18 Great plans for Grand-Mère TEE BOX Architect Andy Staples is documenting the history of the course at Club de Golf Grand-Mère in Shawinigan, Canada [not to be confused with La Grande Mare in Guernsey, which features on page 66 of this issue] and overseeing work to preserve the design while renovating some of its weathered features. The first three holes were laid out by a local landscaper in 1912, and the full eighteen features the work of Albert Murray, Walter Travis and Hugh Alison. Staples will restore Travis’s par-three ninth, which played from a location near the eleventh green over a canyon towards the eighteenth green. It will serve as a nineteenth hole, while also recompleting all of Travis’s original nine holes. Work has already started and is expected to take place over five years. Read a detailed history of the course and its architecture by Beyond the Contour’s Andrew Harvie and Zachary Car on the GCA website. Photo: Arnold Palmer Design Company Refreshed Orchid Island on track to reopen in November Arnold Palmer Design Company (APDC) is renovating its layout at Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club in Vero Beach, Florida. Designed by APDC in 1990, Orchid Island is on a barrier island and has water in play on 17 holes. “We are finding and re-establishing the original green sizes and shapes,” said Brandon Johnson, lead architect. “Targeted work will establish new pin locations and soften contours that limit pinnable square footage on greens. “The reduction and removal of certain bunkers allows us to explore different strategic options in the opened-up spaces. We can better utilise the existing contours and landforms on and around the bunker complexes to enhance the aesthetic and strategic interest of each hole.” Other changes include realigning tees and recontouring fairways to open sightlines to ponds and lake edges. The sixth, ninth and seventeenth fairways will also be reshaped to eliminate contours that feed balls towards existing ponds in key layup areas. Johnson is redesigning the short-game area, with Celebration and Platinum TE paspalum grass used to match what is on the course. “A wide variety of shot scenarios will be incorporated into the facility, allowing members to practice every facet of their game,” said Johnson. Johnson has worked alongside contractor King Villages and superintendent Matt Boyd. The course is expected to reopen in November 2023. Photo: Beyond the Contour
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