Golf Course Architecture: Issue 57 - July 2019

23 Lido-inspired design set for 2020 opening Construction is progressing with Ban Rakat Club’s new Ballyshear Golf Links course near Bangkok, Thailand, designed by Gil Hanse and inspired by Long Island’s famous lost course, Lido, designed by Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor. “This is our first project in Thailand,” said Hanse. “It has provided us with the opportunity to design a golf course on a very unique piece of land – deploying a philosophy that relies heavily not just on the history of this game, but its strategic history. “The design of Ballyshear is based on the principles and philosophies espoused by two giants of vintage course architecture, Macdonald and Raynor, who made their marks by replicating in America specific golf holes from classic Scottish links – the Redan at North Berwick, for example. The Alps at Prestwick. These holes represent our inspiration and aspiration at Ban Rakat – just as they inspired Macdonald and Raynor at hallowed grounds such as The National Golf Links of America, Chicago Golf Club, and specifically Lido Golf Club.” Lido Golf Club on Long Island was designed and built by Macdonald and Raynor in 1918, before being abandoned during World War II. Dr Alister MacKenzie also contributed to the layout, having won a design contest for its eighteenth hole. Hanse’s Ballyshear layout includes a ‘Dog’s Leg’ par-four second, based on Raynor’s design for the sixth at the Lido club. Other famous template designs – such as Cape, Biarritz, Redan and Short holes – will also feature at the Bangkok course. Construction began in January 2018 on the site of the former Kiarti Thanee Country Club. The Ballyshear layout will be open for play in early 2020. Gil Hanse has also recently completed projects at Tokyo Golf Club in Japan, Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania and Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa. The Tokyo course (pictured above) has two green complexes per hole, named Asaka and Chichibu after club locations before it moved to its present site in Sayama in northwest Tokyo. “During this project we renovated the Chichibu green complexes, rebuilt all and re-positioned some of the fairway bunkers and mounds, created new back and forward teeing grounds, and removed a significant number of trees from the golf course,” said Hanse. Hanse completes renovation projects at Tokyo, Merion and Southern Hills TEE BOX Photo: Tokyo GC Image: Ban Rakat Club