Farewell to the tricky 16th

FAITH SUTHERLAND/Fairfax NZ

PROTECTION FROM A DANGEROUS NEIGHBOUR: Golf course architect Tommy Cushnahan is confident he can make the 16th hole more popular with players.

Those few golfers who have a soft spot for the 16th hole at the Manawatu Golf Club had better get in and play it quickly.

The par-three hole has been condemned in its current shape and, with the earthmovers hovering, it will be closed in February and the old eighth hole brought out of mothballs.

The green and tees will be shifted to allow for a new, higher stopbank to be built by Horizons Regional Council.

The existing 16th lies outside the stopbanks and at the mercy of flooding, as in 1992 and 2004.

Walkers and bikers along the Bridle Track will notice earthworks adjacent to the track, and in future won't get to see golfers teeing off.

The hole is one of the most changed in the district. It was resurfaced in 1974, and rebuilt in 1983 and 1998 (at a cost of $60,000) because the excessive slope made it unplayable at times. In 2004, the great flood put it out of action for two months until silt was removed.

Palmerston North golf course architect Tommy Cushnahan was engaged by the club to do the re-design.

"This is a great chance to get the green protected from flooding," he said. "It is a major undertaking."

Construction should be finished by March. It will include removing much of the existing stopbank bordering the 15th green and the 16th, but growing the grass will keep it out of play for a year.

As far as Cushnahan is concerned, it allows him to design an improved hole.

"The trick in golf course design is to make it playable for any golfer without taking it away from the top golfers."

As it is now, everyone has to fly the ball on to the green to avoid the bunkers, and that's too tough for many.

"It's a very difficult golf hole for any members to play and for the majority of people who pay their dues," Cushnahan said.

"You want the golf experience to be fun."

He wants the bump-and-run shot to become an option.

Cushnahan knows his golf, having helped designed courses worldwide.

A Northern Irishman, he played his first golf at Dungannon, where British Open champion Darren Clarke grew up.

Cushnahan plans to open up the left side by shifting the tee blocks further left, to allow half of the green to be accessible by all golfers.

The existing green will be dug up and shifted inland. It will be raised and of similar size, but the bunkers won't be so threatening.

"It will almost be an uphill shot," Cushnahan said.

The existing tees measure 119 metres, 133m and 153m. The new women's tee will be 110m, the men's 140m and the back tee 155m.

Cushnahan also designed the club's new and bigger practice green, which will be the first virtually flat green in the country with only 0.05 per cent of slope, or an imperceptible five millimetres over 1m. He designed one previously, at the ultra-exclusive Queenwood Golf Club in Surrey, the most secretive club in Britain.

A new fairway bunker on the par-five 15th is also his work, and the cavernous bunker on the 14th, which got up members' noses more than the 16th, has been reduced in size and deepened and is more visible.

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