Golf Environment Organization

Whether in rural or urban situations, it is important for golf courses to be carefully integrated into the landscape and to respect the historical and cultural context of the area.

GEO believes that all golf development should strive to achieve the best “fit” between the golf course and the existing landscape, while maximising landscape enhancement opportunities.

In naturally arid environments, golf courses may appear conspicuous and out of character. It's important to demonstrate strong awareness of this and utilise appropriate materials, planting and presentational style.

Many golf courses, especially older ones, encapsulate fragments of traditional countryside and natural landforms: sand dunes, mature trees, river meanders, rock outcrops etc. In some cases historic monuments, buildings, ancient ways, boundaries and relicts of former land uses can be identified on golf courses.

The environment is more than simply clean air and clean water. It is a question of being in harmony with nature - using natural materials such as stone, slate and wood. It is also good environmental thinking to create a harmonious visual environment and show respect for aesthetic values, good design and choice of colour and textures.

These features add distinctiveness and character to the site, and their conservation is an important part of preserving our cultural heritage.

By re-emphasising the need to conserve and enhance the essential character of the site, we believe that we can support a return towards traditional design values and help to achieve your goal.

This stage constitutes the most exciting and most creative step in the development process, and is arguably the most crucial. Throughout, the design concept must be refined at increasing levels of detail, in response to evolution of the project objectives on the one hand, and increasing knowledge and understanding of the character of the site on the other. The overriding objective is to find an appropriate point of balance where the development constitutes the best possible fit with the existing landscape.

It is also at this stage that the opportunities for positive change to improve the quality of the landscape must be brought sharply into focus, and integrated with the overall masterplan and detailed proposals.

It is not always appreciated in practice that collectively, the fine details of the scheme must reflect and reinforce its overall design philosophy if a coherent and integrated solution is to be achieved. This again puts a strong onus on the golf course architect to develop a proper understanding of the landscape character of the site before progressing the design.

Landscape sensitivity and capacity refer to the ability of a landscape to absorb change without detrimental effect on the overall character.

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