The work on the course designed by Tom Kite and Roy Bechtol has been completed in time for the Austin, Texas club’s 30th anniversary.
Just in time for its 30th anniversary, River Place Country Club in Austin, Tex., recently completed its second renovation of its golf course with input from the original designer, Tom Kite, and Austin-based architect Roy Bechtol.
It was Kite and Bechtol who carried out the course’s first modifications in the early 1990s, when the club wanted to take advantage of its real estate opportunities. The course became more playable in the process and that was again part of the objective this time around, with $750,000 being spent on restoring the greens to their original shape and contours (though they will be 20% larger), and replacing the greens’ turf with TifEagle, an ultra-dwarf Bermuda.
In addition, all the course’s bunkers were rebuilt to now feature state-of-the art liners that will prevent future contamination of the sand. Some bunker contours have also been made softer, others are shallower, and some have been turned into grass bunkers, which not only makes the course more playable but cuts down significantly on maintenance costs. .
Both Kite and Bechtol recently re-visited River Place and provided key insight into the renovation. Bechtol spent several days on site in August with Tony Miller, Head of Agronomy for the Dominion Golf Group, which owns and operates River Place among its six-club portfolio. Bechtol and Miller focused on the shaping and expanding of the course’s putting surfaces and bunker complexes.
“The dialogue with Tony and the rest of the crew that has been working so hard on River Place’s renovation has been productive and insightful from day one,” Bechtol said. “The Dominion Golf Group understands the importance of the points of view we have been able to provide the team and is committed to making River Place an even better course than it was in the past.”
Steven Held, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dominion Golf Group, said that having new putting surfaces and bunkers to complement the excellent conditions of the fairways would help make River Place the club that Tom Kite and Roy Bechtol had always envisioned.
“By increasing overall green size, we will be able to keep the integrity of the course while making it even more enjoyable for golfers of all levels,” Held added. “It is a phenomenal setting, and spending time with Mr. Kite and Roy [Bechtol] has only heightened my appreciation of the course.”
River Place had always been a fun and challenging course, Bechtol noted, and the changes will now make it even more so, he feels. “By returning the greens to how they were originally designed and softening some of the bunkers, the growing membership of the club will get to play a course that is a bit more forgiving,” he continued. “That’s what we are trying to do with golf—give our players a chance to enjoy the game a little more.”
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