Golf International Inc.By David BriceMost new golf courses are like wine – they often require time to mature and develop. But also similar to wine, there are some new courses that can be experienced young and are filled with character and personality from the moment they are first opened.
Dundonald Golf Club is such a course and the most recent addition to Scotland's already links rich, Ayrshire coastline. Dundonald, opened in 2003, is the handiwork of California-based architect Kyle Phillips, who took Scotland and the golfing world by storm in 2000 with his first Scottish design effort, Kingsbarns, near St. Andrews.
Taking an 18th century, nine-hole layout that had been turned over to farm use during the Second World War, Phillips demonstrated his respect for the traditional and a remarkable sensitivity toward the complex qualities that make Scottish links courses unique.
Kingsbarns amazed even the most dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists from the home of golf, skyrocketing to the lofty heights of the Top 100 Courses in The British Isles rankings, where it quickly reached 13th position. Firmly ensconced alongside Carnoustie and St. Andrews Old Course as the regular triumvirate of courses to host the annual Dunhill Links Championship (previously The Dunhill Cup) it's only a matter of time before the masterpiece at Kingsbarns is brought into the British Open rotation.
For Phillips, Dundonald was the opportunity for an encore and a chance to repeat his triumph at Kingsbarns. He has not disappointed. Similar to Kingsbarns, Dundonald was an ancient links layout that had fallen into disrepair some 70 years earlier. Dundonald did not have the glory of feeding a country at war; it merely became a wasteland. Surrounded by concentration of classic links such as Prestwick, Troon, Western Gailes and a dozen more, most locals had long forgotten this was ever a course in its own right.
Unlike Kingsbarns, Dundonald was pure Ayrshire linksland in the truest sense of the word -- flat terrain made up of light, sandy soil that was once covered by the sea. Phillips saw the opportunity to bring his own design talent into play and take what might be the very last piece of real estate remaining in the Kingdom still available for golf course development, and build the ultimate links layout.
With modern design technology, the determination to build a course that fitted into its surroundings and a tremendous concern to preserve links tradition, Phillips has produced nothing less than a links masterpiece.
The thoroughly natural feeling to the layout belies the amount of manmade changes that have been introduced so effectively. In all fairness, the original Dundonald course was probably a little boring in comparison to some of its neighbors, but no more, the course is already among the most exciting layouts in a neighborhood filled with thriller links.
Measuring a heft 7,300 yards from the tips, only the most accomplished should ever dream of undertaking the full Dundonald challenge. Thankfully, a variety of tee boxes make it a test that even high handicappers can tackle with hopes of a good showing while enduring every test provided by a superior links – and a superior links it certainly is.
How good is it? Good enough for the exclusive Loch Lomond Golf Club to purchase Dundonald quite recently for a princely $20 million.
Loch Lomond Golf Club is one of a thankfully tiny minority of Scottish golf clubs that actively dissuades visitors. The only way you can play their home, parkland course, situated on the shores of Loch Lomond, is as the personal guest of one of its members.
For the time being, Loch Lomond is allowing a very limited number of visitors to play Dundonald, but there is no telling how long such generosity might last. This is a fine wine of a golf course and it's ready to drink today; best get to play this exceptional new addition to Scotland's links inventory while you can.
For a few suggestions on how best to add Ayrshire's new Dundonald course to your Scotland golf itinerary, click here.Labels: Dundonald, Press
LinksBy Malcolm CampbellMedieval kings and horse-racing dukes once claimed this scenic plat on the Firth of Clyde. Today a deep-pocketed American developer has some calling it the seaside sensation of Scottish golf.
With much of Scotland's links land already occupied by some of the greatest venues in golf, few new seaside courses have appeared on the game's home turf since the early 20th century. That drought was broken in 2000 when the acclaimed Kingsbarns opened on the Fife coast just south of St. Andrews.
Then, with natives still abuzz over the eye-pop-ping Kyle Phillips design, a links course was announced for a classic site in Ayrshire, just a stone's throw from Royal Troon on the country's west coast. Phillips, the American whiz kid, got the assignment from Castle 2000 Property Development, which named the project "Southern Gailes" to complement a pair of established venues in the region, Western Gailes and Glasgow Gailes.
Then came an even bigger buzz: In early 2003, before work was completed on Southern Gailes, the developer sold it to Lyle Anderson's Loch Lomond Golf Club. Among the cognoscenti, eyebrows angled skywards, locals all too aware the new owners were an international – and very private – golf club.
Southern Gailes acquired not only a new owner, but also a name change and a shift in philoso-phy. Rechristened as Dundonald – a one-word name in the Scottish tradition of Carnoustie, Prestwick, Muirfield and Turnberry – it moved from the realm of open public links to that of exclusive private property, a notion that is anathema to many Scots in a land where golf is still considered a basic human right.
Public-or-private controversy aside, Dundonald is a fascinating site. The name – literally "Fort Donald” – derives from fortifications discovered on a nearby hillside dating as far back as 500 B.C. A castle once used as a summer residence for Scottish Kings was built there by Robert II in 1371. It was one of three medieval fortresses on the site between the early 12th century and 1647.
In 1911 the first attempt was made at building a golf course. The land was owned at the time by His Grace William John Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentinck, Duke of Portland, Welbeck, Worksop and Nottingham, whose locker name-plate must have been something to behold. Actually, history doesn't say much about the Duke's prowess with a cleek or mashie; his passion was horse racing, and he reached the pinnacle of his ambition in 1888, when he won The Derby, of the English Classic series, with a horse appropriately named "Ayrshire."
When a club was formed, it was named Dundonald and the members had the original course stretched to 6,700 yards, a monster by the standards of the time. The first 100 members were admit-ted at an annual fee of one guinea, about $2 by today's reckoning.
That original course was lost just be-fore the Second World War. Conscription was introduced at that time and the Dundonald Army Camp was built on the land after the British requisitioned it for military use. When Phillips was hired to bring golf back to the site, comparisons with Kingsbarns were inevitable. But the land he was given to work with at Dundonald is markedly different from the Fife site: The Dundonald terrain is much flatter and subtler in its movement, whereas massive amounts of dirt had to be moved to create the dramatic Kingsbarns. The overall effect is much more in tune with an older-style links than the modern interpretation that works so well at Kingsbarns.
Phillips was keen to retain that tradi-tional feel after initially walking the site in 1999. "The ground was all ancient beach sand," he says. "There were a few small dunes, some rushes and gorse ar-eas running through it. I tried to utilize the strongest and most interesting of the natural features and then create grander, more dramatic landforms and features over the remainder of the site.
"I wanted to create a new championship Ayrshire-style course that felt and played as though it was an old 'rediscovered' course by integrating newly constructed features with the existing site features."
Since the Loch Lomond acquisition, Phillips has made minor changes to his original design, the most obvious being the disappearance of the Montgomery Burn. That stream ran through several holes and has since been piped underground and lowered by several feet to improve drainage. Above it, a dry ditch remains as a hazard and a reminder. Dundonald initially opened for preview rounds in mid-2003, then closed so those improvements could be made over the winter. It’s now open year-round, making it a welcome complement to its sister course at Loch Lomond, located an hour's drive inland and closed from November through March.
Stretching an uncompromising 7,300 yards from the championship tees, Dundonald clearly has the depth of character to test the best. When the wind blows, par 72 seems as far from reach as the Isle of Arran, which rises from the sea to the west and dominates the wonderful view from Dundonald's fairways across the Firth of Clyde toward Northern Ireland.
Already it seems likely the Scottish Open will move here from Loch Lomond after the current sponsor's agreement with Barclays expires in 2006. Those who have long cam-paigned to have this great event returned to a traditional links course will rejoice.
The Phillips' philosophy that demands a variety of decisions from tee to green is very much in evidence here. And as with Kingsbarns, there are a considerable number of tightly mown areas around the greens, allowing errant shots to run away from the target and putting a premium on skillful recovery work.
The designer's affinity for links golf is clearly reflected in the large, rolling greens and often penal bunkering, some of it reminiscent of St. Andrews itself. Two holes are particularly noteworthy. The par-4 16th (the No. 1 handicap) typically plays with the prevailing wind but has a hog’s-back hump to add an element of chance to any drive that carries the first fairway bunker. In the right conditions, the long par-5 third can be reachable in two, but only with a perfect drive thread-ed between the ditch on the right side and a bunker that threatens the left.
Like Loch Lomond, Dundonald is generally restricted to members and guests, but a few visitor times are set aside each day after 2 p.m. With the 2004 British Open now at hand in nearby Troon, golf fans will likely be in the mood for links golf and clamoring for those tee times.
For more information on Dundonald, call 011-44-1436-655340 or visit www.lochlomond.comLabels: Dundonald, Press
Golf WorldThis summer another extraordinary links course will be officially unveiled. Dundonald, formerly known as Southern Gailes, just a couple of miles up the coast from Royal Troon, where this year's Open Championship is due to take place, is the latest in a line of links courses which have recently been uncovered.
Following the rave reviews of Kingsbarns on the east coast of Scotland, American designer Kyle Phillips has once more produced what looks like a masterpiece, this time on the west coast. In February 2003 the course was acquired by the exclusive Loch Lomond Golf Club, and although two tee times a day will be reserved for the general public, the course is primarily for the use of the golf club's international membership.
Loch Lomond will hold The Barclays Scottish Open a week before The Open in July but given that this event has occasionally suffered because some players feel a parkland course is not the obvious place to warm up for the ultimate links test at the Open Championship, there are already some suggesting that Dundonald could be the ideal future site for this event. Watch this space.Labels: Dundonald, Press
Executive GolferBy Edward F. Pazdur"Kyle Phillips' first course designed in Scotland, Kingsbarns Golf Links near St. Andrews earned him an unprecedented endorsement from The Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews."
Newly acquired, Dundonald makes an exceptionally worthy companion to Lyle Anderson's Loch Lomond, a renowned international private club in Scotland with members from 42 countries, and 48 of America's states. With the addition of Dundonald, Loch Lomond Golf Club, located just 30 minutes from Scotland's Glasgow International airport, has surely become the world's "mecca" of golf.
The rank of mecca is easily justified. Its international membership includes 42 countries and 48 American states representing virtually every important private club in the world.
Chairmen, presidents, owners and senior executives have become members and formed a network of leading decision makers worldwide. " Loch Lomond is a remarkable achievement in a remarkable setting. Never turn down an invitation to play there," said Peter Burt, a member and recently retired Group Chief Executive of the Bank of Scotland, and Muirfield Captain.
The addition of Dundonald to Loch Lomond is a masterful move. It boosted the prominence of Loch Lomond within international circles and significantly added to its worldwide stature.
Dundonald is a new links course located about an hour's drive from Loch Lomond and just north of Troon, Scotland. Anderson initially became interested last November when its name was Southern Gailes Golf Links with an uncertain future.
Phil Schneider, Vice Chairman of the Anderson Company, accompanied Anderson to take a look at it. "The owner decided he wanted to sell the club for personal reasons," said Schneider. It had not opened. "We thought we might look at it and see if it would be possible, over time, to make arrangements for Loch Lomond members to play there from time to time. But, when we got down there," explained Schneider, "we walked all 18 holes, designed by Kyle Phillips, and found all 18 to be outstanding. Our plans were changed right on the spot. We decided Loch Lomond Golf Club should try to buy it!"
The purchase was negotiated and completed by the end of January of this year. One of the first things on Anderson's agenda was a name change. A variety of names was tossed back and forth.
Anderson decided, with the encouragement of others who favor a traditional approach to simply name it "Dundonald" without the word "links" with the name. Prince Andrew, who is serving as the international captain for Loch Lomond Golf Club, said he strongly favored a one word name in the tradition of links courses such as Troon, Carnoustie, Muirfield and Donorch. Dun means fort, so the name means Fort Donald and refers to a nearby hill which has had fortifications since the period of 500 to 200 B.C., and has had small castles between then and now.
Prior to World War II, there was an old course called Dundonald at the site and the Dundonald name was used for that area when it was converted for military use. There is also a small town of the same name nearby. Consequently, there is some very relevant history to the name.
When word got out to Loch Lomond members, it created a lot of excitement and pressure to play it. Kyle Phillips felt there was still some drainage and finishing work to be done.
As a compromise, it was decided to open it to club members sometime in July on a "preview" basis, until the fall, and then close it for a number of months to fully complete it, with a true grand opening on the finished course in 2004.
"We'll have a very nice temporary clubhouse facility this summer. Our permanent clubhouse will be ready in 2004," said Schneider. "And we have planning approval for forty (4-bedroom) cottages that would be along the golf course. Over time, there could be accommodations for members and their guests as well as sold to members."
I asked: "How about the Anderson Company specialty and the development of a golf community?"
"There will be no homesites," replied Schneider. "This is a private club and an extension of Loch Lomond."
The buzz among Americans familiar with golf in the U.K. and among the Brits themselves is that Dundonald will become one of the very best links courses in the world. The real beneficiaries, of course, are Loch Lomond members. They have just been handed a second golf course to play and can look forward to a third, designed by Jack Nicklaus at Loch Lomond, in the near future.
"We are going through a really exciting time at Loch Lomond Golf Club. In addition to golf we're adding a spa within the historic Walled Garden and beautiful new cottage accommodations for members and their guests," said Schneider.Labels: Dundonald, Press
Scotland on SundayBy Paul ForsythOn a warm summer's evening by the Ayrshire coast, as lengthening shadows are cast across the dunes and the hazy outline of the Isle of Arran shimmers in the distance, it seems almost sacrilegious to suggest that so spiritual a setting, a haven at one with nature, could be manufactured by hand.
But Kyle Phillips has mastered the art. On a short trip from his home in Sacramento, where he is establishing a reputation as one of the leading golf-course architects, the 45-year-old American uses up every last hour of daylight, steering his buggy between the gorse bushes, content that he has played God with the land.
If the future of golf is man-made, this is the man who is making it. By transforming a patch of disused farmland six miles south of St Andrews into the spectacular layout now known as Kingsbarns, Phillips has made his name as the designer who re-creates nature. He is literally altering the landscape of links golf in Scotland.
His latest project is on the course formerly known as Southern Gailes, recently acquired by Loch Lomond Golf Club and renamed Dundonald. On Tuesday, the first ball will be struck in its "preview opening," a prelude to the official version next summer.
Set among a concentration of classic venues, from Prestwick to Turnberry and Troon, Dundonald has much in common with the acclaimed Kingsbarns. Both sites were home to ancient courses that fell into disrepair during the Second World War; while the Fife venue was later given over to livestock, its Ayrshire equivalent became wasteland.
Phillips, commissioned by Dundonald's previous owner, Yaqub Ali - who died this month - is attempting to make history. "What I try to do is design a course that looks old. I want it to be very difficult for players to establish what is man-made and what was already there. I'm hoping that in a couple of years, people will think Dundonald has been there for decades.
Which is not to say that his two additions to the country's links are from the same mould. Phillips studies nearby courses in an attempt to reproduce the land forms and characteristics of that area. The sprawling greens of Fife , for instance, tend to dwarf Ayrshire counterparts.
"Most Americans think links is one thing, something that fits into a little box, but it's not.
Where Kingsbarns is a course that sits on top of a hill, with those wonderful views in front of you, Dundonald is more like Carnoustie or Lytham St Annes, or even Troon. It's down among the dunes. You're near the coastline, but you don't really have a great deal of visual contact with the sea."
Dundonald, which will closed in October for the winter, cost Loch Lomond Golf Club an estimated ÂŁ10 million. Existing members will be given the opportunity to play as part of their membership, while a couple of tee times will be made available to the public each day. As well as developing 40 four-bedroom lodges, the new owners, noted for their emphasis on exclusive luxury, are building a temporary clubhouse while they decide what to do with the existing, half-built one.
"It's a very traditional golf course, probably as pure as it gets," says Phillips . "It's also an old-fashioned, walking course. It's not a hilly site, and you don't have to cross busy roads, which is great to see because there is so much emphasis on carts and battery-powered buggies nowadays."
Conscious that their stellar field for the Scottish Open could be even better were the tournament staged on a links course, Loch Lomond this year will allow their entrants to practice at Dundonald for the Open Championship.
"They have the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond but, from everything I've heard, it sounds like a real possibility that it could move to Dundonald," says Phillips . "The Americans are over here to play the Open, so they want to be playing links golf. It wouldn't take a lot to bring the fairways in and create some very Open-like conditions down here."
The designer can see why Keith Williams, vice-president of Loch Lomond, has been championing Dundonald for a place on the Open rota. "One of the advantages of this course is its accessibility," says Phillips . " St Andrews is a fantastic place for an Open, but the road system isn't perfect. It's easy to move galleries around here, and there are enough elevated positions for viewing."
One of Phillips' first contracts when he set up his company in 1997 was to remake the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Manassas , venue for the 2000 Presidents Cup. "That made me more aware of where you might put tented villages and corporate facilities. There is certainly room for that at Dundonald. It's a spacious site. We have land out the back that could be a fantastic car park."
Phillips is striving to preserve tradition without ignoring the demands of modern golf. Improved technology has widened the gap between long- and short-hitters, thereby increasing the number of tees and generally complicating the architect's job.
"What I like best is the creative side. It's very easy to become obsessed with technical stuff, like which is the best irrigation system, but you have to shut that out. The great links courses had natural irrigation, and the emphasis was on architecture. If we can do that a bit more, we'll have better courses to play on."Labels: Dundonald, Press
