[Marty Bonnar]

Some very, VERY interesting work going on at NBWL. Hopefully, Clyde might chip in…
https://nbwlgreens.wixsite.com/nbwlgreens/post/restoring-redan-partially

[Niall C]

"it will play a lot fairer with balls rolling down into the middle of the bunker to give golfers a better shot to get out"
 
Does anyone else remember the photo of Ben Sayers standing in the bunker and scratching his head wondering how to play his ball which was lying a few feet from the face ? Do you also remember that the bunker face was made out of railway sleepers ? I mention that as according to this article the intent is to at least partially take the bunker and green back to what it was over a hundred years ago (from memory the plan in the article dates from pre WWI).
 
Clearly its not going to play like it did back then. To do that they'd need to throw away the bunker rakes and replace the sod wall with a timber one. That takes me to the quote from the article at the top of the post. Judging from that the pursuit of fairness seems to be the real goal. Is that a good enough reason for the work ? What's the difference here to say making changes to the 11th green at TOC ? Both old, venerable and historically important.
 
The above isn't a criticism of Clyde's work which I'm very very confident will be excellent, and indeed not necessarily a criticism of the idea behind the work although I do have some reservations about balls rolling into the middle of the bunker making it easier to get out together with the general idea of fairness in golf course design.
 
Niall

[Clyde Johnson]

Marty, Niall:


I started consulting at NB about a year ago. The initial report was very concise, focusing mostly on mowing lines, and the odd feature we would like to restore and/or renovate back to its former glory.


Kyle Cruickshank and his team have started to make progress on de-shrinking the fairways and greens, but some of that work will have to wait on an updated irrigation system and increase in green keeping staff.


The order of work has really been dictated by where Kyle has wanted to focus his renovation needs. Last year we worked on the 17th cross-bunker. That bunker had become a really narrow trench, with its floor chasing hard towards the face of the bunker.  Once a bridal way, we broadened the floor of the bunker, but stopped short of connecting it all the way through to the beach and reinstating the wooden sleepers (which we found.)


This year we've worked on the 10th tee, removing the artificial path through the centre, twisting the right face to improve the backdrop to the 9th (and hide the shelter), while nestling the tee down slightly to sit more in the dunes. There was a lot of heavy clay used to build up that tee once upon time! Also, the 6th tee, consolidating the two back tees and growing the tees more forward, lowering both sets to sit more easily in the landscape while preserving the view of the quarry. As part of this work we removed the mound at the back of the 5th green, introducing green in its place - that's quite an intimidating shot now that there's nothing artificial holding you in.

The Redan bunker faced similar issues to the 17th, though it had perhaps shrunk even more, with the face well detached from the green edge. Unsurprisingly there are quite a few historical photos of The Redan, but we were guided most by the three photos here, with the goal(s) of:
 - recapturing its original scale and height
 - recapturing the hard, tight edge and corners to the green
 - climbing the bunker floor to the face so that while still intimidating and 6ft deep, the bunker was a little more playable.










I think what we've ended up with is pretty close to what was once there, though I decided to retain the native roll-over in the back-left corner rather than climb (and waste) revett and sand line high into the back-left corner where it is out of sight from the tee.




The most satisfactory part of the work might have been lowering and shifting the 16th tee to the left a little, so that we could expand green back into the back-left, and see more of the wall from the 15th tee again.


As the article notes, Chris Haspell is the club's consulting agronomist and has played a big part in the construction. As has Reece Haspell, Rory Paul and Kyle's team.

[Sean_A]

Thanks Clyde. It’s great to hear about the 16th tee. Hopefully it will be a bit safer as well. Will the fairway be widened on the left as well?


What is the story with the right tee on 16. I have never played from this tee, but it looks a more intriguing angle.


Ciao

[Tim Gallant]

Judging from that the pursuit of fairness seems to be the real goal.
 
Niall

Niall, Clyde's post above should help with context, but the pursuit was absolutely not about fairness, although appreciate it's a byproduct of the work. The pursuit was about recapturing the size and scale on the course that, over time, has(d) been eroded. Possibly too modest to post the before, here's what the bunker looked like until two weeks ago (courtesy of golfingscotland):





So we're not talking about removing grade from one of the world's best greens (ie - the example you have of TOC 11). We're talking about taking something, which, over time, has become a shadow of what it once was, and returning it to what it should be. I think Kyle is being modest by calling it a partial restoration. It's a full restoration. The railroad ties are not original, and I think you can see from Clyde's second photo that the wall was not ties in the late 19th century.


Here's a neat overhead from the 20s. Worth looking not just at the Redan bunker, but have a look at the bunker on 3, and how close the green ran to the wall. Nothing has changed structurally. It's all just shrunken in size and scale. And Kyle & Co are hoping to recapture that

[Tim Gallant]

Thanks Clyde. It’s great to hear about the 16th tee. Hopefully it will be a bit safer as well. Will the fairway be widened on the left as well?


What is the story with the right tee on 16. I have never played from this tee, but it looks a more intriguing angle.


Ciao

I've played it a few times in the winter. It's a wild angle - lots of fun, but not sure it's original in any way.

[Sean_A]

Thanks Clyde. It’s great to hear about the 16th tee. Hopefully it will be a bit safer as well. Will the fairway be widened on the left as well?


What is the story with the right tee on 16. I have never played from this tee, but it looks a more intriguing angle.


Ciao

I've played it a few times in the winter. It's a wild angle - lots of fun, but not sure it's original in any way.

I always look at that tee as safe haven. I never feel comfortable hitting from the left tee being so close to the 15th green. Too many times the shout of fore has me scrambling.


Ciao

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