General

Since studying for a VQ with the European Institute of Golf Course Architects I have become familiar with the design work of a Philadelphian named Albert Warren Tillinghast. Known affectionately by his friends as ‘Tillie’, he is recognised by many as one of the most colourful and outlandish characters of the games’ history.

After his death in 1942, for more than 30 years Tillie became a forgotten man. It was not until 1973 when Frank Hannigan and his colleagues from the USGA realised that four of their ten tournaments in 1974 would be played on Tillinghast courses. His story would finally be told.

Albert Warren Tillinghast was born in Frankford, Philadelphia on May 7, 1874. His father founded and managed a very successful rubber company operating plants in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Albert grew up with little discipline and was largely left to his own devices, he never lasted long at any school he attended and spent much of his time playing a street version of rugby with local gangs.

After a few years playing cricket, Tillingast eventually fell in love with the game of golf. During the 1890’s he travelled to Scotland with his family. It was here that he met and received golf lessons from Old Tom Morris, he went on to become a very established player and featured in many of the early majors.

Above: Tillinghast in the undergrowth

Tillinghast returned to the US. He was married at the age of 20 and became a typical sporting gentleman of the ‘roaring twenties’; he was a heavy drinker, lavish spender, master talker, flashy dresser and talented pianist. His magnificent waxed moustache became his trademark.

In 1907 a family friend named Charles Worthington invited Tillinghast to lay out a course on the Delaware River at Shawnee. The course proved an instant success and although it was not hugely influential at the time, it was whilst working on this project that, at 32 years of age, he had found a career.

Tillinghast was part of what has become known as the Philadelphian School of design. In the years leading up until World War I a group of men from Pennsylvania dreamed of building first rate golf courses and went on to do so. The other primary members of this group were William Fownes, George Crump, Hugh Wilson, George Thomas and William Flynn. They often met and discussed course design. One of George Crump’s most famous holes, the 7th at Pine Valley, or Hell’s Half Acre as it is known, is often accredited to Tillinghast.

He went on to design some of America’s greatest golf courses including Winged Foot East and West, San Francisco Golf Club, Somerset Hills, Bethpage Black, Baltusrol and Quaker Ridge.

Above: Bobby Jones plays from greenside bunker on Baltusrol’s 17th hole in 1926

Tillinghast also wrote on the subject of course design extensively for Golf Illustrated, the American Golfer, the PGA of America and numerous other leading journals of his era. It is widely thought that many of his design principles formed the foundation for the development of the golf courses we see today.

In 1937, Tillinghast moved to Beverley Hills, California, where he opened an antique shop. He started off selling personal belongings that he and his wife had collected over the years. After a couple years trading it is said that a majority of the movie stars either knew him well or bought from him.

Albert Warren Tillinghast had a fatal heart attack on May 19, 1942. He was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Toledo, Ohio.

All though by no means a prolific designer, Tillinghast is regarded by many as the best of his era. The sheer number of national and international tournaments that have been held on Tillinghast courses is testament to the quality of his design work. Bethpage, Baltusrol and Winged Foot have all hosted recent major championships.

I am confident, whether they are aware of it or not, that every golf course architect operating today has been influenced, at some point, by the work of Albert Warren Tillinghast.

European Golf Design, the golf course design company of the European Tour and IMG, has created some of the most successful professional tournament courses in Europe, including the Twenty Ten Course at the Celtic Manor Resort, venue of the 2010 Ryder Cup. In this feature interview, Jeremy Slessor, Managing Director of EGD, and designer Ross McMurray discuss the factors owners, investors and developers must consider in making their tournament course a success with the public as well as the professionals, and reveal the extraordinary challenges of a designing a golf course for one of the world’s biggest sporting events, the Ryder Cup.

How did you become involved with the design of the golf course for the 2010 Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor Resort?
Ross: “We were approached by the owner, Sir Terry Matthews, whose vision it was to bring the Ryder Cup bid to Wales. Having just opened a third course at Celtic Manor, the original intention was to design a fourth course, specifically for the event. However, the Usk Valley is a challenging landscape with steep slopes, and it would have been impossible to create a new course there that could have been walked twice in a day, which is required in the Ryder Cup.”

So, what was the solution?
Ross: “We began looking at sites close to the venue, but kept hitting the same hurdles.
We persevered, looking at various concepts, before agreeing a scheme to build nine new holes and add them to nine on what was then the Wentwood Hills Course. It took ten years of diligent design and construction, but ultimately it was this concept which came to pass at the 2010 Ryder Cup.”

Besides the golf course itself, what factors must be considered when designing a Ryder Cup venue?
Jeremy: “The infrastructure required is phenomenal. It’s much more than we deal with when masterplanning courses for European Tour events. The primary concern is the volume of spectators. There can be upwards of 40-45,000 people who, because of the nature of the Ryder Cup, want to see the start and stay to the end of play. So you have to consider this and how you get them onto and off the site, so transportation is fundamental.”

What else do you have to take into account?
Jeremy: “The media must be looked after, as they take the Ryder Cup to the world and so the media centre is a small community in its own right. A significant amount of space is required for a tented village, which is occupied by sponsors and retailers. Then there’s catering to consider – it must be possible to deliver food to the site, cook it and then clean up afterwards. So the whole event is a significant logistical challenge and the golf course design has to fit into the overall masterplan for the site.”

Does this actually impact on the course design?
Ross: “Definitely. In fact, the first tee on the Twenty Ten Course had originally been designed close to the clubhouse, but was moved more than 200 metres in order to facilitate the tented village and the media centre. I was actually able to come up with a potential design for the new nine-holes relatively quickly. However, there were so many considerations that impacted on the course layout, it ultimately took nearly six years to finalise the routing.”

Forever remembered as the wettest Ryder Cup ever, had you factored in the weather to your plans?
Ross: “It had been a point of discussion from the outset. Any outdoor event in Wales at the end of September has to expect some rain. Having three courses already, the resort had an understanding for what was needed to improve the drainage, but we had more to consider than just rainwater. In the event of heavy rain, the course was also threatened by rising floodwater from the River Usk and the local high-ground water tables.”

So what did you do?
Ross: “We raised the ground level around the river with a bund to prevent flooding and put perforated drainpipes through every fairway using a combination of drains and catch basins to capture surface water. We worked closely with the project engineers and the contractors to develop an overall drainage scheme which we felt would handle any eventuality. We wanted to ensure we’d done everything we could in order to protect the course from wet conditions. And thank goodness we did, as it was only because of those precautions that the Ryder Cup was completed.”

What was Sir Terry Matthews like to work with?
Jeremy: “He is very driven and demanding, but he’s very reasonable, too. He drove the project from beginning to end with the single goal of putting on the most successful Ryder Cup of all time and he would not take ‘no’ for an answer. The word just isn’t in his vocabulary. “On a number of occasions we were faced with a situation where all options seemed exhausted, but he couldn’t accept that. Invariably, we found a solution and learned a valuable lesson from that – if you look hard enough, you almost always find a solution to a seemingly insurmountable problem.”

Ross: “What I found admirable, was how he had put a great management team together who worked exceptionally with all the consultants involved in the process. It was a fantastic team to work for and over the years on the project, we got to know each other very well, learning how each other worked – it definitely made a positive impact on the overall result because we all pulled together, cohesively to ensure the Ryder Cup would be as good as it could be.”

You mention that Sir Terry wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, but are there occasions when a developer must listen to his team and moderate their hopes?
Ross: “Yes, absolutely. There are times when you must stand up and be counted, particularly when it comes to environmental issues. It is important to be responsible and developers are generally receptive to a professional opinion, provided there is sound reasoning behind it.”

What do you say to developers when they ask you to design a tournament course?
Jeremy: “The first question we ask is why they want a tournament course. There are occasions where it just isn’t suitable to build a facility of that stature. One of the mistakes some developers have made in the past, particularly in emerging markets, is building tournament courses without thinking who their paying customers are going to be day-to-day. Supply and demand in a locality are key factors and if the local market is ignored, commercial success can take longer than it should.”

How might a developer in a new golfing territory increase domestic demand for golf?
Jeremy: “We design different types of golf facilities including nine-hole par-3 courses, golf academies, practice areas as well as club courses, European Tour courses and Ryder Cup courses. In some circumstances, supplementing a championship golf course with an academy will provide the necessary nucleus to stimulate domestic participation.”

Does creating a tournament golf course reduce its playability for the golfing public?
Ross: “With creative design, you can ensure that all golfers can enjoy even the most demanding of tournament courses. We design the course so that the landing areas for public golfers are substantially wider than for professionals. We have to be careful that bunkers aren’t so difficult that golfers of all abilities can’t escape from them, while providing enough of a challenge to tour professionals. It’s a fine line, but it is possible.”

Is the Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor Resort an example of that?
Ross: “I believe so. It is certainly a demanding course, but it has become hugely popular with golf tourists and the feedback we have had has all been positive. Golfers appreciate that they’re playing a Ryder Cup course and they expect there to be a level of difficulty they’re not used to.”

How will your experience at Celtic Manor Resort influence your work at Le Golf National, Paris, ahead of the 2018 Ryder Cup?
Jeremy: “Le Golf National is a very different project compared with Celtic Manor Resort, but the experience that we gained in Wales will be crucial. Although it has hosted the Alstom Open de France, this is a much bigger event.”

What changes are you making to the golf course itself?
Ross: “Although there are some strategic changes to make, we will avoid significant alterations because there are so many aspects of the course which golfers really enjoy. Some bunkers will be moved, or upgraded, to offer more of a challenge to long-hitters – and the Ryder Cup demands a greater variety of flag positions than the existing greens offer, so we will rectify that. We will also move some of the tees to make the holes a little more interesting. Most of the major alterations we are planning to the golf course are to provide improved infrastructure, viewing and spectator circulation for the event. In particular we will be looking to create extensive areas for hospitality, using the experience we gained from Celtic Manor.”

Having spent more than ten years working towards it, what are your feelings looking back at the 2010 Ryder Cup?
Ross: “I am quite sentimental about it now. I thought I’d be glad for it to be over, but I do miss it and how it would occupy my day-to-day thoughts. It is the absolute highlight of my career; it isn’t everyone who gets an opportunity to design a course for the Ryder Cup. I think the memory of Graeme McDowell sinking his putt on the 16th will be with me forever.”

Graeme McDowell has won the European Tour Shot of the Year award for his dramatic putt on the 16th green during his Ryder Cup singles match on the Twenty-Ten Course at The Celtic Manor Resort.

McDowell collected the award from 2010 European Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie at the prestigious European Tour Player Awards Dinner, held last night at the Sofitel Heathrow. The ceremony was attended by the whole Ryder Cup team who also presented Monty with a present of their own as a thank you for his outstanding leadership. In all six of the top seven players in the world were present at the awards as well as all four current Major title holders.

European Golf Design’s Ross McMurray, who was responsible for creating the Twenty-Ten Course and was also a guest at the dinner, gave his support to McDowell’s award; “On a personal level Graeme’s putt on the 16th green during the Ryder Cup was easily the highlight of the year. The atmosphere after his approach shot found the green was unbelievable and the noise from the thousands of watching spectators when he holed that putt was amazing. It was a truly unforgettable experience for all of us at EGD who were present that day.”

Graeme McDowell celebrates on the 16th green at the Ryder Cup

The Celtic Manor Resort has been named as Sport Venue of the Year at last nights prestigious Sport Industry Awards 2011 in London. The lavish ceremony was attended by many of sports top industry executives and a host of sporting celebrities including Andrew Strauss, AP McCoy, Rory McIlroy, Jack Wilshere, Joe Calzaghe, Petr Cech, Michael Vaughan and Dame Kelly Holmes.

Celtic Manor Resort was the venue for last years dramatic Ryder Cup, the biennial competition between the best golfers in Europe and the United States. The matches were played over the challenging Twenty Ten Course at the Resort, which was especially created for the event by golf course designers, European Golf Design. Ross McMurray, lead designer for EGD on the project commented;

“I am delighted that Celtic Manor Resort has been recognized for staging what was one of the most exciting and dramatic sporting events of 2010. Despite the appalling weather the venue shone through and delivered what was undoubtedly one of the most successful Ryder Cup’s ever held. My congratulations go to everyone who was involved. European Golf Design is proud to have played a part in its success.”

The Sport Venue of the Year Award, sponsored by the evenings hosts Battersea Evolution, was received on behalf of The Celtic Manor Resort by Marketing & Commercial Director Gareth Rees Jones and PR Manager Paul Williams. The trophy was presented by sporting great James Cracknell and Sky Sports presenter Charlotte Jackson.

The eighth KPMG Golf Business Forum in Dubai recently took place, attended by Ross and I. European Golf Design were one of the Sponsors and for the third year running the event took place at a European Golf Design course, Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club. Previous venues being the Montgomerie Maxx Royale in Belek, Turkey and The Celtic Manor Resort in Wales.

An impressive line up of speakers included Colin Montgomerie along with the Chief Executive of The European Tour, George O’Grady. Over 300 delegates from 45 countries took part making it one of the industry’s biggest networking events of the year. Debates and Q&A panels took place over the three days discussing new business opportunities and key issues affecting the world of golf.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, CEO and Chairman of The Emirates Group and Chairman of Dubai World, was guest of honour on the opening day and a KPMG Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Dr David Chu, one of the driving forces behind the growth of the game in China.

Away from the conference there was time to meet up with delegates at a couple of social events, including golf at the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club. For both Ross and I it was our first trip to Dubai and it was fantastic to see one of our courses that Stan from European Golf Design worked on back in 2004. I was intrigued to see the floating tee on the 6th I’d heard so much about. Ross played the course and was relieved that instead of scorching hot temperatures Dubai received its first rain in 3 years during his round, me on the other had who taken a couple of hours off to see Dubai, not so happy!

Over the three days it was a great opportunity to meet up with a diverse group of people all working in the golf industry, as well as meeting old friends who I’ve worked with in the past. The delegate list was a Who’s Who of Golf and it was a great opportunity to see what others are doing and plans for the future of golf.

It hardly seems twelve weeks, let alone twelve months, since we were getting ready for Christmas 2009 but here we are again at the end of another year. As it has been for many, this has been a challenging year but, ultimately, a successful one. The highlight of the year unquestionably was the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor. Having spent the past ten years watching Ross, Alex, Matt and Will work so hard on this, it was a huge thrill to see all their hard work finally be recognised. Despite the weather, the course challenged the best players in the world for four days and provided those lucky enough to be there some amazing viewing, even if it was a little muddy underfoot. Beyond that, we’ve been fortunate to sign a number of new projects which we’re very excited about – next year should see us working in some new countries, which always adds to the interest of a project. And construction should start on three or four sites over the coming year.

Here are some of the highlights of the year from the rest of us:

Robin: Hosting the Ryder Cup committee’s site tour of our forthcoming golf course at Tres Cantos, which is the proposed venue for Madrid 2018.

Sarah: Arriving at the top of the hill down to the Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor on the Tuesday morning. The sun was shining over the valley and I thought WOW, how lucky to be part of this.

Dave: Seeing Ross have his first ever hole-in-one……pity it was his second ball, off a mat and to a temporary green! Hole halved in three.

Alex: Cycling from the office in Sunningdale to Celtic Manor the week of the Ryder Cup.

Gary: The highlight of my year was getting to attend the final day of the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor to experience the electric atmosphere and dramatic finish as Europe were victorious again!

Shara: Standing overlooking the 16th green at Celtic Manor 2010 Ryder Cup – last few hours of play.
Atmosphere breathtaking.

Matt: Being lucky enough to be at Celtic Manor for the 2010 Ryder Cup and seeing my Site Map around the course and people actually finding it useful!

Ross: The last day of the Ryder Cup and a victory for Europe in the sunshine.

Stan: Having Mac, Alex’s Labrador, join us in the office

On behalf of everyone here, we wish you all a happy Christmas and a successful, healthy 2011.

Jeremy.

Having decided to ride to The Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor for charity a few months ago the Monday morning start date was suddenly with us, after months of training, riding from the European Golf Design office to the Course should be no problem, after the training I did however, this was going to be very, very painful! Gary was in much better shape than me and feeling confident.

Having packed a tent and some cereal bars the night before we were almost ready, just one thing to do in the office before we left, print the route (very organised). With that done we set off on the road to Malmesbury (78 miles) where we hoped to spend the first night. After a steady start we quickly knocked off the first 25 miles, whilst having a drink it quickly dawned on me that we were not even 1/3 of the way through day one. Ouch. After another 23 miles we stopped for a late lunch – Super Noodles in a field – very tasty. It was almost 4 o’clock before we picked ourselves up again and had to get a move on as we still had 30 miles to cover before Malmesbury and we didn’t want to be setting the tent up in the dark. Finally we made it – the last 60 miles of day one were very painful! We pitched the tent and headed straight to the pub for a well deserved pint and some food. After the pub Gary went to the Co Op to buy some Bananas and Vaseline. Most men would be embarrassed doing that, Not Gary though. I was hiding under my hood outside the shop.

After a surprisingly good sleep next to Gary in a tent which is small at the best of times we headed off on Day 2. 71 Miles to go. We were reliably informed that the road to Gloucester was hilly, after that apparently it flattened out to Celtic Manor. The road to Gloucester via Stroud was indeed hilly and very painful! We made it though spurred on by the fact that it would get flatter. After getting lost in Gloucester and some lunch in another field we began the last 40 miles or so on the A48. Unfortunately our reliable information turned out to be unreliable, the flat never really came and the hills were relentless! By this time I was struggling to keep the bike going forward, Gary was patient and never once told me to ‘hurry the f*** up.’ Slowly but surely we ate up the miles (along with all the food we could find) and arrived at the course about 6.30. We stood proudly by The Celtic Manor sign and asked a security guard to take our photo – very kindly he refused! Luckily Sarah and Ross were close by. We threw the bikes in the car and headed off to the pub. As satisfying as it was to complete the ride look out for my bike on e-bay.

Details of the charity and sponsorship information can be found at: http://www.justgiving.com/Alex-Gary

Having graduated from the EIGCA education program but as of yet not working full time in golf design, I know the importance of keeping my eye in. So I was extremely grateful that the guys at EGD accepted me in to their office for a week to set me a challenging task, based on one that they had faced themselves a few years prior.

The project at hand was to redesign a new eighteen hole golf course from the remaining land available from two previous courses. Although the work had been undertaken by Ross McMurray, it was Robin Hiseman that would be my primary host and whilst he explained the brief to me, it immediately became clear that it would not be entirely straightforward: Firstly, the land had some of the severest elevation change that I had encountered. Secondly, redesigning golf holes over a site where existing holes are in place creates a very different set of problems than at a green-field location, not least because it is harder to visualise the land without what is there already.

Still, with a bottom line objective of routing the “best members’ course available on the land”, I stuck at it, going through countless iterations of possible outcomes and trying to fit the most pleasing jigsaw together from the options available. Finally I made some fundamental decisions which left me with two solutions, one of which I opted to develop in to an overall master plan.

My final day in the office was spent putting some shape, strategy and life in to the golf course and I’ll spend some further time back at home creating some detail to the design with some grading plans and green designs.

The week culminated in a visit down to the course for a match of the utmost seriousness. I think it better not to reveal the magnitude of my loss against Mr. Hiseman but the fact that we were shaking hands at the furthest point from the clubhouse perhaps hides a clue. Fortunately, I’ve had to invent a whole host of new excuses to account for my recent erratic golf; so it was pleasing to inform my opponent that I had been spending far too much time comparing the as-built course with my own routing from the drawing board. How was I supposed to concentrate on winning the game as well?

Needless to say, my warmest appreciation is due to Jeremy, Robin, Ross, Alex and all those in the office that gave their time up to help me. Go raibh mile maith agaibh.

By Ally McIntosh

Ally McIntosh on the 3rd Tee at The Montgomerie, Celtic Manor