|
In southern Berks
County, Pennsylvania, is 203 acres of magnificent property that
will be Old Wales Golf Club.
Construction has been delayed as the owner seeks funding.
It will be a semi-private golf course, golf only, no
residential development. The
property consists of five distinct landscapes that are
distinguished by the many wooded areas, or lack of, and the ridges
and valleys that separate each area into separate “rooms”.
The presence of
rock and steep terrain in some areas made it imperative that we
use our land-based design skills to properly locate all of the
golf holes to avoid these difficult areas, and to take advantage
of the tremendous natural opportunities in other parts of the
land. After several
days of walking the property, we developed a suitable routing plan
for the engineers to stake in the field.
We walked the staked course and refined the routing by
making small, yet critical adjustments to green locations, tee
locations and centerlines. The
result is a well-planned routing plan that will encourage bold and
imaginative play in a subtle way by making connections between the
strategy and the natural elements-terrain, soil, drainage, plants,
and wind.
Old Wales Golf
Club can accommodate a wide range of golfing abilities.
It is expected that the course will rate high on the slope
scale from the back tees. Higher
handicap players will find the course enjoyable because of the
different lengths the course can be played.
Furthermore, they have different avenues to take to avoid
the difficulties that will challenge the better players.
Junior golfers will have their own set of tees at
approximately 2800 yards. These
introductory tees will make the game more enjoyable increasing the
possibility of their staying with the game.
As they grow older and gain strength and skill, they can
graduate up to a longer course by moving to each successive set of
longer tees.
The
land-based routing plan has set the stage for the creation of a
challenging, interesting, and enjoyable course for the greatest
number of golfers who play Old Wales.
More emphasis has been placed on the strategic design, and
less emphasis on superficial aesthetic elements.
The site possesses such large amounts of charm and variety
that nothing more is needed to make it one of the most beautiful
courses in Pennsylvania. |
