Architect Gene Bates has finished the first phase of a major renovation of Bayonet Golf Course in Monterey, California.

Bayonet, and its companion course, Black Horse, are being sculpted into the golf centrepiece of a multi-million dollar project for the Seaside Resort Development. The end result will feature a luxury hotel and spa overlooking Monterey Bay, all scheduled for completion in 2009-10.

The front nine holes of Bayonet are completed, with work on the back nine of Black Horse having started on May 7 this year. Completion is scheduled for spring 2008, when work on the resort hotel is to begin.

"This is not merely the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the golf courses, it is an entirely new book," said Joe Priddy, director of golf at Bayonet and Black Horse.

The famous military layouts, designed in the 1950s and 60s by Generals Robert McClure and Edwin Carnes are being altered to create two golf courses that are different, yet compatible and equally challenging. While Bayonet is retaining most of its classic, tree-lined character, Black Horse is to acquire a more open, flowing personality. Bayonet's completed nine holes will be different in several ways, most notably in the order in which they will play, with the traditional front nine becoming the back nine, meaning that the new par four, 476 yards with an uphill dogleg right, will be either the ninth hole or the eighteenth hole. The addition of classic style bunkering, punctuated by white sand, and removal of the Kikuyu and poa annua grasses in the fairways and greens should produce substantial improvements to the playing surface. The new Jacklin T1 Bentgrass is superior in density and performance, allowing for better roll.