Todd Eckenrode and his Origins Golf Design team have completed a $23 million renovation of Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club in northern California’s Bay Area.
Located in suburban Menlo Park, 30 miles south of San Francisco, the club engaged Eckenrode to produce a master plan in 2019 and construction began in April 2023. The multi-dimensional renovation was transformative, ensuring enhanced playability, improved aesthetics and a commitment to sustainability in support of SHGCC’s Green Initiative.
Elements of the transformation included renovations to all golf features, from tees to fairways, bunkers and greens and a significant tree management program that opened up sunlight and overall playing corridors. Origins Golf Design added a state-of-the-art irrigation system, new drought-tolerant turf and established natural meadows, seasonal creeks and a reforestation of native California Oak and Sycamore trees. Twenty acres of turf was swapped out for drought-tolerant landscaping, adding to the beauty of the course as well as resulting in water savings.
"It’s incredibly fun and engaging to play," said of Eckenrode of the reimagined layout. "The new widths allow strategic enhancements to be unveiled and variety in play is paramount. We are thrilled to have designed what is essentially a completely new golf course and experience for the members."
Sharon Heights ggeneral Manager Aaron Grant is equally effusive about Eckenrode’s efforts.
"The new Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club golf course is truly something special and has already earned rave reviews from our membership and piqued interest from our region," Grant said. "The use of native species, seasonal creeks, multiple varieties of grass specifically chosen for our climate, and bunkering worthy of magazine covers, has created a very appealing aesthetic and massively improved playing conditions. These decisions also afford us the ability to dial the course up for competitive play when we have tournaments, making a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario from an operations perspective and member satisfaction. We are delighted with our new golf course and the work Todd Eckenrode – Origins Golf Design has done for us."
THE SOCIAL ASPECT
Big Canoe is growing in nicely! pic.twitter.com/59DD0sUdpT
— Bill Bergin, ASGCA (@bergingolf) November 6, 2024
BROOMSEDGE OFFERING SNEAK PREVIEW
South Carolina’s Broomsedge Golf Club opened for limited preview play in late October.
Co-designers Kyle Franz and Mike Koprowski began grassing in May, with sprigging and sodding completed in August. Located 30 minutes east of Columbia in the town of Rembert, Broomsedge sits atop the same vein of sandy soil that graces the Sandhills region of North Carolina. Broomsedge features a golf course intimate in scale and draped across a site possessing unusually dramatic elevation changes for the region.
Its classic design harkens back to golf’s Golden Age of architecture, when a significant percentage of the country’s best courses were created. At Broomsedge, Franz and Koprowski were inspired by the work of three giants from that era — Donald Ross, George Crump and George Thomas.
“Before we even started construction, I joked the place would look like Crump, Ross and Thomas had a baby in the Carolina Sandhills,” said Koprowski, who also worked with Franz on projects at places like Southern Pines in North Carolina and world top-100 course Eastward Ho! in Massachusetts. “I think my joke came to fruition. Broomsedge has burly Crumpian landforms, beguiling green complexes with endless short game options like Ross employed in Pinehurst, and tons of course-within-a-course options that I hope would make Thomas smile.”
“Members are going to love the intimate routing and optionality among the holes,” Franz said. “No hole even remotely resembles another, which speaks to how much topographical diversity existed within a relatively small footprint. It was always a freakishly good site for golf, and I think the routing and hole concepts maximized every bit of that inherent advantage.”
LOVE GOLD DESIGN TAKES ON GOLDEN BEAR DESIGN
In August, Bear Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. tabbed Davis Love III and his Love Golf Design team to undertake a comprehensive renovation of its Links golf course.
Originally a Scottish-style links creation from Nicklaus Design, the new layout will abandon that aspect in favor of a more traditional American concept that borrows from the classic Golden Age courses of the 1920s. Work will include re-routing some holes to improve balance and change the playing strategy in certain stretches, along with constructing all new greens, bunkers, tees, rough and installing a new irrigation system.
"My brother Mark, our lead architect Scot Sherman, and I are thrilled to be working with the team at Bear Lakes," Love III said. "As our first course in Southeast Florida, we are excited to begin work at a club with such rich history and know that reimagining the Links Course will be a unique and exciting project.
"The natural potential of Bear Lakes makes it easy to draw on our experience and knowledge of the American Links style. With our renovation, we plan to give Bear Lakes a course that is visually appealing, fun to play for members and guests, and one of the most highly regarded in the region.”
Said Charlie Zacharias, Bear Lakes' president of the board of governors: "When Love Golf Design is finished with their work, Bear Lakes will have two distinguished courses crafted by two well respected golf brands synonymous with the rich tradition of the sport we revere and love to play. We will receive a course that will be both striking to look at, interesting to play, and yet a departure from the traditional parkland style of our Jack Nicklaus designed signature Lakes course. The result is also intended to be a course that is more efficient to maintain.”
Construction and completion of the project are expected to take place in 2026.
