I am just getting started working on a restoration/renovation project at a 9 hole course in Eugene, OR called Laurelwood Golf Club. Laurelwood has a rich history but has been neglected and abused over the last 50 years.
The course was originally designed by Golden Age Pacific NW GCA Clarence Sutton. Mr. Sutton came to Oregon from Kansas as a little boy around the turn of the century on a wagon train. He was a lifetime resident of Oregon and designed courses across the state and a couple into Washington.
The course opened in 1928 and was the first real 18 hole course in Eugene. (Eugene CC's Eagan course would soon follow) The course was so highly regarded at first that it held a PGA Tour event from the mid 30's to the beginning of the 50s.
At the end of the 1950's the club was hurting financially and sold off the land that 3 of the holes were on to make room for a neighborhood. At that point they decided to close 6 holes and start operating as a 9 hole course. (The bare bones of the other 6 holes still exists in the woods adjacent to the current course)
From there things continues to get really bad. The city of Eugene took over the course when the country club disbanded after the sale of part of the course and they were not kind to it at all. They slowly started to lose the original design of the existing 9 holes. Originally large and heaving with classic almost geometric lines, the greens started to shrink in size and over the years have lost somewhere between 35% and 50% of their original size. They are now small round circles or ovals that bare no resemblance to the great greens that Sutton built. The bunkering has also been pretty much completely lost over the years. What were originally MacDonald/Raynor or Langford/Moreau looking bunkers that wrapped around parts of the original greens are pretty much completely gone. There are a few small shapeless bunkers that were put in over the years but the original Sutton bunkering is completely gone.
Things got worse in the 1980s when a new manager took over the course and tried to do what he could to make it "better". He decided that building a second green on every hole would make it a more interesting 18 holes to play. Fortunately he only made it to the third hole with this double green concept but there are second greens on holes 1-3. (The first hole originally had a huge double tier green that they split up into 2 small round greens) He also brought in a landscape architect to plant rows of trees and transform what was once a barren wind swept hilly site into more of a forest. So now mixed in with some of the natural original 250+ ft Douglas Firs there are a bunch of small immature trees lining almost every fairway. He also decided to weave a concrete cart path around the course mostly in not the best places.
It is a mess out there right now but the course has so much potential we are extremely excited about it.
The Master Plan has 5 main components right now.
We are going to reclaim the original bunker style and placement around the green complexes.
We are going to take down most if not all of the non original trees that were planted.
We are going to get rid of or mostly reroute the cart part.
We are going to get rid of the second greens on holes 1-3 and restore the original huge 2 tier green on 1.
Lastly we are going to slowly reclaim all the old green space and remake the greens how they were originally.
The greens will be the best and most unique part of the course as most of them have some kind of punchbowl type ridge running along one or more of the side of the green along with some fallaways and great internal contour.
I will post some pictures once we have done enough out there to make it worth while. If anyone plans to be stopping by or driving through Eugene send me a PM or email
[email protected]. I would be happy to take anyone out there that is interested, show the planned work and get opinions.