SAPPHIRE COAST • NEW SOUTH WALES
The polish was still yet to dry on Peter Thomson’s fifth Open Championship Claret Jug when he decided to venture more into the world of golf course design.
The year was 1965 and, together with fellow touring professional and friend Mike Wolveridge, he joined forces with noted English course architect Commander John Harris, who remodelled or designed 250 courses in 20 countries before his death in 1977.
Harris did most of his work in Europe and the West Indies, but Thomson and Wolveridge expanded the business into south east Asia, Japan and Australia with great success.
In Australia, there was a period from the early ‘80s through to the mid 1990s when Thomson and Wolveridge seemingly won most course design contracts for new projects and major rebuilds.
So, it was of little surprise back in 1981 – when one of this country’s biggest residential developers, AV Jennings, announced plans to create Australia’s first purpose-built integrated golf course and housing development – that Thomson and Wolveridge would be involved.
