By Richard Humphreys via Golf Course Architecture
Some of the highlights will be the third, a downhill par five with the city of Ankara in the distance, and the par-four fourteenth, which is being shaped now, and plays over a natural valley.”
Lobb’s design is intended to produce “a flowing golf course” that is also “player friendly” as GCA reported before construction began.
Construction is expected to be completed in summer 2019.
“The site is 200 hectares and slopes towards the city, with 70 metres of fall from one side to the other. In the distance you can see Ankara city, and the property is bounded by mountains,” said Lobb. “Ankara is growing rapidly, in the direction of our site, and so both the golf course and the associated housing estate, which has been master planned by my old friend Adam Crozier of Hatch, should be excellent propositions.”
Uniquely for Turkey, the Ankara course will have cool season grasses. “We’ll definitely have fescue roughs, and I want to incorporate some random shaping,” added Lobb. “There are only a couple of trees on the entire property – it has a prairie-type feel.”
There will be elevation changes on the course which will help to provide views of the surrounding mountain ranges and Ankara. “I’ve tried to restrict the uphill holes. Obviously, you must climb, but I don’t like holes that just go straight uphill.
