Highland Meadows Golf Club, Sylvania, Ohio, is approaching its 100th anniversary. The Sandy Alves-designed course has hosted a number of LPGA Tour events – including the LPGA Marathon Classic scheduled for July 23-26 – and is undergoing renovation led by Shawn Smith, ASGCA, and Hills Forrest Smith.
Golf Course Architecture reports:
“Many of the bunkers hadn’t been touched in decades, were out of play and had become tired,” said Shawn Smith of Hills Forrest Smith. “The bunkers on the fourteenth and seventeenth were rebuilt as part of smaller projects over the past 10 years, and hole nine and eighteen’s greenside bunkers were rebuilt as part of the practice range expansion project in 2016.
“The final phase of the bunker project includes 52 new or rebuilt bunkers, and we completed all but five holes [four, five, six, eight and fifteen] before the cold weather shut us down last fall. We started up again about a month ago, having completed the fourth and fifteenth thus far.”
The goal is to have the project completed by early June, so the maintenance staff has time to button everything up in time for the LPGA Marathon Classic.
Highland Meadows has been a regular venue on the LPGA Tour since 1989. “The new bunkers will only enhance what is already an outstanding golf course,” said Smith. “The strong grass faces of the new bunkers will provide definition and their new strategic positioning will encourage thoughtful play.”
“We have been fortunate to be able to keep the golf course open during construction so most of the members have already had a chance to see and play the bunkers that have been completed. One of the added benefits of keeping the course open has been watching the members excitement grow as the work progresses.”