Richmond Golf Club
Rehabilitation Plan

Formed in 1924 with the initial course laid out by Joe Novak, the current course in play was designed by Golf Pro Ed Sawyer and member Frank Mero.  It opened for play February 28, 1932 and, except for 3 slight green relocations (#1, 2 and 18), the same course remains today.  Aerial photographs from 1939 indicate that the course had 67-69 bunkers and very few trees. An intense tree planting program can be seen already underway in the photographs.

We have wind. The front nine, protected somewhat by the hillside above the range and the natural ridge that forms holes 5 & 6, is less susceptible. When one turns into 8 tee, though, the wind is usually met. The wind, along with Kikuyu turfgrass & Poa annua greens, is a feature, not a bug. 

The course currently has a number of architectural issues. Slopes and features have softened over time.. A prior reliance on trees for defense simplified strategy. Bunkers were simplified and removed during WWII. The new western boundary presents a safety issue as well.  We do have existing holes on our course that contend with similar border issues. That should be our template. We have very little negative interactions with our neighbors on 4 and 12, and can reconfigure the 17th and 18 fairways to accommodate similar border dimensions. After completion of the rehabilitation, our course would have ample room on all sides, minimizing any potential conflict with our neighbors.  

A wider and more even dispersion between tees would present a wider variety of options for all classes of players. This can be accommodated using current teeing grounds plus new tee complexes and treating the middle, Silver Tees, as separate, rather than combo tees.

The addition of a few well-placed fairway bunkers will revitalize the layout, adding strategic interest. Managing distance as well as dispersion off the tee should be a challenge, with bunker locations having a changing impact depending on wind direction and ferocity. While challenging the scratch player, the bunkers should also allow room for the bogey+ player to maneuver around the hazards.

In conjunction with the addition of a few fairway bunkers, we will be changing the shape of our fairways a bit.  Today, most of our fairways are similar to an airport runway - dead straight and with a consistent width.  With the new fairway bunkers we will be reshaping the fairways to provide a wider, and more forgiving, landing areas short of the bunkers.  These changes to the fairway lines will add some variety to both the strategy to play the holes as well as providing some pleasant visual esthetics.

The following plan addresses changes to 12 holes, with holes #1, #10, #11, & #16 having completed their planned rehabilitation of bunkers and tees.  Holes 17 and 18 were originally included in this plan, and approved in a vote by the membership.  However, a subsequent petition and vote by the members removed holes 17 and 18 from the plan.  The following website and pages show the plan with the changes to 17 and 18 removed from the summary plans.  We have kept the plans for 17 and 18 online for future reference, but they will NOT be implemented.

Here is the proposed scorecard:

On the left, or in the menu up top, the plans are broken out into various sections as well as some historic aerial images.

You can continue with the proposed rehabilitation plan by clicking here to see the 1939 images and routing.