Lobb finishes three-year Blackmoor renovation

The Harry Colt-designed Blackmoor Golf Club in Hampshire, England, has come to the end of a three-year course renovation managed by architect Tim Lobb of Lobb + Partners.

The project, which is valued at approximately £500,000, began with a historical review of the course, which revealed that there had been several changes to the routing and to the parcels of land occupied by the course, and that some holes were therefore not Colt originals. However, on the Colt holes, most of the bunkers were original.

“We have worked on six holes each winter,” said Lobb. “We have refurbished the bunkers slightly, and added heather to lots of the bunker banks, as is appropriate for a heathland course. We have worked on improving playability by increasing the size of the approaches at some of the par threes, and we have expanded some of the greens to recapture lost space and move the greenside bunkers closer to the putting surfaces.

“We have added about an acre of heather over the three phases of work, but there is still more to go. There is also more tree clearing needed.”

The work was carried out by contractor Profusion Environmental and the club’s own maintenance crew under course manager James Norris. Rubber pathways have been laid in high traffic areas, and the first hole has been made more strategic by piping most of a ditch that crosses the fairway and filling in an unatttrative pond.

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