Remodeling Design examplesRenovation Design examples

Opened in 1962, Hon Atsugi CC was also called upon to remodel its half-century-old course.
The request to Mr. Shunji Kurakami, who was in charge of remodeling the course, was to "keep the design concept of Mr. Shiro Akahoshi.
The 18 holes, spread over the undulating terrain of the former ranch land, reflect the Akaboshi mindset and take advantage of the natural terrain, and were loved and honored by the members.
He says, "I felt a lot of pressure in that sense, and I also felt a strong sense of satisfaction." His feelings can be likened to those of a technician restoring a masterpiece from the past.
The request from Hon Atsugi CC was to convert the colai greens to bent. The construction period was from February to May 2007. A detailed survey of the course was conducted in December of the previous year. The key point of the remodeling was two greens in accordance with the request while respecting Akahoshiism.
Looking at the original design, for example, the 15th hole par 3 was bent, and the corai green was not completely separated from the other greens.
The original bent green (pen cross. The original bent green (pen cross, hereafter referred to as "P green") was bordered by a corai green slightly to the front right of the original bent green. From the tee, they must have looked like one green, even though they were different in color. The holes where the Bent and Corai greens bordered each other were the 15th, 13th (par 4), 18th (par 5), etc. The theme of the conversion of the Corai to Bent was to separate the two greens clearly.
On the 15th hole, the colai green was moved diagonally forward to the right, widening the space between the two greens. Previously, when the P green was used, the rule was that a ball on the colai green had to be approached from outside the green, but in many cases, the ball was putted in as it was. With the complete separation of the greens, this is no longer the case.

The turf for the new greens was decided to be creeping bentgrass T1.
One of the unique features of Hon Atsugi CC is the small number of bunkers. There are only 59 bunkers on the 18-hole course, probably due to Mr. Shiro Akahoshi's intention. Mr. Kurakami respected his intention and did not increase the number of bunkers at all. This was to carry on the Akaboshiism of "not raising the difficulty level of each hole to the extreme.
More important than the new bunkers was the relocation of the Akahoshi Mound. The Akahoshi mound was located on the front right side of the original coir green. The mound would have disappeared if the colai green was separated from the P green and relocated diagonally forward to the right. Mr. Kurakami felt that "Mr. Akahoshi's mind is there," so he moved the mound to the right side behind the T green (new bent green). Considering the time and effort required to move the mound, it was tempting to think that the mound was just one mound, but it was Mr. Kurakami's pride and responsibility to restore Shiro Akahoshi's paintings.

From GCA JOURNAL No. 14 (December 2014)