Golf course architect Jim Lipe has completed a bunker renovation project at the Ocean course at the Cabo Del Sol resort in Los Cabos, Mexico.

Lipe helped create the Ocean Course – a Jack Nicklaus Signature design – back in 1994.

The recent project saw the removal of some bunkers, while others were added in strategic locations.  

Bunker contours were reintroduced and the bays and floors were returned to their original concave shapes. Lipe used a number of drawings and photos from the course’s original development to aid this element of the work.

In total, Lipe has removed 19 bunkers from the course and while adding five. In two instances, he also joined two bunkers together to create a single, larger bunkered area. New sand and drainage has also been added to each bunker.

Following the work, the course now has 72 bunkers – 16 fewer than before the renovation. The course’s fifteenth hole has also been lengthened following the addition of a new back tee.

“We wanted flashed faces in the bunkers where it was needed for visibility, but overall we eliminated steepness in the bunkers to enhance playability,” Lipe explained. “Taking out superfluous formal bunkers enabled us to bring the desert back into the golf course.”

“The impetus for the bunker renovation was to replace the contaminated sand with new, quality sand,” said Greg Tallman, Cabo del Sol’s director of golf. “From there we began to study old photos, noting that the original forms and shapes had changed rather significantly over the 20-plus years the Ocean Course has been open. We were fortunate to have Jim Lipe review each hole with an eye toward eliminating several bunkers while also contemplating new ones that we had discussed through the years. The final result is a considerably upgraded facility with an overall aesthetic befitting such a great golf course.”