Five years ago, The Club at Quail Ridge in Boynton Beach, Florida, invested $7.5 million into a Bobby Weed renovation of its South course. In 2022, the club hired Fry/Straka for a $21 million revamp of its North course and practice facilities.

Weed’s work on the South saw playing surfaces raised, with the course noted for its small bunkers and crowned greens. One of the key drivers for the modernisation of the North is to make it a stark contrast.

“The club wants something completely different from anything else in the region,” says architect Jason Straka. “Even though the course is within an upscale housing community – all of whom are members – they wanted us to create as much vertical relief as possible. To that end, we are expanding lakes in key areas to not overly complicate play but to generate significant amounts of fill to create uphill and downhill shots.

“We are also filling in five ponds and piping a large canal, which is now a forced carry. The course will have kickplates and ground contours to feed shots into play and to tucked pin locations. This is different from the South where almost everything feeds balls away from play. We will also be creating significant elevation changes, containment slopes, dramatic flashed bunkering and heavy landscaping.”

NMP Golf Construction completed the first phase of work last year, which comprised holes one, eighteen, the short-game area, range and new practice green. At the first, the fairway has been significantly widened through tree removal, a landscaped berm has been created behind the green to hide a busy road from view, and a kickplate has been added short left of the green to allow golfers a chance to avoid the right greenside bunkers but still reach the green. Bunkers will feature liner from Better Billy Bunker.

At the eighteenth, lakes have been expanded near to tees and the green, several bunkers have been removed to leave only one, and the green has been lowered eight feet to accommodate recovery shots.

“Jason and Dana’s work has made the practice facilities much more user friendly,” says Darryl Bartlett, senior project manager at NMP. “He has removed the blind shots on the range and ensured golfers can practice proper distance control. We have also enhanced the aesthetic of the range and short-game area with improved landscaping and views.”

The second phase consists of holes two to seventeen, which includes some rerouting of the layout.

“The routing has been resequenced to provide shorter transitions between holes,” says Straka. “The original back nine now encompasses much of the front nine. The ninth hole will finish at a new comfort station that will double as a community comfort station too.

“Holes were also shifted to create room to ‘go vertical’ in many areas, giving golfers both uphill and downhill shots rarely seen in this area of Florida. This also allows for elements such as more dramatic looking bunkering, kickplates, false edges and long-distance views.”

These views have been enabled by relocating many trees and removing old landscaping. The course now has new native landscaping, including many new littoral shelves. “The goal was to use as much landscaping as possible to minimise water use and the long-term maintenance cost of reduced turfed areas,” says Bartlett.

Water is a big part of the project on the North course, but Bartlett is confident of the task at hand. “Lake excavation can be difficult, but if well thought out, the challenges are minimised,” he says. “The discharge point for pumping water is a critical first step. Several of the lakes relate to levelling pipes, and these pipes will need to be plugged so no pumped water is recirculated back into the lakes we are excavating. We’ll then create a low point in the lake about two to three feet below the lake’s bottom to help lower surrounding water levels under excavation elevation. Ultimately, we want to remove the material as dry as possible so it can be used in shaping of features.”

The results of the lake and landscaping work is already promising. “The amount of elevation change this place now has, and the cosy feel of the landscaped berms, makes for a very private feel, vastly different from the former layout,” says Bartlett. “And as a long-time shaper, I can already tell people that this golf course is going to be hot!”

This article first appeared in the July 2024 issue of Golf Course Architecture. For a printed subscription or free digital edition, please visit our subscriptions page.