Work is almost complete on a new first hole at St George's Hill GC, in Surrey, after members gave the green light to the project following a consultation process.

Harris Kalinka, the specialist visualisation agency which helps golf firms and architects communicate ideas and designs through images and animations, was engaged by course architect Tim Lobb, from Lobb & Partners, who requested ‘before' and ‘after' flyovers of the potential changes to show members, conscious of the sensitivity surrounding the Harry Colt-designed opening hole.


First hole at St George's Hill GC

Harris Kalinka co-founder Andrew Harris explained: "The purpose of the animation was to communicate the design philosophy to the membership. The animation fades from the existing, to the proposed, to show the addition of bunkers to the fairway, and swale to the left of the green."

Harris Kalinka worked from Lobb's CAD plans and site photography to produce the animation, which, using the company's CONNECT marketing facility, allowed members to comment on the proposals and for secretary Gary Peddie to respond.

Peddie said: "The animation was very professional. It certainly had the ‘wow' factor which is exactly what I was looking for. We ran it on a monitor in the clubhouse leading up to the meeting and sent out a link via email so members could view it online - and it generated a lot of interest.

"The members' reaction was overwhelmingly ‘very professional' - which is exactly what I was trying to achieve. We are looking at a bunker renovation programme running over the next three to four years and I would not hesitate to use Harris Kalinka."

Architect TIm Lobb's brief was to maintain the policy of ‘preserving and enhancing one of Colt's finest courses' and to ‘restore the Colt character' while achieving ‘visual drama'.

Lobb added: "Andrew spent a lot of time understanding our brief, the lay of the land with vegetation and our proposed design vision. Throughout the development stage we were viewing images of the animation coming together and could see that it was going to be incredibly life-like. When we watched the completed animation with text and music I was very pleased with the result and thought it was extremely realistic.

"The animation was a vital tool in describing our design proposals for these important works. The membership had full access to the animation and it assisted them in understanding the proposed works and to gain confidence in the outcome.

"For our new build projects I try to do an animation wherever I can. They are such an effective tool for displaying our design philosophies. This was the first time I have used an animation for an existing course renovation and was very pleased with the result."

To see the animation Harris Kalinka prepared for St George's Hill click here.