Nairn getting ready for Curtis Cup
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PREPARATIONS for this year’s Curtis Cup are close to being completed at Nairn Golf Club.
The main thrust of what has been a three-year project was scheduled to be completed at the end of February when the last of 60 bunkers earmarked for revetting is rebuilt.
The renovation work being carried out across the links course has resulted in 60 per cent of the bunkers being given a fresh, new look.
The extensive project, which has been executed over three successive winters, began as soon as it was confirmed that the club would host the prestigious team showdown between golfers from Great Britain and Ireland, and America.
"We started planning as soon as we knew the Curtis Cup was coming to Nairn," explained Iain Carson, golf course manager at Nairn Golf Club.
"As soon as we knew, we started formulating what we wanted to do to ensure the whole course would be in tip-top condition come June."
Although the work was meticulously planned, this year’s mild winter has helped the project progress quickly.
"Because we haven’t had the snow we had during the last two seasons, we’ve been able to get a lot more done," said Carson.
"For instance, more bunkers have been revetted and we’ve been able to get on with work on the greens, tees and fairways.
"It has allowed us to do an awful lot more on the golf course to help prepare for the summer."
Nairn Golf Club is one of only 10 clubs to host both the Curtis Cup and the Walker Cup, which was played out across the Highland links in 1999.
Its rich heritage also includes the Scottish Amateur Championship, which came to Nairn in 2006, and the Seniors Amateur Open a year later.
It is, however, the present and the future that club officials are concentrating on ahead of the Curtis Cup coming to Nairn, where it will celebrate its 125th anniversary, between 8-10th June.
"Our Curtis Cup squad will visit this month when the players will get their first taste of the wonderful links at Nairn, said Ladies Golf Union chief executive Shona Malcolm.
"It is without doubt one of the finest courses in the land and everyone at the club is working hard to ensure that this year’s Curtis Cup match will be one to remember.
"All aspects of the infrastructure planning are on schedule and we just need the spectators to cheer on our team to victory."
As the final preparations are being made to the course at Nairn, expectations at the club are also reaching a crescendo.
"It is tremendous that we have held so many national tournaments," said Carson who will retire after 31 years at the club following the Curtis Cup.
"It is brilliant that a club in the north of Scotland has been able to do that and people want to come back and play this old links course again and again. To be a part of that has been a wonderful experience."
