Just weeks ago, Jack Nicklaus sized up the PGA Centenary course at the Gleneagles resort, to gear up for a renovation that will prepare the track for the Ryder Cup matches in 2014.
Last year, the famed resort in Perthshire hired Nicklaus to oversee a $3 million “refinement” of the 7,088-yard course that he designed in the early 1990s. A major element of the makeover will be a bunker renovation, to toughen up the course for pros and other long hitters. In addition, the club will likely spend more than $800,000 to install a SubAir moisture-removal system in the layout's greens. Drier soil, the club hopes, will help the grass grow better.
“The fact is that the wet is a bigger villain than the dry at the moment,” the club's general manager told the Scotsman, “so if this can help with that, then it is the right thing to do.”
Still to be determined is what Nicklaus plans to do with the course's 18th hole. A year or so ago, the Scotsman said the hole as it currently stands would “probably be the worst closing hole in Ryder Cup history.” The paper appears to have tempered its opinion, for it now simply says that the hole “is weak in comparison to the closing hole on most of the courses used for the Ryder Cup in recent times.”
Either way, it appears that the newspaper wouldn't mind if Nicklaus blew the whole thing up and started over.
st. helena Trouble in Paradise?
Question: Could a golf-focused resort bring droves of tourists to a tiny, remote, rarely visited island in the South Atlantic?
Answer: Maybe, as long as it's packaged with the island's first airport.
You've been given a glimpse of the future in St. Helena, a British territory that appears to be located literally in the middle of nowhere. If you're one of those people who likes to get away from it all, try this on for size: St. Helena is 1,200 miles from Africa, 1,800 miles from South America, and 700 miles from the nearest inhabited island. Its only regular visitor is a mail ship that shows up once a month.
The Guardian describes St. Helena (population: 4,900) as a nearly Edenic place. According to the paper, it's full of “natural and historical treasures,” including a wealth of “flora and fauna whose diversity astonished even Charles Darwin.” On top of that, it's got “a negligible crime rate, fine food, friendly people, and no traffic.”
Unfortunately, St. Helena is also a drain on British taxpayers. That's why the U.K. would love for it to be economically self-sufficient. The big picture: By funding the airport construction, Britain hopes it can eventually end its financial support of the island.
The idea is to foot the bill -- as much as $500 million -- for the airport, and then to enlist private groups to build the tourist facilities.
Are you wondering who'd be crazy enough to risk untold millions on such a dicey resort venture? Well, the company's name is St. Helena Leisure Corporation, a.k.a. Shelco. The company has already scoped out a 300-acre site near the airport where it'll build some houses, a resort-style hotel, and the golf course.
“The U.K. government believes a new airport is the best way to bring new financial opportunities to the island, not least a boom in tourism,” the British government's Department for International Development stated in a report on the construction plans. “With an airport, it is estimated that more than 29,000 tourists will visit each year.”
According to the Guardian, some tourism insiders believe the number could reach 50,000 visitors a year.
Of course, not everyone is eager to put a little slice of paradise on so many vacation itineraries. On and off the island, conservationists and environmentalists are mounting campaigns against the development plans, though it doesn't appear that their efforts have yet gained traction.
The critics have even taken on the proposed golf course.
“People can play golf anywhere,” one of them said to the Guardian. “The whole point of going to St. Helena is to get away from all that.”
talking points The Golden Standard
Here's John Harbottle, a Tacoma, Washington-based architect, on the prevailing wind in today's golf course design:
No doubt, you see more bunkers, more water, more contour, more trees on today’s courses, and there is no doubt that all the elements provide interest and character for the game. But mere difficulty is not what the great architects strive to provide with their designs. Golden Era architects like Macan, MacKenzie, Thomas, and Ross wished to make the course challenging for proficient players but enjoyable for the average golfer.
Variety is more important than mere length, and interest more important than difficulty. I think we are clearly seeing a trend back toward Golden Era values in today's new designs and renovations. They are simply more playable, maintainable, and sustainable.
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