What Is The Difference?

[John Blain]

Could someone please explain to me the difference between a renovation, restoration and a sympathetic restoration?  And maybe give an example of each one...thanks!


-John

[Tom_Doak]

The way I define the terms:


A restoration is putting back the features of a course to how they looked on opening, or some other specific time.  This is in spite of the fact that it won’t be played with 1920’s equipment today. Examples: Bel Air, The Valley Club.


A renovation is to rebuild the features of the holes in more or less the same spots they’re in, but cleaned up and with improved drainage etc


Sympathetic restoration is a weasel term - it implies you are going to restore the character of the original course as it would need to be for today’s game - lengthened, bunkers relocated to test scratch players of today, etc.  The problem is, you could hire three successive architects to do a sympathetic restoration, and each of them would have a different take on it, and you could just keep spending money that way until the Club was broke.

[Ally Mcintosh]

Not sure I fully agree with Tom here.


I too think sympathetic restoration is a nothing term. Although I’d associate it with at least giving lip service to returning something to the original style or routing, albeit with moved bunkers etc...


I also wouldn’t say a renovation needs to leave all hazards in situ... not sure if you do a whole new bunker scheme whether that would be classed as renovation or redesign. I guess it should be the latter if you’ve intrinsically altered the playing strategies of the holes.

[Adrian_Stiff]

The problem with those terms is almost everyone would have a slightly different interpretation of what each meant and probably every 'restoration' would include a very slight change which to some would put it in the other category. Renovation to me means more nearer to starting again. You may flip/reverse holes, flip par 3s into 4s ect. I have just done one where we mainly respected the corridors but flipped a few things....it is really a re-design, the club describes renovation.