Following the amazing finish to The Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club on Sunday, the focus of the golfing world now switches to Turnberry and The Senior Open.
Mackenzie & Ebert Ltd, golf course architects, designed the changes to both of the courses at these venues.
As advisors to five out of the nine Open Championship courses and many other top courses across Europe, Mackenzie & Ebert Ltd have considerable experience in making sure that existing course work provides a stimulating challenge for the world’s best players as well as being appropriate for the members who play the courses day in and day out.
The changes at Royal Lytham were hailed as seamless by numerous observers and the winner, Ernie Els, described them as excellent. These included a new 7th green, dune construction, the addition of new tees and adjustments to bunkering on most holes to maintain the test of the links.
A booklet describing the changes at Royal Lytham can be downloaded using the following link: http://mbf.co/f7w76
A similar redesign exercise was carried out for the Ailsa Course at Turnberry prior to the 2009 Open which Tom Watson so nearly won. It will be fascinating to see if he can continue his excellent form in making the halfway cut at The Open with another win over the Ayrshire coast links.
A booklet describing the changes to the Ailsa Course can be downloaded using the following link. http://mbf.co/z7ggT
Martin Ebert who designed, specified and oversaw the work on both courses comments: “It is always an honour but also a great responsibility to make adjustments to masterpieces designed by the renowned architects of the past. It is critical to respect the character of the courses in such exercises. We have enjoyed working with Royal Lytham and Turnberry on the projects and have been pleased with the thinking that the world’s best golfers now have to apply to plotting their way round the courses. At Royal Lytham it was interesting to see the differing strategies adopted by the players. Decision making really came to the fore. Laying up off the tees was one approach taken but that led to much harder second shots into the greens.”
Mackenzie & Ebert www.mackenzieandebert.co.uk