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Ian creates golfing landmark

A former Oldham Evening Chronicle journalist has been busy redesigning the seventh hole of a local golf course.

Ian Bennett retired last July after 36 years a the Chronicle’s Saddleworth reporter.

Now he has followed in the footsteps of Alistair MacKenzie, the well-known golf course architect responsible for helping to create the US Masters course in Augusta and the brains behind the extension of the Saddleworth course from nine holes to 18.

The new design has added an extra 80 yards to the hole, making it into a par four with a dog-leg left bend.

For the new two tier green to be laid, around 200 trees had to be cut down and an estimated 300 tons of earth and rock had to be removed.

Ian’s meticulous planning included having professional golfer Robert Johnson on the hole trying it out.

Ian said: “It has been the opportunity of a lifetime and something every golfer would like to do.

“I have loved every minute, despite on occasions being soaked to the skin.

“It has been a team effort and a lot of credit goes to Alan Entwistle [chairman of the greens] for deciding to do the job in-house.”

Ian had previously helped with a small extension to the 10th hole and was also involved in the reconstruction of a number of tees on the course.

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