Brian Shaw, Head Professional, interviews Dr Martin Hawtree, renowned golf course architect with responsibility for the redesign of Trump International Golf Links Doonbeg.

Brian

What is your earliest memory of golf course design?

Dr Hawtree

My earliest memories relate to my father: a simple drawing board laid out in the back of the pro shop at Addington Court Golf Club (which my family had run as a public golf course since the 1930s) on a Sunday morning when my father was on duty looking after the shop alternately taking green fees and then disappearing behind the counter with his pens and Indian ink to continue with the plan for Saint Nom la Breteche outside Paris in the late 1950s. It was a family business – my aunt had run the club pretty much single handed during the war – and only in the 1960s when a boom in golf development arrived did he disappear upstairs to a more private office with full-time secretary and much more drafting assistance.

Brian

When did you decide to make Golf course architecture a career?

Dr Hawtree

I think it was more a question of never really deciding to do anything else. After an Arts degree I went to Liverpool University to study Urban Design and went on to do a doctorate in the history of the early years of the town planning profession. This was perhaps more in the spirit of a back-up if the golf architectural business should ever falter. The grant ran out; holiday job; with Hawtree & Son of course; completed PhD; carried on with H & S; never looked back! Or perhaps never had to look back.

Brian

Where is your first ever design work? Have you changed anything there over the years?

Dr Hawtree

My first design was for the 9-hole course at Royal Waterloo in Belgium.  I was 11 years old at the time and for some reason my father did not entirely respect the integrity of my design.  Anyway nearly 50 years later I was able to change the design but I too had some misgivings about what I had drawn all those years ago; so did the committee, and we simply renovated my father’s layout.  My first real design on my own was for the Cobtree Manor public course in Maidstone in Kent.  Still I think there much as I left it.  But yes as one grows older one always feels a better job could have been done if it had come later in career.  But objectively that may not always be the case.  As with musical composers there may be a freshness, a liveliness, about the juvernilia.

Brian

Was it your Grandfather or Father that influence you the most?  Did they differ in their philosophies?

Dr Hawtree

Intellectually I think my father.  My grandfather died when I was 8, so I never really knew him that well.  But there were many older Greenkeepers – my grandfather had founded the Greenkeepers Association in 1912 – who I would meet later on who said I was very like my grandfather.  He was a self-made man, much like his future business partner JH Taylor, who very early on came to understand the need for the education neither of them had received.  Both men sent their sons to Oxford!  I took it to excess spending 7 years at various universities.  But my style of architecture is probably more like my grandfather’s.  It was a more evident style because Hawtree and Taylor built the courses they designed.  My father’s style you had to look for spare, more cerebral.

Brian

Do you approach a links project differently than you would a parkland project?

Dr Hawtree

To some extend yes, Wind is such a factor in links golf and it is difficult or doesn’t fee; right to start introducing the more precise strategic design one might contemplate on an inland course.  For me there much always be relaxation, refreshment of the body and mind, almost a holiday feel about links golf, all of the values that spearheaded the original development and expansion of the game in the late 19^th century, But of course I have had to turn on the pressure somewhat when dealing with the big championship courses and keeping them fit for purpose with all of the developments in the game.

Brian

The majority of your design projects appears to be “improvements works”.  Do you try to maintain the integrity of the previous design or do you start with a blank canvas?

Dr Hawtree

Not really, Between 1985 – 1998 we must have built 60 or more new courses in UK, France, Belgium, Portugal, Turkey, or Scandinavia.  In the last 29 years or so, yes, mainly alternations, renovations, extensions.  I enjoy this kind of work, getting under the two skins of the site and the original architect.  Not always easy work: difficult to please everyone.

Brian

What was your most challenging project?

Dr Hawtree

The most difficult have certainly been the hilly sites, trying to get the best out of the site without massive earth movement or tiring out the player. When a difficult site moves on to become a challenging site and a very challenging one, enter stage Mr Trump and a request at Aberdeen for simply the best!

Brian

What part do great construction companies play? Is your relationship with the

‘shapers’ critical?

Dr Hawtree

Construction companies play a huge role. When Colt was building new courses in

UK and Ireland he had the good services of Suttons and Carters, both experienced

Contractors and seed companies. When Colt returned to see the finished results of his plan for the Toronto Golf Club I believe he could see the problem of working away from home and for the first time realised he was going to have to do more than a layout plan with a few directions if he was going to get what he wanted when working abroad. On the other hand I have found it quite stimulating working with unknown contractors who don’t think they know what you want. Shapers are key but again I shall never forget the challenge and final pleasure of working with an unknown shaper – the bizarre picture of a one-armed Poclain driver who had lost his arm in the war – in Mazamet east of Toulouse, who somehow nudged his way round a green with some beautiful results.

Brian

What is your philosophy?

Is it something that is constantly evolving?

Dr Hawtree

Very simple and never really changing: get the very best out of a piece of ground and work and rework the layout until you do. And of course it takes years of experience to know when you have got the best out of piece of ground. Sheer hard work in that direction was what I learnt most from my father; pencil draft after pencil draft appearing amidst a coating of erasings and cigarette ash – it was the 1960s.  The goal of all of this is to create interest for the golfer. Yes, enjoyment, pleasure, challenge, beauty, of course that’s all part of it. But interest is the value I prize most.

Brian

Are there other great designers that you admire?

Dr Hawtree

Yes. My hero has for long been Harry Colt. I cannot think of another architect who has brought such day-in-day-out, golfing enjoyment to so many golfers in the UK and Ireland. He forged a new profession. I have had the privilege of working on over 20 Colt courses and they are all just so solid from the earliest essays in Rye and Ganton to the heights of Muirfield, the Eden, and Sunningdale New.

Brian

The St. Andrews project… apart from being the ultimate honour, was it a nervous experience handling the most famous of them all?

Dr Hawtree

I suppose there was always a tension lurking in the background and it was initiated in the first phase of the works by a barrage of hate mail. But Peter Dawson gave me a great deal of support and guidance, Gordon Moir and his ground staff were a huge asset and in the end you just have to get on with the job respecting the spirit of the place and all you have learnt in the past. The first time after the changes the chairman of greens at Sunningdale played the 2nd hole he took 10 shots so I was not sure whether I would continue at either course! But at the Open last year I am not sure how many of the players were conscious of much

change. The changes at the Eden green were certainly challenging in many senses but we were simply looking for pin positions which had been lost for many years as a result of mowing heights and green speeds becoming more and more aggressive. Many of the changes we made were quite small and subtle and we abandoned machinery for the shovel and rake.

 

Brian

The Aberdeen experience…What was your first impression of the site?..In my opinion it may be the best I’ve played…is it your ‘piece de resistance’?

Dr Hawtree

Aberdeen and working with Mr Trump was a wonderful experience. The site was magnificent and my main objective was to leave the site to do as much of the work as possible. The human hand seemed just too feeble in this place. I felt and still feel a huge responsibility for fulfilling Mr Trump’s dream. I developed a strong relationship with him and by and large with probably weekly or twice weekly telephone calls he trusted me to get on with the job and produce something very special. I had great support from my own practice, the contractors, the Trump staff in Aberdeen and many consultants. But the final results would be my responsibility.

I love the course because I love the site. And I hope I have done the site justice. A great joy for me were two players who I met out on the course, one saying it was the best day’s golf he had ever had, and the other hinting at a spiritual dimension to the experience, winding his way through the high dunes.

Brian

You received huge acclaim for your redesign of Lahinch GC…how pleased were you with the finished product?

Dr Hawtree

Lahinch was a cardinal point in my career. Much tension and soul-searching lay behind those four years but there was a huge amount of pleasure, again with a great team. As really the first time a well-known and much loved links had undergone a huge redevelopment and with the positive response from members and visitors to the transformation it really launched me into the world of links golf as well as championship golf. When I walk round the course now 12 or more years later there may be things I would have done a little differently but in the main there’s the feeling “did I really do that?” And there is more than one way you can interpret that.

Brian

The Doonbeg experience….I have too many specific questions for one interview…what do you feel was achieved over the last two years?…

Dr Hawtree

I have loved working at Doonbeg.  Again the team have been outstanding.  It must be the 12^th links I have worked on with these contractors and the shapers, knowing my mind almost better than myself, have made it in some way a more relaxed project than many which has perhaps been reflected in the finished product: yes a challenge if you want it, but simply a great seaside, enjoying mind-refreshing experience within a most dramatic piece of land and seascape.

To experience the Dr Martin Hawtree redesign of Trump International Golf Links Doonbeg

email info@jdgolf.ie or call +353 61 364000

One of the most desired addresses in Europe, Quinta do Lago in the Algarve, is a unique destination with so much to offer.

The ideal airport for the Algarve is Faro Airport a mere 20minutes drive from our Villa in Quinta do Lago.  Before setting off on our golfing and culinary adventure, we had pre-arranged a rental set for me from Clubs to Hire.  Located at the airport, Clubs to Hire are the No.1 Golf Rental Company in Europe.  The service was quick and efficient, and in no time left with my TaylorMade Jet Speed and Speed Blade Irons, golf bag, tees and golf balls.  We then headed to Hertz Car Hire desk and picked up our vehicle, a Mercedes Shooting Brake, ample room for both sets and luggage.

During our time we played four golf courses, the three courses attached to Quinta do Lago, North, South and Laranjal, all three are championship courses.  The North Course was named Best New Golf Course in Europe at the 2014 World Golf Awards.  The South Course has hosted the Portuguese Open eight times and a real favourite among European Tour Professionals.  Laranjal is an old orangery, orange and cork trees are plentiful, great test with terrific greens, watch out for the Par 3’s!  We also headed into the Serra Do Caldeirao Mountains and played Monte Rei.  The drive was less than an hour, an exceptional course, a must play on your golfing itinerary.  Quinta do Lago has an exclusive training and golf academy in partnership with world-renowned European tour professional and 2014 European Ryder Cup captain, Paul McGinley. The facilities are extremely impressive and all you require.

There are an abundance of excellent restaurants to enjoy on your culinary experience while visiting Quinta do Lago and Encosta do Lobo.  Casa do Lago serves fresh fish and seafood, the Turbot and the Sole are superb.  Bovino is a brand new addition, an impressive steakhouse with splendid interior.  Casa Velha is a fine dining French restaurant, located beside Bovino, serving amazing cuisine.  Parrilla Natural is an outstanding steakhouse and restaurant, full of charisma and personality, famous for its open grill and magical summertime nights.  Cocina Natural is a sister restaurant of Parrilla Natural, severing top-notch food throughout the day.  After dinner we were entertained by the Washington’s a wonderful band.  For a lighter and healthier option, Pure boutique café and juice bar is the go to spot for breakfast and lunch.  For the best Tapas and Cocktails in a breath taking location, head to The Shack Bar.  KoKo Lane for something delicious any time of the day and Gigi’s on the beach for amazing seafood.

There are copious Villas for rent.  If you would prefer the 5* hotel option in Quinta do Lago we would highly recommend The Conrad Algarve and the 5* Dona Filipa Hotel in Vale do Labo.  Vilamoura is less than 30mins drive with lots of hotel options to choose from to suit all budgets.

Endless golfing delights, superb food, great wines and the hospitality of the Portuguese people made our Algarve experience all the greater.

For further information to on our Itineraries to Portugal, please contact info@jdgolf.ie or visit our website for suggested golf trips http://www.jdgolftours.com/destinations/spain-portugal/

The ‘Old Course’ at Lahinch is frequently referred to as the ‘St Andrews of Ireland’.  It looks out on the ever-changing Wild Atlantic Way on the South West Coast of Ireland.  One of the reasons for the similarity between St. Andrews and Lahinch is the close proximity of both golf course and town. The club is one of the oldest golf clubs in Ireland, established in 1892 and will celebrate its 125^th anniversary in 2017.

The natural terrain is used to the optimal advantage.  Undulating fairways and rolling greens, towering sand dunes that showcase the magnificent views across Liscannor Bay and beyond to the Cliffs of Moher.  There are an abundance of exceptional golf holes, most famously the “Klondyke (Par 5 – 4^th hole) and the Dell (Par 3 – 5^th hole) both will prove challenging for even the most experienced golfer!

Lahinch was originally designed by ‘Old’ Tom Morris of St. Andrews and extensively revised by Dr. Alister MacKenzie in 1928.  In more recent times Dr. Martin Hawtree added his wisdom and brilliance thus ‘restoring the MacKenzie course’.

Under the supervision of Dr Hawtree, the following improvements have taken place at Lahinch Golf Club over the winter season.

• Re-turfing of the Dell green and surrounds, introducing a mixture of fescue and bent grasses to improve the quality of the putting surface.
• Re-turfing and tee extension of the Dell hole.
• Re-turfing and new tee complex of the 6^th
• Continued work on the introduction of grass pathways throughout.
• Bunker maintenance and continued work on revetting bunkers and where necessary steps to allow access in/out of deeper bunkers.
• Construction and development of the short game practice academy, located on the old Army Barracks site across the road from the main clubhouse. This will include chipping greens, practice bunker area and putting green facility.
• Phase 1 of the short game practice academy is expected to open by mid-July. Phase 2 will include an indoor practice facility.

 

Lahinch Golf Club is the perennial home of the South of Ireland Amateur Championship and currently No. 4 in the Golf Digest-Volvo Top 100 Golf Courses in Ireland.   Lahinch has received world-wide acclaim and is consistently ranked among the worlds greatest and rightly so.

JD Golf Tours have been proud members of Lahinch Golf Club since 1968.

For further information to include Lahinch Golf Club on your golfing itinerary, please contact info@jdgolf.ie or visit our website for suggested golf trips http://www.jdgolftours.com/destinations/ireland/sample-golf-tours-of-ireland/.