Swan's KGA renovation voted one of Asia's best
British firm Swan Golf Designs (SGD) has been busy around the Asian golf market.
Currently designing in five continents across the globe, the company recently hosted an exclusive reception for golf developers at the British High Commission in New Delhi.
Also during November, the SGD team attended the inauguration of the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) club in Bangalore, at which it has recently completed a high-profile renovation, and exhibited at the third Asia Golf Industry Show in New Delhi.
Swan also attended the Asia-Pacific Golf Development Summit at Mission Hills in China, at which KGA was voted one of the top five renovation projects in the continent.
SGD's William Swan said: "The renovation of KGA was an enormous challenge. The work involved the reconstruction and enlargement of the course's interconnected water features as well as raising the level of the fairways to improve drainage. All 18 greens were rebuilt and five flights of tees were constructed resulting in a course measuring over 7,200 yards from the back tee, while remaining a playable length for the members' daily game." Swan has also been hard at work in its home market. The firm has been hired by Ripon City Golf Club in Yorkshire, which is currently celebrating its centenary. Swan has been employed to redesign and possibly extend the course, with new teeing areas, bunkers and greens all on the drawing board.
Work on the bunkers around the sixth and fourteenth greens has already started.
Some additional landscaping will take place through the winter, mostly tree removal and thinning. The project is expected to take up to ten years to complete.
This article first appeared in issue 15 of Golf Course Architecture, published in January 2009.