£5m investment announced for historic public Scottish golf course
Work will be carried out at Belleisle course in Ayr by Pangaea Golf Architecture
South Ayrshire Council has given the green light to a £5 million investment in public golf.
This investment includes the renovation of the James Braid-designed Belleisle Golf Course in Ayr, with plans to upgrade bunkering throughout the course, install new irrigation, build new tees and reinstate a public putting green.
The project will also include an improved clubhouse experience and a self-contained ‘golfpod’ with the latest golf simulator technology, all within the historic Belleisle Park.
The golf course design work will be overseen by Pangaea Golf Architecture, a firm with roots in both Scotland and the USA. The work will be led by founding partners and golf course architects Stuart Rennie and Jeff Danner.
“James Braid’s beautifully resolved parkland routing has stood the test of time and is fully intact today,” said Rennie.
“Bunkering, however, has changed significantly from the original plans. The course now has a range of bunker shapes and styles, and there are some issues with subsoil contamination.
“We will renovate all of the bunkers across the course to create consistent playability, while restoring some of Braid’s original design intent.
“We are very fortunate to have a copy of a hand-drawn masterplan created by Braid and have found some interesting old photos of a more naturally shaped bunker style.
“Some of the bunkering would have been implemented with the ground game of 100 years ago in mind, so we will retain similar strategies while adapting placements for the modern game.”
Get our golf newsletter by clicking here
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.