Berkhamsted Golf Club appoints CDP as consulting architects

  • Berkhamsted mounds
    Andy Hiseman

    Greens at Berkhamsted Golf Club are protected by mounds, rather than bunkering

  • Berkhamsted heather
    Andy Hiseman

    CDP will work with the club’s greenkeeping team to regenerate heather on the course

  • Berhamsted 17th green
    Andy Hiseman

    The green of the par-four seventeenth at Berkhamsted

Rebecca Gibson
By Rebecca Gibson

Berkhamsted Golf Club has appointed Clayton, DeVries and Pont (CDP) as consulting architects for a long-term renovation project at its 18-hole golf course in Hertfordshire, UK.  

Founded in 1890, Berkhamsted Golf Club is situated in a 520-acre estate on Berkhamsted Common and features natural heathland with gorse, heather, densely wooded areas and more than five miles of bridleways and pathways. The original nine-hole course was laid out by former Open Champion Willie Park Jnr and was expanded to 18 holes by course designer Harry Colt in 1909, before being altered by five-time Open Champion James Braid in 1926. The course has no bunkers or man-made hazards, except Grim’s Dyke, a Bronze Age earthwork that comes into play on several holes. 

CDP will work with the club to review Berkhamsted’s historic architecture in the context of the modern game, aiming to restore Colt’s original vision for the course. It will also collaborate with the greenkeeping team to regenerate areas of heather that have been declining since World War II, when Berkhamsted was used for military training.   

“CDP is world-renowned for its work at some of golf’s most venerated old masters, and we are thrilled that we will now be able to draw upon their experience as we make our plans to safeguard this much-loved golf course for the decades ahead, with our stewardship of the beautiful ecology up here on Berkhamsted Common uppermost in our minds,” said Dan Blesovsky, general manager of Berkhamsted Golf Club.  

“Working with CDP, we feel that a well-managed Berkhamsted Golf Club will be able to maintain the highest level of competitive challenge for the decades ahead of us through a programme of restorative change, rather than merely resorting to lengthening the golf course significantly, which we don’t feel will be needed.”  

Frank Pont will oversee the project on behalf of CDP.  

“We will start by authoring a course plan, which will investigate the course’s key facets, as well as its heritage,” said Pont. “It will lay the foundation for future renovations. We will draw upon our proven experience of improving classic heathland courses in the UK and Continental Europe with the intention of delivering the best, most natural version of Berkhamsted’s course possible.”  

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