The area has never known a busier lime in golf-course reconstruction. Few of the Major clubs in Auckland have a full layout at the moment. As well as the places where Pitman is working other courses such as Remuera, Aviation and Pukekohe have temporary holes while renovations are made or have plans for this to happen soon.
So how come the bulldozers, earth movers and irrigation installers are working flat out at this time?
Most club golf courses in Auckland are roughly the same age and they just need modernising," said Pitman. "Some work has been attempted in the past but too much of it was designed by well?meaning club committees and it’s fair to say that mistakes were made."
Golf course design is like any art form. A new work will never gain universal approval but the fact that the experienced Pitman has been engaged by so many clubs for expensive course upgrades suggests the man's work is high quality.
He's trained as a greenkeeper, and was a course superintendent at Watford, north of London, in his early 20s. That was at an Alister MacKenzie-designed course so Pitman, subconsciously, became influenced by the man regarded as the best golf architect of all time.
MacKenzie, a Scottish physician, is assured of an everlasting reputation in the game after his work at Augusta National, Royal Melbourne and Cypress Point in California. He also played a significant part in the layout of Titirangi during a short visit to New Zealand late in 1926. He left drawings and designed a routing of the holes which is in play to this day. But in the mid 1990s, Titirangi's administration knew the course was badly in need of an upgrade. Pitman wa s engaged to redesign the holes and supervise construction.
The project is still going 9 years later and is a couple of years from completion. It's been frustrating playing there over the past decade because there's almost always been some part of it being rebuilt but the end result will be the most demanding golf course in Auckland.
So what particular, philosophies does Pitman bring to his golf course reconstruction process?
"Like MacKenzie I believe a golf course should be a rendezvous with nature. If possible, you leave the land just the way it is and build holes as nature intended. But more often than not, you have to create. But if you do create, you make it look natural."
Despite being in demand in Auckland, Pitman is the first to acknowledge that this city, because of the pudgy and non-porous clay soil around much of the region, is a dreadful place to build golf courses.
"But it does have great valleys and ridges on which you can make some really good golf holes - especially at Titirangi"
There's no doubt Pitman's work has considerably enhanced the city's golfing landscape. Holes like the new 8th at Akarana, the remodeled 15th at Titirangi and the 11th at Manukau, currently under construction are more demanding and ask more of the player. If an architect can do that, he's done his job.
Like renovations on your house, rebuilding at your golf course is a damned inconvenience. But, like at home, it's usually worth it.

"At the risk of repeating myself, it was fascinating to note the new course being played under difficult conditions by golfers of international standard. Apart from developing into a true Alister Mackenzie layout, Titirangi has in some areas taken on an appearance of a real "links" golf course since the intelligent removal of some trees. As a lover of the true old style golf where course architects generally succeeded in giving the layouts a natural appearance, the designer at Titirangi is doing an outstanding job of which Alister Mackenzie, were he still with us, would I am sure be thrilled."

Bob Glading, Golf Update Magazine, November 2004

Hodaafushi Golf Links, Maldives

This is one of our more recent projects; a feasibility study and design for the first golf course in the Maldives. Presented with the challenge of little space and scarce water supplies, Pitman Golf has created this proposed design for a 9 hole championship length course with double tees and greens. More details of the project will appear here as they occur.

Singapore Golf Magazine - June 2004

An article on the famous Keppel Golf Club by Adrian Quek

"With the help of renowned golf course architect Chris Pitman (pictured), Keppel Club has embarked on an upgrading programme to 'improve play interest, turf grass presentation and aesthetic appeal' of the golf course without altering its overall personality.
"There's so much character in this course and it's important to keep that intact. So what I've done is to re-shape the course to bring out more of that character" explains Pitman.
Keeping in mind the wide variety of trees and huge expanse of vegetation, Pitman took pains to maintain the natural surrounding comprising largely undulating plains. He, however, added appropriate additions, enhanced features on the holes and varied the level of difficulty from different tee boxes.
"I have tried to incorporate a cross-section of bunker types ranging from the deep pot variety to the more open sandy waste areas. The increase of sand-based playing surfaces puts more demands on irrigation and I've addressed this by including more ponds and lakes on the course," added Pitman"
..."All the tees have been resurfaced with Zoysia El Toro turfgrass variety which is well suited to the shade and enclosure of the trees and dense shrubbery," says Pitman.
Apart from the turfgrass presentation, there have been some nice touches on the first nine holes that really make them stand out and give them a distinct identity of their own as opposed to the straightforward, uphill climb that they used to possess."

Singapore Golf Magazine - September 2002

An article written by Chris Pitman about the Seletar Country Club

"Seletar Country Club is reputed to be one of the 'friendliest' clubs in Singapore. It is not surprising that the amiable character of its membership is also reflected in the beauty of its golf course.
...With golf that is, or should be, the most integrated with natural landforms and vegetation, Seletar is actually living up to a Country Club title that often suggests a complete rendezvous with Nature.
NATURAL LINES OF PROGRESS
As we embarked down the reconstruction road, it was distinctly refreshing to be led by a Club Chairman brandishing clear-cut preservation objectives. Goh Yong Hong talked of emphatic rusticity, the early phasing out of undesirable ornamental shrubs and the hiding of tons of stark, granite walls both of which wreaked of man's intervention.
Working alongside competent golf course engineer Ting Ming Hua allowed me more time to concentrate on installing golf course architecture in the more intricate fashion. By disguising play strategy with subtle naturals lines and framing the picture with plant species, the result resembles the work of the most divine of course designers.
The rolling terrain falls gracefully down to the shores of the Seletar reservoir and supplies the vital natural ingredients for a successful adaptation to golf. The art was to avoid spoiling a beautiful landscape and rather achieve enhancements without the pristine, park-like ambience that has, in my view, for so long given golf a rather negative environmental image..."

Golf Asia - May 2000

"Promising to provide an exciting and unique golf experience, SAFRA Resort's new executive par-3 golf course recently opened for play. Designed by Chris Pitman the links-style course is the first of its kind in Singapore and possibly the region.
"The course features great sea views and some unique holes like the one where you have to 'tee off' out of a bunker," said Pitman. As it's open to the public hopefully it will encourage more people and juniors to take up the game."
The course has been named the Defense Industry Links by patron Singapore Technologies Engineering and will open for play to both members and the public.
The course opens at 7am and the last flight can tee off at 5.45pm. Fees are $10/$20 (weekday/weekend) per round for members, during the three months introductory period and $25/$40 (weekday/weekend) for non-members.
Pitman added that he is currently designing two new holes at Sembawang Country Club, one of which is a unique 'island' hole "that should be pretty intimidating". This may lead to further holes being re-developed."

Golf Course News, Asia Pacific - September 1999

"PITMAN LANDS RENGGAM PROJECT IN JOHOR

Singapore - Chris Pitman, a British and former architectural consultant / vice president with Ronald Fream's Golfplan, has garnered a half a dozen jobs for his own firm, Chris Pitman Golf Course Architecture (S) Pte Ltd, formed in 1993.
Renggam Golf and Country Club in Johor, Malaysia has hired CPGCA to design its 18 holes. Working drawings are now in production. Construction is scheduled to commence later this year.
Also, the Pitman team has arrived at the detailed stage for Hong Kong developer Mason Sze on his Wuhan Yangtze International Golf Club in Wuhan, China."

Public Speaking Events

Chris Pitman has been involved in various Public Speaking events with respect to golf course architecture;

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