Reinventing the golf experience at Tanah Merah Country Club, Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects (RTJ II) has designed multiple playing loops into the routing for the new Garden Course.
Construction for the complete renovation project is scheduled to begin in January, with the redeveloped Garden Course to be ready for play in early 2020.
Selected by Tanah Merah ownership for the project following a global search, RTJ II is currently in the process of finalising the comprehensive redesign plans that would result in a par-71 that plays to a maximum of 6,570 yards, featuring gently undulating fairways and greens, with long sweeping lines running throughout the golf course.
RTJ II’s implementation of optional routings within the course routing as a whole arranges the new course so that it can also be played as independent three, six or nine-hole loops.
The front nine, holes number one through nine, can be played as a ‘Garden Loop’. On the back side, number 10 through 15 make up a six-hole ‘Sunrise Loop’, and 16 through 18 is a three-hole ‘Learning Loop’. All loops will start and finish in proximity to the clubhouse area.
“The pure enjoyment of the game will be enhanced tremendously with the new design of the Garden Course,” said Jones, Chairman and Master Architect for RTJ II, which has built more than 280 courses in 40 countries. “The golf course provides a complete challenge, if so desired, as well as easy-to-play loops for a quick, casual experience.”
The Garden Course, one of two 18-hole courses at Tanah Merah Country Club, a Golf Course Facility Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation, will remain private for members and their guests.
The Garden Course opened in 1984, an original design by five-time British Open champion Peter Thomson, with associates Michael Wolveridge and Ron Fream, and first remodelled by Max Wexler in 1992.
The new project is part of a comprehensive golf course redevelopment programme dictated by, in part, the acquisition of golf course land by local authorities for expansion of the nearby Changi Airport and adjoining East Coast Parkway, which runs parallel to the Garden Course.
The acquired land includes part of the current fourth and fifth holes. The club already has reconfigured its Tampines Course to comply with the airport expansion work.
The RTJ II redesign is to retain the parkland character of the existing course while enhancing the courses playability. Additional RTJ II design concepts that will be an integral part of the design include wider fairways, sand cap of all playable areas and promotion of fast and fun short grass areas that will enhance the member experience.
In addition to this, an integral part of the design will be seamless maintenance friendly feature shaping that will help create an easier course to maintain.
