Prince’s Golf Club in Kent has announced plans to redevelop its famous Himalayas nine.
The Sandwich-based club, which hosted the Open Championship in 1932, has hired golf course architects Mackenzie & Ebert to handle the reconstruction that began earlier this month. The Himalayas course will remain open during the project, with minimal disruption throughout the process, as will the club’s other two nine-hole layouts, Dunes and Shore.
Mackenzie & Ebert currently advise seven of the 10 courses currently on The Open rota, resulting in recent major changes at Turnberry and Royal Portrush, along with other highly regarded links courses such as Royal Dornoch, Royal Porthcawl, Saunton and Trevose.
Martin Ebert and Mike Howard of Mackenzie and Ebert Limited have visited Prince’s on numerous occasions to assess the land and scope for the project. The company has subsequently produced a report which analysed historic, pre-war, and wartime RAF photography, and unveiled several interesting features that will be reintroduced.
The works will re-route the nine significantly, with the current second and third holes combing to make a long par five. The new second tee will be located to the right of the existing first fairway and will play to a maximum of 615 yards.
A short, signature par-3 fifth hole will then be inserted playing towards the sea after the existing fifth (new fourth) hole. These changes will increase the par of the nine to 36. The new fifth hole will measure between 120 and 160 yards, with a variety of tees to be designed.
Another notable change is to the current eighth, which will become a short, drivable par four, with permanent wetlands either side that will be strategically and ecologically valuable. A new set of tees for the hole, to be placed on top of the dune ridges presently to the right of the existing hole, will also allow the practice ground in front of the clubhouse to be developed further.
Extensive changes to the bunkering, water hazards, green surrounds, out-of-play areas, tees and clearance of trees are all included in the renovation plans.
Rob McGuirk, general manager of Prince’s Golf Club, commented: “The entire club is very excited by this project. We believe Mackenzie & Ebert’s plans will transform the Himalayas Nine into one of the finest stretches of links golf in the country. We’re committed to continuous improvement at Prince’s, and this is certainly the most ambitious phase of development the club has seen for decades.”
Work has already begun on the construction of the new fifth hole. This will be followed by the new second fairway development, and the construction of new teeing areas on the new second, third, fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth holes. Once this work is done, the focus will turn to the fairway bunkers. The planned completion date for construction is before the end of the year, with the new holes opening in the late spring/early summer of 2018.