Work on the Waco, Texas club will include new bunkers, fairways, tee boxes and modern Tift eagle greens, and has an expected completion date of late October or early November 2023, weather permitting. “We’re going to be blowing and going January 4th and keep it going all the way through,” says Head Golf Professional Jimmy Cunningham. “We’re ripping the bandage off the old course and coming up with the new.”

Ridgewood Country Club in Waco, Texas has closed its 18-hole golf course as architect Tripp Davis will conduct a total renovation, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported. The project is expected to take nearly a year to complete.

“It’s something we absolutely needed to do,” said 27-year Ridgewood member Jerry Miller. “I love the greens here, but they’ve reached the end of their life cycle.”

“We’re investing in the next 30 years of Ridgewood with short-term pain for long-term gain,” added current Ridgewood board member Taylor Bledsoe.

While the club is closed to all golf, Ridgewood Head Golf Professional Jimmy Cunningham and General Manager Bill Horton have set up discount rounds for members at various local courses around the Central Texas area, including Waco’s Cottonwood Creek, the Tribune-Herald reported. They’ve also set up some longer golf trips.

Cunningham said the budget for the renovation, which will include new bunkers, fairways, tee boxes and modern Tift eagle greens, is approximately $5.2 million, with an expected completion date of late October or early November 2023, weather permitting, the Tribune-Herald reported.

To pay for the project, the privately held course is assessing the hundreds of members based on age, with older members paying less and younger member paying more, the Tribune-Herald reported. The clubhouse and other club facilities will remain open during the golf course renovation.

“We tried to be fair with everybody where young members like me pay the full amount and older members like my dad don’t pay as much,” said Bledsoe, who is 38.

Waco’s Randy Mull has been around Ridgewood since 1973 when his parents joined the club, the Tribune-Herald reported. Mull said the redo will help sustain the course and golf in Waco for many years.

“We have a chance to redo some things on the course which needed to be fixed, like adding a creek on the 9 and 11th holes, taking away the lake on No. 3 and redoing the bunkers and fairways,” Mull said. “As you get older, you get set in your ways, so this will allow us to play different courses in the area, and then we’ll have a new course at Ridgewood in the fall.”

To commemorate the pending course’s shutdown, Ridgewood hosted a unique golf tournament on Dec. 31 where the 18-hole course was converted to a dozen par-3 holes for an event where members and guests played across the layout, the Tribune-Herald reported. The club awarded prizes on each hole, and the event featured food trucks and two large barbecue pits.

Ridgewood celebrated its 75th anniversary this summer and has had other course upgrades and fixes over the years, including the installation of new fairways and greens, the Tribune-Herald reported. But this is one of the largest scale projects in the club’s history.

“We were going to be shut down for six months for new greens, so why not do nine months and get almost a totally new course?” Bledsoe said. “I think we have a great place here, but I think it will be even better when it’s finished.”

The process for Ridgewood has been a long one, as the membership approved the renovation and the hiring of Oklahoma-based architect Davis nearly 18 months ago, the Tribune-Herald reported. Then they had to negotiate with the U.S. Corps of Engineers, which controls the nearby Lake Waco water. The lake comes into play on several of the holes. Ridgewood members also had to vote on and approve a budget for the project.

Ridgewood is a longtime amateur and college tournament host, including the Texas State Senior Championship and the former Southwest Conference Championship, the Tribune-Herald reported.

“Renovations like this are a necessary evil for all clubs like ours. It could be bad luck for the older members, but we will survive,” said longtime Ridgewood member Johnny Bledsoe.

Overall, the sentiment among Ridgewood staff and members seems to be one of excitement, the Tribune-Herald reported.

“I’m happy to see what the new course will look like. We’re going to be blowing and going January 4th and keep it going all the way through,” added Cunningham. “We’re ripping the bandage off the old course and coming up with the new.”