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Prestwick restores original layout

July 7, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Yvonne Alexander

Prestwick restores original layout: To celebrate the 150th Open, Prestwick Golf Club has revived the original 12-hole course that held the first Open Championship 162 years ago. The resurrected layout will be in play for just two weeks during October to mark the moment the Open Championship commenced in 1860. Based on historical records and […]

STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity

July 7, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Hannah Clarke

STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity: STIHL Group has unveiled plans for a new €125 million state-of-the-art manufacturing site for electric and cordless power tools, significantly enhancing its battery-powered product manufacturing capacity. Set for completion in 2024, the new 147,000m2 facility in Oradea, Romania will not only create 500 new jobs in the local area […]

Prestwick restores original layout

July 7, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Yvonne Alexander

STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity

July 7, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Hannah Clarke

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Prestwick restores original layout

July 7, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Yvonne Alexander

Prestwick restores original layout: To celebrate the 150th Open, Prestwick Golf Club has revived the original 12-hole course that held the first Open Championship 162 years ago. The resurrected layout will be in play for just two weeks during October to mark the moment the Open Championship commenced in 1860.

Based on historical records and detailed maps, the club has recreated the ancient course by reinstating five greens and creating special teeing areas to replicate the routing originally created by Old Tom Morris. Some areas of long grasses have been tempered to facilitate play and specially commissioned wicker flag poles – originally used by the club following its formation in 1851 – will be in situ to complete the look.

Prestwick restores original layout

The club, which is often referred to as the Birthplace of The Open, hosted the tournament 24 times. The first was contested by eight Scottish professionals and consisted of three rounds of the famed 12-hole course. Willie Park from Musselburgh prevailed beating his rival Old Tom Morris by two shots. The events on that October day lay the foundations for the grandest Major in golf and a sporting spectacle that generates over £100 million in local economic benefits.

“The club is extremely proud of its association with The Open,” explained Ken Goodwin, Secretary of Prestwick Golf Club. “This is where the magic of The Open began one fateful October day in 1860. There had to be a first, and it happened here at Prestwick. To commemorate this historic milestone, it was decided the club should bring back the original routing for a limited time.”

Although this isn’t the first time the club has reinstated the inaugural Open course, it is the most detailed and extensive project of its kind ever undertaken. “Part of the Prestwick experience is walking through history,” says Goodwin. “In the past, the club has endeavoured to bring back the original on only a handful of occasions. This year, however, to mark the 150th, the club was fortunate to have the necessary equipment required to deliver the 12-hole course to a much higher degree of accuracy than ever before. Together with the wicker basket flags, this has been the most thorough revisit and certainly the most eagerly anticipated.”

As well as the heritage surrounding the antique course, the revised layout also forms a remarkable collection of holes that defy logic. Blind tee shots, double greens, crossing fairways and enormous undulations add up to a course quite unlike anything that would be permitted today. Add in the fine links turf and Ayrshire breeze for which Prestwick is famed and the original Open course is as much a conundrum as it is a piece of sporting antiquity.

For golf course photographer Mark Alexander, who was commissioned by the club to create a gallery of images of the historic course, the layout’s idiosyncrasies were as compelling as they were challenging to shoot.

“I have photographed Prestwick before, but this was completely different,” noted Alexander. “Although I was working on the same stretch of Ayrshire coastline in that amazing west coast light, it might as well have been an entirely new course. For instance, working out the green positions and the direction from which each would be played was tricky, but it also opened up new angles that just aren’t relevant on the current layout. It was exhilarating and demanding all at the same time.”

In 2014, Alexander became the first professional photographer to be commissioned by Prestwick Golf Club to capture the spirit of the historic links. For this year’s special commemoratory event, the club once again called on the award-winning specialist.

“When Mark photographed the course back in 2014, that was the first and only time the club specifically commissioned photography of the course,” explained Goodwin, “With the reintroduction of the 12-hole layout, we wanted to record the occasion and so we asked Mark back, which he has done to great effect.”

With only a few remaining places left for the public to play Prestwick in its original form on 18–19 October, this special event is expected to be a sold-out affair. The advice for those interested in journeying back to the origins of The Open is to contact the club directly.

There are few golfing venues more revered than Prestwick Golf Club. After all, Old Tom’s unique 12-hole design was so successful it hosted the first Open Championship within 10 years of its completion. The last Open Championship at Prestwick was held 65 years later in 1925. Ninety seven years on, it became the starting point for an epic 150-mile fundraising march for Prostate Cancer UK completed by Rick Shiels, one of the world’s most watched golf social media stars.

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STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity

July 7, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Hannah Clarke

STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity: STIHL Group has unveiled plans for a new €125 million state-of-the-art manufacturing site for electric and cordless power tools, significantly enhancing its battery-powered product manufacturing capacity.

Set for completion in 2024, the new 147,000m²facility in Oradea, Romania will not only create 500 new jobs in the local area but also expand STIHL Group’s international manufacturing network, strengthening the flexibility and resilience of its supply chains.

STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity

The new manufacturing facility has been designed with lean production in mind and will utilise the latest technology to maximise the productivity, efficiency and sustainability of the plant in line with STIHL Group’s climate and carbon footprint targets. In addition to the production halls, the site will also comprise offices, a cafeteria, and break rooms for employees.

Martin Schwarz, STIHL Executive Board Member for Manufacturing & Materials, said: “Battery-powered products represent the fastest-growing market for STIHL at the present time. We expect demand for these products to continue rising faster than any other category in the years ahead.

“This means that our Tirol plant, which currently manufactures a large portion of our battery-powered range, will one day reach the limits of its space and capacities. The new location in Romania will add to our global manufacturing network and keep us in the best possible position to continue supplying our customers with battery-operated products in the future.”

Today, the STIHL Group has production plants in a total of seven countries: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the United States, Brazil, China, and the Philippines, with facilities opening soon in China.

For more information, please visit www.stihl.co.uk.

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

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You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

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Prestwick restores original layout

STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity

Prestwick restores original layout

STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity

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Prestwick restores original layout

STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity

STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity: STIHL Group has unveiled plans for a new €125 million state-of-the-art manufacturing site for electric and cordless power tools, significantly enhancing its battery-powered product manufacturing capacity.

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