Finally, the construction of our long-awaited short game area has begun. And it is going fast. In just 10 days it will be completed and ready for sowing. By mid-2023, in the anniversary year, the area is expected to be ready for play.
The short game area was designed by Denmark's most famous golf course architect Philip Spogard. The collaboration between the club's course committee, greenkeeper and Philip came into being in 2021, at the beginning of the pandemic. Construction was originally planned for late summer of the same year, but all the necessary paperwork and approvals were not ready, so the project was postponed to 2022.
It has long been a member's expressed wish that our training facilities be improved. It is a luxury to have a large grass tee to train from and that the greens and driving range are close to the clubhouse and 1st tee, but we lack a large driving range where we can practice driving ranges of varying lengths. We are now getting that.
The short game area will be built on the par 3 course, close to the driving range. The design is visible and appealing, so you will easily want to go there to practice. At the same time, Philips' design ensures that the area will look like something that has always been there and that it fits in with the sensitive nature of Dyrehaven.
A total of approx. 2000m2 of our existing par 3 course will be included in the short game area. The green will be approx. 500m2 and the remaining area will be carefully cut short in the style of our existing green surroundings. All types of shots of up to 70 meters will be able to be practiced in the area.
The location of the short game area will have an impact on the par 3 course. The 1st hole will be shortened and the 5th hole will be closed. This will make the par 3 course 4 holes long. If the newly constructed short game area is a success and attracts many members, it is the course committee's plan that the remaining part of the par 3 course can be considered for renovation. Philip has therefore already prepared a master plan for the entire par 3 course.
Our digger has now started work this Tuesday and will continue until next Thursday. The club's greenkeepers are on hand, providing materials and setting up the irrigation system. When the digger has left the site, the entire area is sown and fertilized, a growth cloth is laid to promote germination and finally the entire area is fenced off to protect it from the Deer Park's permanent residents, the deer.
If you make it to the club in the near future, take the chance to see an art form in full bloom as a master excavator shapes the earth so that it looks like it has always been that way. Enjoy.
Martin Nilsson, chief greenkeeper