Tom Fazio’s new Richland course at Georgia’s Reynolds Lake Oconee opened on October 24. Located in Greensboro, approximately halfway between Atlanta and Augusta, Reynolds Lake Oconee is home to courses by Jack Nicklaus, Rees Jones, Jim Engh and Bob Cupp — and now two that bear Fazio’s signature.
The private Richland layout combines nine new holes with nine existing holes that were pulled from the 27-hole National course at Reynolds Lake Oconee, also a Tom Fazio design. Fazio crafted the original National course in 1997, comprised of the Ridge and Bluff nines. In 2000, he added the Cove nine, allowing for various combinations of play. Richland’s configuration is comprised of the first five holes of the old Bluff nine, followed by nine new holes and concludes with the final four holes of the Bluff nine.
The Richland plot incorporates a creek, large natural boulders and an existing pond. The land slopes gradually down toward a cove of Lake Oconee with more than 100 feet of elevation change. This is the only course at Reynolds Lake Oconee to traverse both sides of the peninsula and touch the lake from both Richland Creek and the Oconee River.
“My goal is always to create distinctive, one-of-a-kind courses,” Fazio said. "There’s a lot of terrain variation — lots of ups and downs, ins and outs, twists and turns — which is great for golf. That’s what makes this such a fine natural setting. Members will enjoy this course because it will have character and never play the same. This new course will provide a challenge and have endless possibilities of capturing your emotions and feelings."
To ensure continuity between the two nines, Fazio, design associate Bryan Bowers and superintendent Tad Hopkins spearheaded a wall-to-wall turf refresh, planting TifEagle Ultradwarf Bermudagrass on the greens and new Bermuda 419 on the tees, fairways and roughs. Bunkers were crafted — and in some cases recrafted — to achieve consistency from hole to hole, old and new. Perhaps the most pronounced change to the old Bluff nine occurred at the most dramatic hole, the 193-yard, par-3 fourth. Positioned on the edge of Lake Oconee, the entire green complex was reshaped, with the left-to-right sloping putting surface moving even closer to water’s edge and further protected by a new bunker front right.
The new holes on the 7,090-yard, par-72 spread generally are more open and are characterized by an abundance of love grasses and native fescue grasses framing fairways and by greens that offer a bit more undulation than their elder siblings.
CC OF LINCOLN TO GET WELL DESERVED RENOVATION
Nebraska’s venerable Country Club of Lincoln has retained architect Todd Quitno to renovate its 101-year-old golf course. Designed in 1923 by William H. Tucker, a nationally renowned turf expert who consulted on the playing surfaces at Yankee Stadium and at the Westside Tennis Club (Forest Hills), site of tennis’ U.S. Open, CC of Lincoln benefitted from a two-hole renovation by David Gill in 1960 and a three-hole fix by Pete Dye in 1963. Since that time, only several tweaks and maintenance adjustments in 1993 have yielded any changes, until now.
“The club last assessed and commissioned major course renovation work during the 1990s,” Quitno told Golf Course Architecture magazine. “Thirty years is a long time — many first-rate golf and country clubs keep a course architect on a loose retainer, to check in from time to time and offer opinions on the state of holes, safety issues, agronomic health and the ever-evolving state of tree growth, among other issues. CC Lincoln had never gone this route, so the issues have multiplied and piled up over the decades. The greens are 30 years old. The life expectancy of a putting surface is generally thought to be 20 to 30 years, so this is the appropriate time to be considering an update.”
Quitno will oversee the resurfacing of all 18 greens, with plans to expand some and relocate others, both to address safety factors and playability factors. Although the overall acreage is modest, Quitno will realign fairways, create more width and add variety.
“The whole golf course, today, is a bit too much down the middle and one-dimensional — visually and strategically,” said Quitno. “The renovation will add options — more width for higher handicappers to maneuver and more teeth in the right spots for better players. The greens are a big part of achieving this balance: we plan to uniformly move greenside bunkers closer to putting surfaces. That’s going to increase challenge across the board. But we’ll also be creating more strategic places to miss, places that are easier to recover from.”
One critical change that will solve a safety issue occurs at the sixth and seventh holes. The current sixth green will become a new short game practice facility. The new sixth green will be located near the current tee box at number seven. The new approach shot at the sixth will cross a small stream between the current fairway and the new location for the sixth green. The location of the maintenance access road will change to accommodate this.
Bunkers will change as well. There will be more of them, but they will be smaller and shallower. Total square footage will be equal to or slightly less than the current square footage. They will also be easier to enter and exit, with upslopes on the front side and flatter ground on the back.
“The new bunker design does away with mounding and other obstructions in front,” said Quitno. “It also flashes sand up on the faces of these bunkers. We want golfers to see them and make strategic decisions based on what they see.”
Members will also have enhanced options around the greens. Almost every putting surface will be surrounded by low-mow areas, yielding a bump-up in the number of recovery choices. Other alterations include bentgrass replacing rye in the fairways, tree removal, allowing for better views, turf health and variety and holes on the perimeter—3, 4, 5, 15, 16 and 18—redirected away from hazardous areas, including public roads and the club swimming pool.
Quitno’s proposed changes will add 100 yards to the back tees but will also create new forward tees that reflect members’ tendencies, via something he calls “drive equity.” Tees will be staggered so that all classes of players can face an interesting, yardage-appropriate challenge for their skill set. Work on the renovation project is expected to begin in July 2025.
THE SOCIAL ASPECT
Landscapes Unlimited is really getting after it on the 6 hole par 3 course @ChesterValley. Great visit this week & I was surprised to see how much LUI was able to accomplish in one week. I am very excited for the members when they get to enjoy the short course & SGA. pic.twitter.com/LxOSwUqWEo
— Jim Nagle, ASGCA (@jimnagle_gca) October 10, 2024
WORK BEGINS ON SHREVEPORT'S NEWEST COURSE
Construction began in May on the new Chasing Aces Golf facility near Shreveport, Louisiana. The $25 million, 27-acre spread will house a nine-hole short course — all par-3s — an 18-hole synthetic turf putting course and a multi-level, 30-bay driving range. Located adjacent to the Margaritaville Resort Casino near the Bossier City riverfront, the golf offerings will be created by Carlton Marshall Golf Design, led by shaper Justin Carlton and former Greg Norman design associate Lee Marshall.
“The nine-hole par-3 course will have synthetic turf installed on each tee box, putting green surface and approaches, then transition into a maintained outer rough grass,” said Marshall to GolfCourseArchitecture.net. “The natural mounding separating each hole and providing strategy will be planted with a native flower for aesthetics.”
The golf options will be equipped with smart camera technology and lights for night play and will be environmentally friendly as well. There will be just five acres of irrigated and maintained turf area, along with one lake, on the eighth hole. “The scarred-out low areas will define the perimeter of the course and also act as drainage basins for watershed,” said Marshall.
Chases Aces is slated to open in June 2025.