The Todd Eckenrode-Origins Golf Design firm has completed a major renovation of the golf course at the Brentwood Country Club in Los Angeles, California.
Four greens have been rebuilt as part of the work, with slight adjustments being made to all other greens in order to capture additional hole locations, rebuild surrounds, and reconfigure approach areas.
The course has also been made more receptive to ‘run-up’ approach shots and the ground game. The course’s bunkering has been reworked to reflect a more classic styling and placements, with most being repositioned throughout the course.
The course has also been lengthened to 6,948 yards.
“Through collaboration with the club and its green committee we were able to develop a compelling yet ecologically-efficient design plan which included everything from converting green surfaces from poa to bentgrass to incorporating a well thought-out tree removal programme,” said Eckenrode. “We were able to reduce formal turf areas, replacing them with a variety of effective solutions for reducing water use, such as drought-tolerant landscaping, pine straw or mulch under mature tree groves. There were also large sections of the course that were converted from manicured turf to drought-tolerant hardy fescues. The members are excited about the new playing experience, which is gratifying to our design team.”
Non-native trees and shrubs have been replaced by native specimens, including California Sycamores and Oaks.
The work has been well-received by the club’s membership according to general manager Daniel Enzler, who said that ‘Members are enjoying a wider variety of pin positions as well as a series of newly refurbished bunkers’.
The Todd Eckenrode-Origins Golf Design team worked with golf course contractors Landscapes Unlimited/Christensen Irrigation, long-time course superintendent Robert O’Connell, irrigation consultant Bryant Taylor Gordon and independent shapers Kye Goalby and Blake Conant on the project.
“Working with Todd has been a great experience,” said Thomas Klein, co-chair of Brentwood CC's Green Committee. “He has a strong, clear point of view but is never imposing. He listens closely and he cares, a great combination. What I really appreciate about Todd is his sense of classic old-school golf design. Todd is a classicist with a keen artistic eye.”