News

All of the holes at Wuhan Yishan International have now been constructed and grass has been planted on all holes. The course is now being maintained to get the new Bermuda grasses on fairways, tees and greens into true golf playing surface condition. The heat and rainfall of summer in Wuhan is ideal for growing the varieties of warm season grasses selected for this course. By the scheduled soft opening date of September 27th, the course should be in very playable condition.

Meanwhile, the construction of the main golf clubhouse, the community center club, streets and real estate sections are proceeding at a good rate. This will not only be the best located golf community in the entire Wuhan region but will also offer members and residents great amenities and choices of housing. Almost every home will have a view of golf or mountains.

Yishan golf course will be a different style course from any others in the region. The bunkers will be much larger than normal and have been shaped to resemble those of the famous architect, Dr. Alastair McKenzie. Fairways will generally be wide and full use of the driver will be encouraged off the tee on most holes. The challenge will be hitting the correct ball position for the best approach to greens that feature more than the usual undulations. Accurate iron play and short game ability will be the main requirements for a good score.

All 27 holes of the golf course at China Maple have now been completed and the grow-in of the holes on the Maple and Lake Nines is coming along well. Except for some damage to 3-4 holes from a heavy rain in July, the course grow-in has gone well. A full program of intensive maintenance work to create first class playing conditions has been undertaken by the owner and contractor to make sure the playing surfaces of the golf course are ready for the opening.

An official opening date has not been set but it is expected to occur around the end of August. This will of course depend on the weather conditions in the next few weeks but this is the ideal time for growing the cool season grasses that have been selected. Course designer, Rick Robbins says, “I truly believe that China Maple will be one of the most scenic and most challenging golf courses in all of China.”

Because of the 250 meter total change in elevation between the lowest holes along the lake edge and the holes on the tops of the ridges, there will be significant opportunity for views that will be inspiring. There will also be challenges from these elevation changes with some shots that will play over 50 meters downhill. Despite the mountainous nature of the site, few holes will require steep shots uphill but from the back tees, this course will be as difficult as any course in the entire region. Architect Rick Robbins warns new players to the course to not let their ego get in the way of selecting the proper tees for this terrain and not to let scorecard distance determine which tees are best for this course.

In August, Rick Robbins will join with fellow ASGCA member Lester George to address the relationship between the golf course builders and the golf architects. This event will take place as part of the Golf Course Builders annual meeting which is being held this year at the World Golf Village in historic St. Augustine, Florida.

“I have always felt that there is a special relationship between the guys who build the courses and those who design them” says Rick. “Sometimes it is an adversarial relationship just because of the nature of the business but most of the time we all know we depend on each other to create great golf courses and neither can do it without the other”.

In November, Rick Robbins, ASGCA Vice President will be a co-presenter with Bill Love, ASGCA at a seminar entitled “Golf’s Use of Water – Its Challenges and Opportunities” which is being conducted by the United States Golf Association. This symposium will bring together experts from government, business, science, academia and golf to identify and discuss the most challenging issues regarding golf’s use of water.

Rick Robbins and Bill Love have both been active in the discussion and promotion of environmentally sustainable golf over their almost 40 year careers and they realize that water is fast becoming the most critical issue with golf around the world.

After very positive reviews by the membership of Echo Valley of the renovation last fall of The Vale Nine, an evaluation of the construction bid is currently under way to decide the final scope of work to be performed and the best date to start. The Creek Nine will represent a larger project in scope than was needed for the Vale as there are more holes that are subject to flooding on this nine. Earthworks to change some lake shapes, deepen others and to create wetland/marsh flood control areas will be more extensive than were required on the Vale.

As proposed, all bunkers will be rebuilt with shaping, liner, drainage and new sand. A major revision to hole #4 will be made that will create a two-level fairway that will provide very different strategic options for play. A new stream channel will be constructed along the right side of hole #6 that will alter the strategy here, especially the tee shot. Other parts of holes will be reshaped so that flood water will drain away as soon as the water returns to within the stream banks instead of forming pools on the fairways.