Granite Golf Club in Stouffville, Ontario, Canada, has improved its practice facilities with the opening of a new short game academy.

Canadian golf course architect Tom McBroom has converted two holes from the underused five-hole short course at the club into a 3.7-acre practice area that includes an oversize 8,500 square foot putting green, two 6,000 square-foot chipping greens and a 6,000 square foot green that is surrounded by two large traps for sand play practice.

“We started with a blank canvass and tried to create a space where members and guests will be able to customise their own practice experience,” said Phil Scully, Granite Golf Club’s course superintendent. “We have designed it so you can practise any shot you can imagine, without telling you where to go. There are an infinite variety of shots out there. You can practise shots from one to 50 yards on bluegrass or bentgrass or from the sand.”

McBroom designed the original 18-hole layout at Granite Golf Club and the course opened in 2001. Speaking of the new practice area, McBroom said: “It’s the largest dedicated practice facility I have ever created and certainly the most interesting and varied. At most established clubs space is at a premium, so to have a chance to work with nearly four acres presented an opportunity to create a very special and unique short game practice area.”

The new short game academy will open in early July, and will be used to further accommodate some of the initiatives taking place at the Granite Golf Club. This includes the hosting of the Canadian Junior Golf Association Family Tees programme, Golf Canada's national junior golf development centre and a provincial training centre for the Golf Association of Ontario's Under 19 Team Ontario athletes.

“The new Short Game Academy at Granite Golf is designed to complement all of our facilities and programmes as we create an engaging learning environment that fosters a passion for the game for players of all ages and abilities,” said Dan Campbell, the club’s director of golf. “It creates the ideal environment to learn all fundamentals of the short game and provides the ability to adapt them to on-course conditions so members enjoy their time on the golf course.”