Portfolio

The company was commissioned to prepare a report about the layout and general siting of the bunkers at the golf club. We recommended some additional fairway bunkers to make decision making from the tee more rewarding and the placement of other bunkers to highlight dog legs on fairways or, in one case, to brighten a rather dull fairway. The work was undertaken by a local contracting company using plans drawn up by SGGCA. The work remains ongoing.

The 6724 yd. Galgorm Castle golf course ranks amongst the top parkland courses in Ireland. It was laid out amongst the mature trees and grounds of the Galgorm Castle itself. It is bordered by the rivers Main and Braid which come into play on seven holes and includes a magnificient oxbow feature and five further impressive landscaped lakes. Being fairly low lying the site had a tendency to flood but this was overcome by extensive mounding which raised four of the fairways above the 1:100 year flood plan. The venue is now one of the most popular golf courses in Northern Ireland.

The New Course was built at the turn of the century to supplement the existing Willie Park designed Old Course. Before the war the Burhill Estate had two courses but the South Course was given over to the war effort and farming, and it was not until nearly 60 years later that the idea of redesigning a new, more modern golf course evolved. Many of the holes on the New course play close to, or in the case of the 18th, over the beautiful River Mole and most of the holes are framed by mature woodland or specimen trees. The course was built by Abbotts Ltd. and measures 6957 yds from the Black tees. The course has matured to the point where it is frequently used for Europro tour events .

The Pinecliffs development is part of a major hotel / housing scheme close to the Portuguese town of Albufeira. The course is only 9 holes and relatively short, but the golf holes are all carefully laid out amongst the beautiful pine trees and cliff tops of the Algarve coast. Nigel Mansell was the first president of the club. Pinecliffs must be considered one of the most picturesque golf courses in Portugal, whilst short still tests every club in the bag. A large practice ground/academy was a dded at a later date.

( all works in connection with the Pinecliffs G.C. were undertaken either whilst working at Hawtree’s or in subsequent liaison with Hawtree Ltd.)

The Longcliffe G.C. is one of the oldest and most respected golf clubs in the Midlands. However, many of its bunkers, having not been modified over the past 50 years, were poorly located and many of those that were in the correct position had been affected by sand splash, stone ingress and general wear and tear. A programme of repositioning and upgrading of all the bunkers over a period of 3 years was undertaken and this was completed in 2011. The contractors prepared the bunkers and drainage works, though the club undertook all the cultivation and turfing works.

Over a period of 10 years from 2000, the club undertook the reconstruction of all their original clay green sub bases and in the process moving two greens to alternative sites. Each green site was carefully surveyed and the shapes and contours of the greens designed to reflect, not only the historical nature of the course, but also to provide more testing and challenging putting surfaces. The greens were constructed to USGA specification under the guidance of agronomist G.Shiels .The holes were opened in two phases. The first in 2006 by Luke Donald and the second phase in 2010 by Justin Rose.

In 1996 permission was granted to allow the development of a new golf course with associated housing in the grounds of the Vale Royal Abbey in Cheshire. The original site of the Abbey was destroyed by Henry V111 in 1538 as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries and whilst later the redesigned House became a country mansion, by the 1990’s it had fallen into disrepair. The planning approval allowed for the renovation of the House and the development of the course. The course is, by modern day standards at 6450 yds, relatively short , but the layout utilises all the many lovely features of the site and in particular has a selection of short but very testing par 4 holes.

The original Hart Common G.C. was not built to any recognised specification and SGGCA were invited, in 2001, to obtain planning permission for the importation of inert landfill material to be used for the re – design and construction of the existing course. Initially, three new holes were constructed to supplement the existing 18 holes, so that, each year thereafter, three existing holes were taken out of commission and reconstructed, thus keeping disruption to a minimum and 18 holes in play. The renovated new course, built to a more modern design and improved specification, was completed after a 7/8 year construction period . Much of the work was carried out by the owner Mr P. Roberts and his son R. Roberts.

Blue Course, Oxford – The original courses at the Club were named as the Red and Green courses and designed by J.H. Taylor ( Red Course) and C.K. Cotton ( Green Course) but in the 1990’s it was felt that a new course was required to relieve the pressures on the two existing courses. The site chosen was 170 acres of former farmland bordering the Red Course which also meant the redesign of four of the holes on the Red course to ensure two starting and finishing holes on the Blue Course back to the clubhouse.. The soil is very sandy ( as the term “heath” implies) and whilst some 80,000 m3 of material was formed to create the course, nevertheless there is a degree of naturalness about the course which both blends well with the existing course(s) whilst at the same time establishing the Blue Course with its own identity.

The course now measures over 6900 yds and is used as a frequent venue for Europro Tour events as well as co – hosting the English Amateur Open in 2013, along with the Red Course. The course was built by J.Greasley Ltd.

Originally the golf facilities at Hösel consisted of 18 holes with the clubhouse shared with an Equestrian Centre. The club moved to a new venue in the 1990’s on the other side of Ratingen and whilst it retained the existing course, it also needed to establish a new course to connect with the existing course and to respond to the increasing popularity of the sport and increasing membership. The integration of the new course with the original was complicated, both in terms of planning and design, but the landscaping of the courses has now blended the two courses and both courses now attract competitive events from all over Germany.

Soils have been brought from all over the London area to help create this majestic course. It opened – after nearly 20 years in the making – in June 2013. The new owners, Bert Pronk, André Hendriks , Graham Wildish and Scott Evans were determined to make the course into one of championship status and upon purchasing the site in 2010 decided to redevelop the greens with more contouring, adding more bunkers, lengthening the course and perhaps, most importantly, adding a further 21 acres of woodland, to form three new holes at the beginning of the round. Despite the creation of many golf holes from soils, the one underlying feeling from the Centurion course is one of a course carved out of pine trees, with 10 of the holes surrounded by woodland. The courses measures over 7200 yds. but with 7 of the holes played as par 5’s from the everyday tees, the course is not as difficult as it may first appear. The greens are of pure bent and roll, as you would expect championship course greens to roll. Darren Anderton (England footballer ) and Kenny Logan ( Scotland rugby player) are two of the local sporting celebrities who are members of the Club.

The Stover G.C. is a former James Braid course that has changed many times over the years. Now the course is due to be affected by the widening of the nearby A 382 which will impact on holes 1,2,3 and 9 and by extension hole 4. Land north of hole 8 is being provided as compensation for these holes. SGGCA have provided a number of layout alternatives for the membership to assess. It is expected that the renovation works will take place in 2017 , ready for 2019 when the A382 is due to be widened.

SGGCA were commissioned to design the new 9 hole golf course for the members of the Ferrybridge G.C. The golf course was part of the overall sporting facilities used by employees of Scottish and Southern Electricity which had to be given up as part of a new Waste to Energy plant construction. All the soils taken from the construction of the plant were transported to the new golf course, which was particularly helpful as one of the planning conditions was that no topsoil could be stripped. John Greasley Ltd carried out the construction works and the course was maintained by the clubs’ own staff. It is due for opening in April 2017.

The 2nd hole at the Hartley Wintney G.C. had a number of deficiencies not the least of which was the lack of pin positions and a green that was often unplayable in the winter. One of the clubs’ conditions for the new hole was that the existing hole had to remain in play throughout any reconstruction. The design involved three phases 1] the construction and bunkering of the new hole, undertaken by Abbotts Ltd. 2] additional mounding over the former green and 3] the planting of trees from their existing woodland . These were large specimen trees which gave the hole an instant The green was “sown out” by the greenkeeping staff using hollowtine plugs from the other greens on the course. The green was ready for play by the following spring.