposal is more dynamic and having seen his buildings in architecture magazines the quality is high have a look at the link below

http://www.garethhoskinsarchitects.co.uk/projects/arts-and-culture/culloden-battlefield-visitor-centre

Computer generated images are not always accurate but this would be close to what would have been at gwest. Parts of the clubhouse would have been hidden in the landscape so it blends in.

Will be interested to see James Boon's input  

Cheers
Ben

[Thomas Dai]

The clubhouse does look a bit well, um, like the sort of place that Blofeld from a Bond movie would live, white cat and all.
atb

[Adam Lawrence]

I'm not a particular fan of the gWest clubhouse, but I'm also conscious that golfers (and for that matter GCA posters) are generally fairly conservative where clubhouse design is concerned. Case in point: the outcry on here at the Castle Stuart clubhouse, which imo is a very nice piece of Art Deco influenced design, and which is totally appropriate in a seafront UK setting - most of our deco buildings, for some reason, are by the sea.

Sometimes they do these things better in Europe, where there is less tradition to fall back on. One of my favourite modern clubhouses is at the Scandinavian club outside Copenhagen, where the Danish firm Henning Larsen built a very beautiful glass and slate edifice

[Adam Lawrence]

Adam: I think the Castlestuart clubhouse is beautiful and pics of the interior make it look wonderfully warm and bright and _comfortable_ inside. 

You might, Brian, but there were quite a few on here who did not agree.

[Niall C]

I'd give the CS clubhouse a thumbs up. The Walt Disney look of Kingsbarns mind you could only have been conceived by someone with a fairly romantic notion of Scotland. However my favourite newish clubhouse is the Dukes, St Andrews which sits well in the landscape, gives a nod to the local vernacular without being a pastiche and further more is functional and comfortable. What more do you want ?

Niall

[Ben Stephens]

I'm not a particular fan of the gWest clubhouse, but I'm also conscious that golfers (and for that matter GCA posters) are generally fairly conservative where clubhouse design is concerned. Case in point: the outcry on here at the Castle Stuart clubhouse, which imo is a very nice piece of Art Deco influenced design, and which is totally appropriate in a seafront UK setting - most of our deco buildings, for some reason, are by the sea.

Sometimes they do these things better in Europe, where there is less tradition to fall back on. One of my favourite modern clubhouses is at the Scandinavian club outside Copenhagen, where the Danish firm Henning Larsen built a very beautiful glass and slate edifice

Adam,

Good spot I have seen this clubhouse before in images and Hennings Larsson are world renown architects - they recently did the Copenhagen Opera House. I have a feeling that the planners would have wanted a more traditional material for the roof and the gwest clubhouse if went with Hoskins would be more like the Scandinavian

There should be more threads about clubhouse designs as they are an integral part of a functioning golf course/club.

Here are two examples. 

Allies and Morrison - http://www.alliesandmorrison.com/projects/sport/2001/cowdray-park-golf-club/   - that never got off the drawing board

O'Donnell and Tuomey - http://www.odonnell-tuomey.ie/webpage/bwgc/bwgc.htm

[Adam Lawrence]

Yes, they took us to see the opera house on the trip when I went to the Scandinavian.

Larsens are also doing the clubhouse and convention centre at the Summit Hills development in Calabar, Nigeria, where Tim Lobb is the golf architect.

[Ben Stephens]

Yes, they took us to see the opera house on the trip when I went to the Scandinavian.

Larsens are also doing the clubhouse and convention centre at the Summit Hills development in Calabar, Nigeria, where Tim Lobb is the golf architect.

Here is a link to Henning Larsens website re Scandinavian Golf Club

http://www.henninglarsen.com/projects/0600-0699/0627-scandinavian-golf-club.aspx

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