Bill Bergin returns to Waterfall Club to continue renovation plan

Bill Bergin will shortly begin the second phase of renovation work at Waterfall Club in Georgia, USA.

Waterfall Club was originally designed in the mid-2000s by Scott Pool, a design associate for Pete Dye who later founded GreenScan 3D, a business that offers LIDAR scanning for golf courses.

Bergin was hired for the renovation due to his previous work on mountain courses and his experience of working in the state, having overseen projects at Dunwoody CC, Druid Hills, Sky Valley and Pinetree CC.

“The initial project focused on bunker maintenance and drainage,” said Bergin, of the first phase in winter and spring 2020. “Once we got into the project, it became apparent that the amount of thatch buildup on the bentgrass fairways was much of the problem for the poor drainage. The fairways were also incredibly spongy.

“The course sits at about 2,000 feet above sea level which is perfect in north Georgia for bentgrass greens, but too hot for bentgrass fairways. The club has begun a conversion to Zeon Zoysia fairways, and we continue to work on that now.”

Work on bunkers included installing liners from Capillary Concrete. “They were incredibly difficult, averaging almost eight feet in depth, with four or five bunkers in the 12-foot-deep range,” said Bergin. “We lifted the bottoms and did an excellent job of water diversion around all the bunkers. They now fit the landscape and strategy of the golf holes very well. We also reduced the bunker square footage by 10,000 square feet, while keeping them bold and relevant.”

Richard HumphreysRichard Humphreys

Other posts by Richard Humphreys

Contact author