Evian Resort, host of last weekend’s Ladies Evian Masters golf tournament, presented by Société Générale, is set to undergo a “dramatic” course upgrade as the venue prepares to host the LPGA’s new fifth major tournament from 2013.
The course, with breathtaking views of Lake Geneva, is being remodelled by European Golf Design (EGD), which was widely praised for producing the Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor Resort for the 2010 Ryder Cup.
Major construction work will begin after the recent event, with an exciting new design bringing spectators close to the action over Evian’s closing holes.
“Holes 15, 16, 17 and 18 are where everyone will see the most significant alterations,” said Dave Sampson, the project designer for EGD, the joint venture design company of the European Tour and IMG. “We are going to create a sense of drama for players and spectators alike by introducing an amphitheatre effect that will allow maximum visibility of the final action.
“We are also adding a number of new water features, some of which will be on the final stretch, for added excitement as well as aesthetic reasons. Elsewhere, we are rebuilding all 18 greens, making them larger and giving them more undulation to provide a greater variety of interesting pin positions.”
Widely praised for its role in producing Celtic Manor’s Twenty Ten Course to stage the 2010 Ryder Cup, EGD was employed by the Evian Royal Resort to ensure the Evian Masters course would be of the world-class standard necessary to stage a major event.
An initial construction phase, which began in November 2011, was completed recently to ensure there would be no disruption of this year’s Evian Masters.
“Evian Resort, with the LPGA, wanted to ensure that the final ‘non-major’ Evian Masters in 2012 would go ahead with the strategy of the course unchanged from the previous year,” explained Sampson. “Consequently, the only alterations made to the course so far have been the remodelling and resizing of 14 tee complexes
“By increasing the size of tees, there is increased opportunity to vary where the players tee-off. We have also moved some of the tees to offer improved visibility of the hole, which gives players and spectators a greater feel for the course.”
In 2013, the event has been rescheduled for September to fit in with the LPGA’s existing major schedule.
EGD is currently busy with major golf development projects throughout the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. New courses include PGA National Russia, Plage des Nations, Morocco, with Colin Montgomerie and Kittitian Hill, St Kitts, Caribbean, in association with Ian Woosnam.
European Golf Design www.egd.com