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warm-upSTORIES, NEWS, OPINION AND PRIZES... SERVED HOT FROM THE GOLF BUFFET

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WENTWORTH RIPPED UP

GROUND FORCE...

Issue 259 TodaySGoLFER.Co.UK 13

It’s hard to believe Paul Casey was holing out where that digger is sitting on his way to winning the BMW PGA

Championship just a few weeks ago.But work to completely reconstruct the

much-maligned Wentworth greens began just a week after the Englishman’s triumph.

“It’s a restore, modernise and renovate project,” Julian Small, the club’s chief executive, told TG. “We’re not trying in any way, shape or form to lose Harry Colt’s feeling of the course.”

It’s a mammoth job that’s costing more than £4million and requires 2,000 tonnes of gravel, 6,000 tonnes of Rufford Turfstart Rootzone, 10,000 metres of irrigation piping and 20,000 square metres of colonial bent turf, which has been growing in Lincolnshire since last July.

“We’re removing all the compacted clay that was originally put underneath the greens to retain water and laying in drainage, then gravel, then the Rootzone and then on top of that the turf,” Small explained.

The existing surfaces were meticulously lifted and will be put to good use around the courses at The Belfry and 2010 Ryder Cup venue Celtic Manor.

As you read this, the job of replacing this grass with the colonial bent turf on the first completed greens will already have begun.

It should be completed by the first week of September and the course will re-open for the Captain’s Charity Golf Day on November 6, with only light play – subject to the weather – until the BMW PGA Championship next May.

Wentworth spend £4m tearing up their greens!

Growing plan Gravel is laid on top of

drainage. Rootzone and turf will follow.

Before A picture of serenity with the old greens still firmly in place.

After The pristine turf is rolled up, all ready to leave Wentworth.

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BUNKER PLAY PUTTING IRON PLAY TOUCH SHOTS DRIVING FAIRWAY SHOTS MIND & BODY

AIM FOR THE TEE1st tee nerves can cause tension – and that means your muscles tighten and restrict your turn. By aiming for a tee pegged into the ground a few feet ahead of the ball your hands and arms have to extend through the ball and release that tension.

PERFECT PRACTICEMany golfers take a pointless practice swish before addressing the ball. Stand behind the ball and visualise the shot you want to make and try to rehearse the perfect swing with smooth tempo. This will fill you with confidence when you address the ball.

HOLD YOUR FINISHA lot of 1st shot anxiety is indicated by a poor finish position. If you’re anxious to see where the ball has gone and look up too soon you’ll topple backwards and lose your balance. Instead, focus on watching the ball until after it’s struck and then reach a balanced position.

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114 TodaysGolfer.c0.uk Issue 259

Jack Nicklaus builds gorgeous courses that are impossible to play, maintain or afford. They’re

built for his game: long, with shallow, elevated, fiercely fortified greens that require soaring, faded approaches.”

That anonymous quote – after all, you just don’t go around insulting Mr Nicklaus – was an attempt at summing up the Golden Bear’s earlier, pre-1990 designs, infamous for their cruel beauty.

St Mellion, the UK’s first Nicklaus creation, opened in 1988. Gorgeous it certainly is; impossible to play?

Well, let’s settle for the fact that it is very likely to require more skill than you or I happen to possess at the moment we pitch up to the 1st tee.

Sure, St Mellion is tough. But don’t let that put you off; from that opening tee shot, the course pitches you headlong into an almost hallucinogenic trip of crazy pea-green cambers, starlight sand, lemon gorse, slate streams and dark, brooding woods.

Think of the layout as more dodgems and less driving test and you can’t help but have a whale of a time.

Yes, a lot of the Nicklaus hallmarks are here. The Golden Bear loves a raised teeing ground, and though the first tee shot is semi-blind, most of the rest set you up very nicely indeed.

Nine out of the 14 long holes are indeed left-to-right, fade-suiting doglegs. Meanwhile, round the greens there are

ST MELLION

Jack Nicklaus’ St Mellion has had a £20m revamp and is back on the European Tour. We tackle a course you can play for just £32

by DuNCAN LeNNARDphotogRAphy JAMes CheADLe

➤

SECOND COMING

COURSES

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Issue 259 TodaysGolfer.co.uk 115

NORTH SOUTH EAST WEST

Short and sweetCute par 3s like this

one are an important part of the charm of

St Mellion.

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Myrtle Beach is arguably the world’s hottest golf destination in terms of quantity and quality of courses – with over 110 venues and barely a weak link in sight.

And right up there among the very best is Tidewater, which opened nearly 20 years ago and was soon selected as the Best New Public Course in the US.

It’s been picking up major course awards ever since, including being consistently named Myrtle Beach’s No.1 layout and one

of America’s top 32 courses. In other words, it’s a must-play if you ever find yourself in the South Carolina golfing paradise.

Tidewater runs alongside an intracoastal waterway and is breathtakingly bordered by a tidal marsh and Atlantic Ocean inlet which dramatically come into play on several holes. You certainly need to hold your nerve at the par-3 12th, which requires a long carry over marshland.

The bulk of the courses on the ‘Golden

Strand’ are big, bold, brassy... and manufactured. Tidewater however is an exception to the rule: it was created by little-known designer Ken Tomlinson, who simply let nature take its course.

Besides the natural water features, Tidewater’s holes weave through densely-populated areas of mature timber.

“It would have been a struggle to screw it up!” was Tomlinson’s assessment of his project in the lively Myrtle Beach resort.

THE GOLDEN STRAND Wish you Were here...

If you can’t enjoy yourself at Myrtle Beach, you simply never will

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TRAVEL

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132 TodaysGolfer.co.uk Issue 259

TRAVEL

Think of Austria and ski-ing probably springs to mind. And if not snow-capped mountains,

then maybe the musical genius of Mozart? Or maybe Hollywood actor-turned-politician Arnie Schwarzenegger? Or Julie Andrews and the Sound of Music?

But probably not golf. Yet, as unlikely as it sounds, this magical country at the heart of the indomitable Alps is blessed with great golf... and plenty of it!

Golf has been played in Austria, and the Tyrol in particular, for over half-a-century – although it has only really taken a major foothold and become the chief summer pastime in the past decade or so.

So far though, not too many Brits have opted to tee it up in this dramatic, spectacular part of Planet Golf. It remains way down the golf-break pecking order for us generally unadventurous Brits. But that could well change in the near future.

For a start, it’s so easy to get to, which is always a winner. EasyJet’s daily Gatwick-Innsbruck flight takes just 90 minutes so before you know it, you’re gliding down the Inn valley, flanked by the most mountainous of mountains, and landing at one of the world’s most picturesque (and quietest!) airports.

Thirty minutes later we were at our first port of call – the swish Hotel Schwarz in the fairly remote village of Mieming.

So, in terms of access, it’s a very attractive option. Its second advantage is somewhat more predictable: if you enjoy playing courses with a view (who doesn’t?) you’ll be thrilled by Austria’s beauties.

The stunning scenery all around you is simply out-of-this-world and virtually wherever you play you’ll do well to avoid

AUSTRIA

Austria might be best known for its winter sports but, as TG was delighted to discover, it’s got some sensational golf courses too

HIT THE HEIGHTS

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by keVIN bROWN

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