Yes, Indeed....did a bunker remodel prior to the Silva work. Pat Reilly, the outgoing Head Pro and I had just met following construction of The Palms near La Quinta. Pat wanted to leave his last imprint on the Club on the way out. Mainly was a bunker remodel effort but the scope grew some along the way to include some extensive clearing of REALLY tight holes that had little sun ( compounded by being in canyons to begin with ). Bob Hope had once joked that the 14th hole was the only hole in golf where the players and caddies had to walk single file......
Anyway, we quickly re-worked bunkers and added some , all while they DID NOT SHUT DOWN PLAY.......I still have the welts....some big member/ guest was upcoming and they were in a bit of a hurry.The white sand was not our idea in the least but I knew it would quickly turn darker given the air quality. My only other source of input was the greens chairman who was a very good player. The course , needless to say, got tougher along the way and, when there was a member update meeting and I began to sense some unrest, it was quickly shut down and it was announced the meeting was over and the bar was now open. At the time, I thought it was great to deal with one person.......boy, was I wrong.
Upon opening , lots of complaints from the older players who thought it was too tough. The irony is that many of the Siva bunkers look like they are in the same locations and much of the clearing/ width was done when I was there. I have not seen it first hand.
My lesson learned was to involve as many members and levels of play as possible. When I interviewed for the Oakmont remodel ( nearby ) I told this story and, over a short period , played the course with about 40 different players, all sorts of good and bad swings , and tried to listen to all. Oakmont has been a great experience.
Forrest, I ran across a PPT the other day when we were moving the office and will try to post some images.