Since 1988 Jonathan Gaunt has been designing golf courses, not only in the UK but also in Turkey, Denmark, Spain and the burgeoning Czech Republic. To date his ‘stamp’ is on over thirty courses and he is in the process of designing further courses to be built between now and 2010.
In addition, Jonathan has been involved in advising well over one hundred existing clubs throughout the UK and continental Europe on reconstruction, restoration and renovation projects. So, how does the mind of a course designer work?
Jonathan takes up the story.
CREATING future classics
I
n 1987 I was employed as contracts manager for Brian Pierson Contractors Ltd., working firstly on
the reconstruction of the Jubilee Course at St Andrews then bringing the 9-hole short course back into play at St George’s Hill. This was excellent grounding for my career. In spring 1988 I answered an advert in a trade journal for a job entitled ‘Contracts Manager/Designer’ being offered by Golf Landscapes Ltd, based in Brentwood, Essex. On the second day I was working for them I was on site planning my first design (age 24), the Chesfield Downs Family Golf Centre in Hertfordshire, then called Jack O’Legs Golf Centre. It was a 6200 metres 18-
20
hole course and a 1000 metres 9-hole academy course. There are no ‘gimmicks’, ‘signature holes’ or ‘trade marks’ with my golf course design style. I don’t do ‘traditional British’ design, or any other label, for that matter - to me that’s all very false. I have a design style that evolves and develops as I design (by hand before it is scanned and digitised on to computer). Each design is bespoke, developed for each unique site situation. I don’t have pre-set templates on the computer and I don’t make promises to the client that he’ll get ‘something like Augusta or St Andrews’. I let the site dictate the design, but I allow my own
specific ideas as to what good golf design should be to shape the outcome. I suppose I am a perfectionist and I won’t accept second best. I strive to create features on a golf course that look natural to the eye, something that may have been created by thousands of years of wind and rain and ice and snow. A golf course that I am happy with in design terms is a landscape that doesn't jar the eye, but still offers a great golfing and sporting challenge. I’d admit that the contours I design do have smooth flowing lines - possibly influenced by life-drawing art classes at school. Who knows? I like to see the shadows on subtle contours on a
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