The Caversham

A planned housing development on Reading Golf Club’s property brought about the club’s merger with nearby Caversham Heath Golf Club in 2018 then the resulting renovation of the golf course at the latter in 2019/20.

The original Caversham Heath course was a David Williams design that opened at the start of the new millennium but Canadian Tom McBroom was the architect chosen by the new club’s tender process to renovate the layout.

McBroom felt the course was long, lacking variety and interest so his main objective was to reduce the walks from green to tee and transform it into a more playable and walkable layout, giving it the same variety of holes that Reading had.

This involved several routing changes, starting with the 1st which now doglegs right (rather than left) to a new green located on the highest point on the property. A new par three 2nd now follows, playing downhill to the old re-bunkered 1st green.

The uphill par three 13th was removed, replaced with a new short par four that now plays in the opposite direction. This driveable hole, along with a similar one at the 4th, adds considerably to the variety of the new course.

The old par four 16th was been converted to a par three and the closing hole was significantly altered, with the home green shifted to a new hillside location underneath the clubhouse. Overall, the changes are designed to make the course more fun and interesting.

Ely Golf carried out the construction work, with Ecobunker installing Ecosward liners in all the re-shaped fairway and greenside bunkers. Course manager Jon Scoones covered the new putting surfaces in cores from the old greens, overseeding them with bent grass.