80 REPORT The Ted Robinson-designed Valley and Oaks nines at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, California, had not been significantly renovated since opening in 1974. Conscious that 50 years is a long time for a golf course, North Ranch asked Jackson-Kahn Design, the club’s consulting architects, to develop a renovation plan. “Our task was to use Robinson’s routing, but completely re-envision the details of the holes,” says Tim Jackson. “North Ranch occupies some unusual land with natural arroyos bordering and cutting through the golf, as well as hundreds of mature valley and coastal live oaks framing hole corridors. “Our design is intended to improve the variety and character of the golf course through more strategically positioned bunkering, highly individual green complexes with greater offset in size and contour, and shaping that adds movement to improve drainage while tying back into the native edges of the golf course.” Landscapes Unlimited broke ground on the Valley nine in February 2024 and the Oaks two months later. “It is essentially a completely new golf course,” says Jackson. “Every component has been upgraded: drainage and irrigation, new playing surfaces and all the course features. We have been involved with North Ranch for quite some time and have walked and studied the course over many years. It truly is a beautiful environment and the opportunity to apply our design experience and creativity has been incredibly fun and rewarding. We have aimed to make the course more playable for the average member and more interesting and optional for the better players.” A key consideration for the renovation was to ensure the course is fit for modern play. The placement and maintenance of bunkers plays a vital role in achieving that. “The bunker scheme was very much tied to 1974 distances and placements,” says Jackson. “Many only impacted the average member and had no influence on how the better players approached the course. Shifting the bunkers down range will force the better players to contend with the hazards while freeing up play spaces for much of the membership. “The bunkering accents the course much better from a visual standpoint Time for transformation Fifty years after it was originally laid out, California’s North Ranch has been re-envisioned by Jackson-Kahn Design and rebuilt by Landscapes Unlimited. “ The transformation is unparalleled. The club has mightily elevated itself for current and future generations to enjoy”
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