41 Layton focuses on playability for Teton Pines renovation Thad Layton, senior architect at Arnold Palmer Design Company, is overseeing a renovation of the golf course at Teton Pines Country Club & Resort in Jackson, Wyoming. Ridgetop Golf Construction completed work on the front nine in 2021. This included a complete renovation of bunkers, a new green complex on the seventh hole, fairway and green expansions, and native area plantings. Crews returned in April 2022 to focus on the back nine, reworking all bunkers, building new green complexes on holes 10, 12 and 15, to improve playability, and replacing 5.5 acres of maintained rough with low-input fescues. The new greens will be playable in late autumn. Layton worked with shaper Brett Hochstein to redesign bunkers, replacing failing fabric liners with a new Flexxcape liner system. Although some new bunkers have been added to increase strategic and aesthetic interest, sand areas, overall, have been reduced by 25 per cent. A third of the existing bunker area was replaced with turf. “With less sand and more fairway, golfers will find countless new routes to play the course,” said Layton. “The new bunker positioning and styling does a better job at signalling how and where to play, which is important for a course like Teton Pines as it has a high number of first-time visitors. “The bunker aesthetic will capture the essence of the neighbouring Teton Range with rugged top lines and a myriad of folds that will produce shadows. The fine fescues will also create an ever-changing colour palette throughout the golf season.” Layton’s work on bunkers, as pictured on hole 16 (top), is focused on both playability and aesthetics TEE BOX Images: Arnold Palmer Design Company
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