PROJECT CONCEPT PHASE

Developing the concept...

The project concept phase is the natural progression of the Survey & Analysis phase, and is also influenced by other factors including client input and budget requirements.

At this stage, the initial planning of the project - whether it is an early routing plan based upon several green sites or the assessment of possible tee positions for extending a hole - will be investigated from many angles and scenarios to generate the solution that best suits the project brief and makes the best possible use of all land and features.

The nuts and bolts...  

The key function of this phase is to establish parameters relating to shape, style, and character as well as matters of strategy and playability. These are the important design and aesthetic principles that are paramount to the success of the eventual design and are adopted on a hole to hole or feature to feature basis, depending on the nature of the project.

It is also important to plot a journey for all of these elements that will carry the golfer throughout every hole and will combine to provide the complete golf environment and experience.

Which nut with which bolt...  

With any product, the early planning and design has a massive impact on the quality of the end result. With golf course design this process is no less important, with every decision - no matter how small or insignificant it may seem - having a knock-on effect elsewhere in the design.

This is best considered by imagining a new piece of property to be developed as a golf course. You are first on site and get to decide the green and tee locations for one hole. You look around the site and select the perfect green location - a peninsula of ground jutting out into the water. You then decide on the best direction from which to attack this tricky position and you discover a beautiful, elevated patch surrounded by mature vegetation. Your job is complete, it has the makings of a great hole.

The next person on site has to select another set of green and tee locations. They want their hole to be as good as yours but their job has been made more difficult by your selection. Now imagine the prospect facing the person making 18th selection?

This may sound overly simple but it illustrates the complicated thought process that goes into refining every decision that generates the golf course.