News and Updates

This is not an article about the condition of the bunkers. That story has not changed since the last time I wrote about them. If you are interested in that, you can find that article by clicking here. Rather, I wanted to provide a synopsis of where we are in the process of renovating them.

A couple of years ago, the club earmarked the money to renovate the current bunkers during the winter of 2023-2024. The scope of this work was to remove the current sand and fabric liners, replace the drainage, install a new aggregate liner (which has been the industry standard for the nearly a decade), and reinstall new sand. The newer aggregate liners significantly extend the life of bunkers, for as much as 10-15 years. So, if we moved forward on this project, the current bunkering would be in place until at least 2035 and more likely, closer to 2040.

With that in mind, I asked myself if this was the set of bunkers—placement, size, shape, style—that the club wants for that long. I spend a good amount of time watching members and guests play golf. This is not so I can make fun of your swings to my peers or even feel better about my own game. I do it because I want to see how the golf course plays for people of different skill levels (contrary to popular belief, I do want people to enjoy themselves out here). What I have observed is that we currently have a lot of bunkers that are only in play for shorter hitters and higher handicappers. Due to advancements in equipment, practice technology, and general fitness, the more skilled players can now fly the ball over most of the trouble.

This led me to believe that the current golf course was becoming outdated and will only continue to do so as golf continues to advance. I ran this thought by the Board, as well as the Green and Golf Committees, and we agreed to have Andrew Green, our consulting architect, look at the bunker placements and distribution with the future in mind.

For those of you that don’t know, Andrew has been working at OGC since 2010, first as an in-house architect for a golf course design/build company named McDonald & Sons, and more recently, as an independent architect with his own firm. In the last five years Andrew has completed renovations at Congressional Country Club, Scioto Country Club, Inverness Club, Indian Creek Country Club, and Wannamoisett Country Club. In addition to those, he also led the highly acclaimed renovation at Oak Hill Country Club where his work was showcased at last week’s PGA Championship. Andrew also just broke ground at Interlachen Country Club in Minnesota (where Bobby Jones won the U.S. Open on the way to the Grand Slam) and is planning the renovation at East Lake Golf Club in Georgia, the permanent home to the Tour Championship.

After listening to my concerns about the current bunkering, as well as studying the current state of the property, Andrew agreed the right course of action for the club was to create a new bunkering plan to react to changes in the game since the last renovation in 2010-2011. The Board and pertinent committees agreed, and the bunker project was put on hold to give Andrew time to develop a different plan for presentation to club leadership. As of right now, we are targeting a start date of October of 2024 to commence work on the bunkers. The scope of this project will be larger than originally planned. Bunkers will be moved, re-shaped, and re-sized with the goal of providing a more challenging course to the more skilled golfer and a more fun experience to higher handicap players.

Until then, our staff will continue to monitor sand depths and the appearance of fabric liners. We will move sand around and add as necessary. It is impossible to monitor every square inch of every bunker. Just last week I was playing a couple of holes and I happened to find an area in a bunker that was very thin on sand. Two feet away there was plenty, and I know our staff had just been in that bunker checking a few days prior. We get a lot of play and sand moves around quickly so please feel free to provide feedback if you observe any of these areas and we will address them as necessary. As an alternative, we also have a great group of teaching pros here that could help you avoid these hazards all together (wink, wink).

I look forward to updating the membership more as this plan comes together!