COURSES COURSES
Departing Concord Golf
New-look Concord
Club superintendent Mark
takes flight
Parker writes about the club’s recent impressive course redevelopment project which has transformed one of Sydney’s iconic golfing establishments.
I Over a seven month period Concord embarked on an audacious course redevelopment programme which saw the redesign and resurfacing of all greens and surrounds and bunkers. Pictured is the 15th green with the 16th in the background 14
n mid-September 2017, Concord Golf Club started a greens reconstruction programme that included the rebuilding of all greens and redesigning several holes, all bunker complexes, minimising several out of bounds problems and generally providing golfers with a more enjoyable course. The course was originally founded in 1899 and while a book could be written on its full history, in recent times a project in 1996 saw all greens and bunker complexes redesigned by Ross Watson. In what could be considered a very recent time scale, the previous project was prior to the now common practice of ‘dusting in’ and thatch had accumulated in the top 75mm of the greens during the early years. Bunker liners were also not industry practice and with an underlying clay base all the bunkers had become contaminated and were poorly drained.
AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.3
These two issues being resolved formed the origins of the latest project which, with all good things in life, grew into a much larger proposition. These projects grow due to two main reasons economies of scale and opportunity. This project went smoothly as it was recognised early and incorporated into the design, budget and planning.
ARCHITECT SELECTION Following an extensive process, the club was very fortunate to acquire the services of Renaissance Golf Design (RGD), whose principal Tom Doak has gained a reputation of being one of the best golf course architects in the world. Brian Slawnick, one of RGD’s senior design associates, has carried out various successful projects in Australia and was willing to relocate his family for six months to oversee the design and shaping.