Pace-of-play advocate Stephen Havrilla has called on golf course designers to be more considerate to players and to take into account the limited time people have to spend on the game they love. The new general manager of the Royal Golf Club (RGC) believes the time it takes to finish a round of golf will make or break the sport and it is imperative for attracting newcomers and keeping those already hooked coming back for more.
“I truly think the designers need to get behind it,” he said. “There are so many other family activities nowadays and we are competing for the free time of the family. “I don’t know why sometimes they don’t consider who is playing the golf course and who they are building it for. “The operator can do everything in its power to soften the outcome, to help folks around it, but to me, it all starts with the designer.” The club’s Colin Montgomerie-designed signature golf course has had its fair share of detractors over the years from professionals to club members and American Havrilla plans to have a ‘conversation’ with the former European Ryder Cup captain about tackling issues continuing to surround some of the greens. The course was recently featured in the glossy Middle East Golfer magazine. Editor-in-Chief Kent Gray and a colleague flew over from Dubai and he reported: “Two windswept laps of the course had us in agreement that this is one of the hardest we’ve encountered in the GCC. But it is also a course that you’ll never tire of testing your game on.” It should arguably take a player an average of four hours and 25 minutes to complete all 18 holes. It took first-timers Gray and sales manager Kris Bell a grand total of 13 strokes on the 231-yard par 3 16th alone which included ‘a series of gravity-defying putts’ that made them question whether it ‘really was a moving target’. Top professional Ian Poulter infamously launched a foul-mouthed blast at Montgomerie’s golf course design after toiling in Bahrain. The Ryder Cup player blasted his former captain’s course after playing in the first and only (to date) European Tour event staged at the RGC back in 2011. He vented his fury on Twitter, using a four-letter expletive and branding the greens ‘embarrassing’. “Simply the WORST greens I have ever seen and I’m not joking, they’re just embarrassing. Apparently the architect wanted to make a statement with the greens. He did that alright. They are ****.” In another post Poulter had a pop at the severely-mounded shape of the greens. He added: “Archaeologists would have a field day ... there are elephant and dinosaur remains buried under every green.” But what have been Havrilla’s first impressions? He plays off scratch, after quitting a high-powered job in a construction company after seven years to fulfil his golfing dreams of becoming a PGA-qualified head professional at the start of a long career with golf management company, Troon. “It is very difficult. This golf course to me is a very strategic one, you need to be able to hit it in the right location so that you have the correct approach to the green and then obviously the greens are very, very undulating. You need to be on the right level or area of the green to make the cuts. “They are very challenging putting surfaces. I don’t think there needs to be drastic alterations to the golf course; I just think there needs to be some subtle changes with some of those buried elephants.” He says he is looking forward to raising his concerns with Montgomerie. He will need the utmost tact and diplomacy when tackling the fiery professional whose steely glare has been captured when in confrontation with golf followers from ‘across the pond’. However, Havrilla may get a sympathetic ear from the Scot, who has already stated in recent interviews that he had learned lessons and made changes and in Bahrain had ‘gone in and levelled off a couple of greens’. He says one of his guiding course design principals was a ‘one and 51’ theory. That is, when he is dreaming a creation into life it must be challenging enough to host a professional tournament, yet not so tough as to alienate the green fee player and club member who will play it for the other 51 weeks of the year. In fact, much of the detailed design and construction work carried out at Riffa Views was left to his colleagues at European Golf Design, who collaborate with him in Europe and IMG Design, his partners in Asia and the Middle East, as earlier reported in GulfWeekly. So, perhaps Monty and Havrilla are on the same page after all and a couple more tweaks could do the trick. “We would have to have those discussions,” said Havrilla. “I think in the long-term some changes would need to be made. And, he would have to come in and really take a hard look and help address any pace-of-play concerns.” The property has significantly matured since the Volvo Golf Champions tournament was staged in Bahrain and the ergonomic team has performed wonders on the course and surrounding desert. Havrilla, who brings with him more than 15 years of experience with Troon, took on the responsibility of the general manager’s position from award-winning fellow American, DJ Flanders, who was recently promoted. The RGC was recognised for its ‘unfaltering commitment to excellence’ at the 2014 Troon Leadership Conference, which took place in January. The venue was acknowledged as Facility of the Year, following substantial improvements to the club’s overall financial performance as well as scoring highly on member and employee satisfaction surveys. Flanders, as director of operations, will now be servicing the requirements of the diverse Middle East portfolio managed from the Troon Golf corporate office in Dubai, as the market-leaders forge a reputation as the management company of choice in the region, for owners looking to improve and develop their facilities as sustainable golfing venues. A Troon employee since 1999, Havrilla is a PGA Golf Professional, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management from Colorado State University in the US. Since completing a rewarding head professional tenure at Troon’s flagship property, Troon North Golf Club in Arizona, Havrilla has worked in numerous countries all over the world for Troon including Australia, Fiji, Portugal, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and most recently as general manager at Troon’s Indian facility, The Prestige Golf Club Bangalore. This will be the second time for Havrilla in the Middle East, having worked at The Address Montgomerie, Dubai, in 2002. Havrilla and the team at RGC will be continuing in their development of the game of golf in Bahrain, whilst also trying to build a reputation for the country as a desirable golfing destination for international tourists and business visitors. The club aims to have a larger presence in the local and international schools on the island and is working closely with Bahrain Golf Association in making this a priority as well as with the many charitable organisations within Bahrain promoting on-course events as an ideal way to raise funds and to raise the profile of good causes. He may meet up soon with Monty, who has two new courses opening in Morocco this year, after the star player told Middle East Golfer he was ‘looking forward’ to going back to Bahrain and ‘taking the seniors with me’. A European Senior Tour event has been pencilled in at the RGC for several months, although details have yet to be confirmed as discussions over funding and signing off the event appear to have stalled in recent weeks although the venue would clearly love to host it. The feedback from the game’s most respected senior players could play a vital role when it comes to making any course changes, said Havrilla. Havrilla’s message to members is simple … ‘embrace some of the changes we want to make’. He said: “We are only doing them with their best interests in mind and we are in it for the long haul. “We want to keep their fees low and provide them with a better experience, more services, better agronomic conditions – we want them to be proud to say ‘I am a member of the Royal Golf Club’ and be a place where they want to bring their friends to, to show it off. We need our members’ support and we want to build the membership as well.” The RGC boasts more than 500 members and recently launched initiatives to attract more. See GolfWeekly: Page 21
