Solheim Cup 2019 Captain Catriona Matthews
Unveiling the Solheim Cup tartan, P60 Renaissanace Golf Club
And let’s not forget the Hickory World Q&A with Tom Doak, one of the world’s best
Championships, which began in Scotland in 2005 architects and the designer of The Renaissance Club.
with a field of 36. Today, golfers from over 14
countries play this annual event which has inspired
tournaments in 20 other countries around the
world.
Ahead of the Scottish Opens, The Renaissance Club
remains a rather unknown quantity to the world’s
travelling golfers because it is a private club. Few of
us will get to play here so golf fans will be watching
the coverage of the two tournaments with some
interest. It is a links that drifts through pines and
around red stone walls out towards the sea. It was
designed by Tom Doak in 2008, and there is a Q&A
with the revered designer in the panel alongside
which offers a flavour of the course and the
designer himself.
Destination Golf (DG): What was the most
challenging part of the original design process at The
Renaissance Club?
Tom Doak (TD): We knew there was a possibility
of extending the course into the dunes someday,
so we had to make the design a bit open-ended to
accommodate changing two or three holes later on
(out at the point). Also, we had never built revetted
bunkers before, and it took some time to understand
how to shape them for the turf walls to be built later,
after my shapers had gone home.
DG: What is TRC’s greatest strength?
TD: The playing surface has always been the finest of
turf, partly because there isn’t as much traffic as the
famous links; and the wind is nearly always blowing
across East Lothian. So the course is the epitome of
“firm and fast” Scottish golf.
Volume 4 • Issue 47
59