The Tom Bendelow-designed course that hosted the 1953 PGA Championship will reopen on Memorial Day weekend next year to mark its 100th anniversary with enhancements that include total regrassing, bunker renovation and additions, irrigation upgrades, green and fairway drainage, and renovations of two holes.
Birmingham (Mich.) Country Club has begun a $2.2 million restoration and improvement project to its Tom Bendelow-designed golf course.
Founded in 1916, the course has a storied legacy over its near-century of existence, having hosted the 1936 True Temper Open, the 1953 PGA Championship (won by local golf professional Walter Burkemo), the 1968 U.S. Women’s Amateur, and the 1984 U.S. Senior Amateur.
The renovation started August 1st, reports Joseph F. Basso, MCM, CCE, Birmingham CC’s General Manager / Chief Operating Officer. It will involve total regrassing of the golf course, bunker renovation and additions, irrigation upgrades that include conversion of a pond to an irrigation reservoir, green and fairway drainage, and renovations to the 6th and 15th holes.
The project has been in the planning stages for two years, Basso reports, and was approved by the club’s membership in the fall of 2014. The club has assembled a team of industry leaders to execute the project, including Bruce Hepner (formerly of Renaissance Golf Design) as consulting architect, Dr. Trey Rogers of Michigan State University’s turfgrass program, Frontier Golf (general contractor), Golf Preservations (drainage contractor) and Thielen Turf and Irrigation.
The course closed on August 3rd after a highly compressed golf season, Basso reports, and plans to reopen Memorial Day Weekend of 2016.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.