Scottish architect Stuart Rennie finally has a new golf course under his belt. The King’s Course in Inverness, Scotland opened after seven years in planning. The course replaces the Torvean course, which was plowed under for a new road. City officials had discussed a road for years as a way to reduce city congestion. The course is member-owned, but the local government controls the land on which it sits, and they routed the road right through the course.
Rennie was hired to design the course in 2012.
“I was only 32 when I was appointed to design the course, very young to win such a job, and, let us be honest, there are not that many new golf course projects around at the moment,” he said. “So obviously this has been a hugely important project for me, and I have put my heart and soul into it.”
He said the move to new land presents a very different course from what club members are used to.
“The old course was pretty flat, but now we have a nice undulating site,” he said. “We tried to make use of existing drainage flows, with open ditches and wetlands, and on the fourth you play towards a ditch at 220 yards off the tee, with a bunker to the left.”
He said they tried hard to make the par threes special by making them play in different directions and to different lengths.
The Torvean course opened as a nine holer in 1962 and was extended to eighteen in 1988. Highland Council was obligated to provide a similar golf facility when the new road was proposed.
Stevie McIntosh, Course Manager said the relocation of the Torvean course was a long time coming. He was thrilled to finally see it come to fruition.
“Stuart Rennie has created an inland gem in Inverness, which will rival most of the north of Scotland’s classic links,” McIntosh said. “It was a privilege to work with Stuart from start to finish.”