Black Mountain Golf Club was designed by the Australian designer, Phil Ryan of the Pacific Coast Design company based in Melbourne. He has worked on many projects throughout Asia and many in Australia. The main theme of his design work is to make the course look natural and pleasing to the eye and maintaining as many of the natural features as possible. His aim is always to make the golf course playable and enjoyable for the average player but testing for the better player. Many of his holes feature a choice of a safe route or a risk and reward route, all of which adds to the excitement of the game.
The aim of the designer was to create a golf course that looks as natural as possible and maintains many of the features of the site. The most important features are the natural creeks that run throughout the course and the natural rocks that have been used as design features on many of the holes. As many of the original trees as possible have been kept and many new trees have been planted to frame the holes. Very important in the design concept, was to create a course that could be a test for the top golfers in the world but also very playable and enjoyable to the average golfer. All the holes provide the golfer with a safe route but for the more adventurous player there is a higher risk option with a potential greater reward. The design offers generous fairways for the shorter hitter but becoming narrower for the longer hitter. The greens are large with many pin positions, with different degrees of difficulty, and the course is well protected by beautifully sculptured bunkers. Much thought went into the choice of grass, and it was decided to use seashore Paspalum for the tees, fairways and rough. This grass gives a wonderful playing surface and a beautiful emerald green colour. It was decided to use tifeagle Bermuda grass on the greens. This hybrid Bermuda grass is now recognized as the best putting surface in tropical areas.
No expense has been spared to make the golf course as good as possible and the same is true of the clubhouse. The view from the clubhouse is truly stunning, and gives a panoramic view of the whole course. The clubhouse facilities on offer include fine dining in the restaurant, a well stocked golf shop and luxurious locker rooms. Black Mountain intends to offer service and dining to a standard that is normally only found in the finest hotels.
The whole construction process from first soil moving to finished article will have taken 13 months, which is a remarkable achievement and a credit to all the different construction companies that have been involved. The project leader of the golf course construction is Gavan Wilson, who will also be responsible for maintaining the golf course. His 16 years of working in Thailand, on different golf courses has been invaluable and has made the whole process possible.
The first phase of the construction of the Black Mountain Golf Course, started in January 2006 and involved making a detailed survey of the land using GPS survey equipment. This allowed the golf course designer to plan the routes of the golf holes, using the natural contours of the land as much as possible and preserving as many of the natural features as he could.
The next stage of the construction was to clear the land. Once the land was cleared it was possible to imagine what the finished golf course would look like. It became obvious from the early stages that this was an excellent site with great potential to build a wonderful golf course.
The biggest challenge was the system for the waterways to channel the rain water into the lakes without flooding the golf course. During the rainy season in Thailand it is necessary to store as much water as you can in your collection lakes for use during the dry season. Three very large lakes were excavated just off the site and all the soil from these lakes was used to create the shape of the golf course. On the golf course it was obvious where the natural creeks were, which had been created over thousands of years. These natural creek lines have been preserved and enlarged to channel all the rain water into the many lakes on the course and then the overflow goes to the large storage lakes. This system allows the lakes on the golf course to remain at the same level all year round to maintain the beauty of the golf course. This water system was also very important to keep the golf course playable even after the heaviest rain and extensive planning was needed to get this system just right.
Once the land had been shaped to the correct contours the next challenge was the construction of the fairways, tees, greens and bunkers and of course the irrigation and drainage system. The greens were constructed first to allow them as much time to mature before the golf course opens. The substructure was created with drains and gravel and then a deep layer of sand was smoothed to the exact contours. The grass was then sprigged and constantly watered until the surface grew in and within a very short period of time the greens were excellent. A state of the art irrigation system was installed which is linked to a weather station, to enable the system to adjust the amount of water depending on the weather conditions. The fairways were constructed using soil with a high content of sand to allow them to drain freely and drains were used in the low lying areas. Once the fairway surface had been smoothed over then they were sprigged with the grass.
After the grassing is completed, then the golf course is in the growing in stage. Constant watering and cutting and manicuring and then once the condition is perfect the golf course will open to the public. The whole construction process from first soil moving to finished article will have taken 13 months, which is a remarkable achievement and a credit to all the different construction companies that have been involved. The project leader of the golf course construction is Gavan Wilson, who will also be responsible for maintaining the golf course. His 16 years of working in Thailand, on different golf courses has been invaluable and has made the whole process possible.
