Valley Club Construction

[Bill_McBride]

So I left my original iPad on the roof a rental car in Tucson.    and ordered an iPad 3.   The images are much improved.   I was checking out the Google Maps aerials and roamed around Santa Barbara / Montecito until I found the Valley Club.   (Search "E. Valley Road Santa Barbara CA" and you'll find it just south of E. Valley Road and Birnam Golf Club.)

What a surprise, the aerial shows the Valley Club course under construction by Renaissance Golf Design!    You'll see dirt where the 18th and 15th greens are being rebuilt, and temporary greens all over the course in preparation for regrassing all the greens.   There is drainage work underway in most of the bunkers.  

Some original cross bunkers were restored, #12 and #15.  

Large areas of the course around greens and connecting to and incorporating tees was converted to tightly mown areas.  Maybe Tom Doak can elaborate on some of the changes.  I think the work was done in 2007 but not sure.  

[Wayne Wiggins, Jr.]

I think they're planning to move #1 to the left to bring the OB more into play.  Could you see that in the new aerial?

[Tom_Doak]

Bill:

We didn't just re-grass the greens, we had to rebuild them from the ground up to USGA specs.  In the process, we re-did #11 and #15 and #18 entirely to try and bring them back closer to the original MacKenzie designs.  [The 15th and 18th were deemed too steep early on and had been emasculated; the 11th lost a lot of its character in a storm many years ago.]  We had done most of the bunkers a few years earlier, but got around to restoring the handful that they wouldn't let us do the first time.


Wayne:

We shifted the fairway slightly on #1, but I can assure you it was NOT with the intent of bringing the OB more into play.  I don't want to get sued any more than any other architect does, and I don't think the OB was ever meant to be a factor in how that hole played.

[Wayne Wiggins, Jr.]

Bill:

We didn't just re-grass the greens, we had to rebuild them from the ground up to USGA specs.  In the process, we re-did #11 and #15 and #18 entirely to try and bring them back closer to the original MacKenzie designs.  [The 15th and 18th were deemed too steep early on and had been emasculated; the 11th lost a lot of its character in a storm many years ago.]  We had done most of the bunkers a few years earlier, but got around to restoring the handful that they wouldn't let us do the first time.


Wayne:

We shifted the fairway slightly on #1, but I can assure you it was NOT with the intent of bringing the OB more into play.  I don't want to get sued any more than any other architect does, and I don't think the OB was ever meant to be a factor in how that hole played.

Ooops.  Sorry to create a stir.  Didn't mean to imply that, nor did I actually ever hear those words uttered.  It just seems that the trouble left is now more in play. 

[Bill_McBride]

Wayne, you could widen the fairway some left on #1, but the position of the tee is fixed, it's right next to the pro shop.

[Wayne Wiggins, Jr.]

Wayne, you could widen the fairway some left on #1, but the position of the tee is fixed, it's right next to the pro shop.

Gotcha... so are they widening the fw by adding to the left side, or shifting the whole fw to he left?

[Padraig Dooley]

Bill

I'd say this summer's construction will be exciting as well. Changing the fairways from rye to santa ana bermuda is something to look forward to, firmer faster and a nice little brown hue!!

[Bill_McBride]

Wayne, you could widen the fairway some left on #1, but the position of the tee is fixed, it's right next to the pro shop.

Gotcha... so are they widening the fw by adding to the left side, or shifting the whole fw to he left?

I'll let you know in three weeks!   I suspect it's just wider.   There was a big tree down the left that's gone; that made it possible to widen left.  The hole is a par 4 for the flat bellies, the best angle to hit the green in two is from the left side but that tree used to block that line. 

Dools, I'm glad they aren't starting the work until we are gone.    That is one patient membership with a vision. 

[Wayne Wiggins, Jr.]

Wayne, you could widen the fairway some left on #1, but the position of the tee is fixed, it's right next to the pro shop.

Gotcha... so are they widening the fw by adding to the left side, or shifting the whole fw to he left?

I'll let you know in three weeks!   I suspect it's just wider.   There was a big tree down the left that's gone; that made it possible to widen left.  The hole is a par 4 for the flat bellies, the best angle to hit the green in two is from the left side but that tree used to block that line. 

Dools, I'm glad they aren't starting the work until we are gone.    That is one patient membership with a vision. 

Is all this work new (ie w/in the last year?). I played here last June, and can't remember what was there (ie bunkers, fairway cuts, etc ) vs. what one sees on the aerials on Google maps.

[Tom_Doak]

Wayne:

All the real work that we're describing was done 4-5 years ago.

My last visit was about a year ago, to make a few small changes in the fairway lines to set them for the re-turfing.  We had to pull in a few mowing lines just a bit, because the new bermuda fairways wouldn't survive some shady areas around the oaks. 

[Bill_McBride]

Wayne:

All the real work that we're describing was done 4-5 years ago.

My last visit was about a year ago, to make a few small changes in the fairway lines to set them for the re-turfing.  We had to pull in a few mowing lines just a bit, because the new bermuda fairways wouldn't survive some shady areas around the oaks. 

Tom, when I played at Bob Crosby's course in Atlanta last year, he showed me a shade-tolerant bermuda hybrid they are using at Cherokee.  Very good turf, could be interesting for areas like that.