The members of Wimbledon Park Golf Club have selected Thomson Perrett & Lobb to give their 5,483-yard, parkland-style golf course a minor makeover.
TPL plans to rebuild and relocate the bunkers on the 18-hole, par-66 track. The upgrades will be overseen by Tim Lobb, who operates out of TPL's office in suburban London.
“Our plans are to review the current bunkering across the whole course and implement a design plan that will enhance the playing experience for members and guests,” Lobb said in a press release.
The club, which has been in business since 1898, is in southwestern London, just a short hop from the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, which hosts the annual Wimbledon tennis championship.
“TPL's work will undoubtedly give all golfers a greater strategic challenge when they play Wimbledon Park,” said the club's general manager, “but the improvements will also enhance the aesthetics of the course and make it much more appealing to the eye.”
The work is expected to start later this year.
canada Sutton Creek Seeks for a Buyer
A bankruptcy trustee is trying to sell Sutton Creek Golf Club in Essex, Ontario.
The club went into receivership in late 2010. Its 18-hole, 6,900-yard golf course was designed by Robert Heaslip and opened in 1991.
A story in the Windsor Star suggests that Debbie Aliberti, the club's owner and general manager, hopes to get $3.6 million for her 169-acre property.
“We’ve had some considerable interest already,” the bankruptcy trustee told the Star, “all from individuals or groups interested in operating it as a golf course.”
Sutton Creek has been in a financial pinch for years. In 2010, in an attempt to attract members, Aliberti cut its initiation fee from $15,000 to $2,000.
“Like most clubs in the area, we are struggling financially and will for the next couple of years,” Aliberti said late last year.
Robert Thompson, a Canadian golf critic, says that Heaslip has designed “straight-forward, affordable golf courses throughout Canada” but is “not particularly adept at marketing” his talents.
Essex is a 30-minute drive south of Windsor.
ghana Improvements Planned at Achimota
Ghana's premier golf course is looking to spiff up its clubhouse, modernize its irrigation system, and build a better practice area.
Those are among the plans outlined by Rene L. Gameli-Kwame, the recently appointed captain of Achimota Golf Club. Gameli-Kwame, who attended Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, hopes to secure grants from the R&A, the United States Golf Association, and the Tiger Woods Foundation to help pay for the improvements.
The upgrades are designed to maintain the club's position in Ghana's golf hierarchy. The club hosted the first Ghana Open, in 1940, and numerous other major events since.
Achimota was established (with a seven-hole track) by a group of Scots in 1934. It was probably the fourth or fifth course to open in Accra, but it was the first that grew to 18 holes and the only one that survives today. Its second nine opened in 1970, extending the course to 6,445 yards.
Gameli-Kwame told Modern Ghana that he aims to recruit new members to Achimota “by providing a social atmosphere where good conduct, discipline, and mutual respect for all are promoted.”
scotland Trump: A Progress Report?
The fear and loathing of Donald Trump continues in Scotland.
The Scottish distaste for all things Trump manifested itself this week in a news account from the Daily Express, which contends that “the world’s greatest golf course,” as Trump once called it, won't open as scheduled in the summer of 2012.
As evidence, the newspaper claimed that “there is little sign of the major construction work needed to complete the £1 billion project” and posted some photos that it says “cast doubt on whether it will be finished in time.”
Worse, the paper published some critical comments made by none other than David Milne, who lives on property that Trump has been trying to buy for years and has steadfastly refused to sell. Milne is hardly an objective observer and no expert in golf construction, but the Daily Express nevertheless asked for his opinion on the progress Trump has made.
“There is a fair amount of work going on,” Milne acknowledged, “but it doesn’t seem to be at the speed I would expect it to be, considering the so-called investment that has gone into it.”
He added: “They seem to be having major issues with the whole thing.”
This is idle speculation if I ever heard it, and really shoddy journalism.
Naturally, the allegations put Trump on the defensive, forcing him to insist that he's “on target” to complete the golf course on time. He admitted that he hasn't yet begun work on the course's clubhouse, the hotel, and the 1,450 houses he plans to build, but he said that his construction crew is “installing irrigation systems,” “ready to plant our turf,” and “very much on schedule to open by July 1 next year.”
If the course doesn't open in July, you can be sure of one thing: The Scottish newspapers will be first with the story.
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