La Cumbre Country Club Bunker Renovation
Monday, October 1, 2007 at 09:33 PM 
La Cumbre Country Club was George Thomas and Billy Bell's 1925 redesign of an exisiting Tom Bendelow design dating to 1908. As the club approaches its 100th anniversary, it has endeavored to get in touch with its roots by celebrating both its Thomas-Bell design and its magnificent George Washington Smith clubhouse.
As evident in the below "before" photos, the bunkers at La Cumbre Country Club had taken on a two-dimensional and tired appearance. Constructed in 1994 as part of a greens reconstruction project, they were also not functioning very well, having passed the ASGCA's 10-year bunker lifespan window.
None of Thomas and Bell's original bunkers remain and only a few of their original holes are in the same location. And since the club membership is generally happy with the design and the excellent conditioning work of superintendent Wayne Mills, it was decided that some form of reclamation of the Thomas-Bell style should be the goal.
This was complicated by La Cumbre's status as a kikuyu grass golf course. The "lacey" style that the two favored in their last four or so courses (Bel-Air, Riviera, Los Angeles-North, Stanford) would be very difficult to create and maintain with that strain of grass.
Therefore it was decided that an "evolved Thomas-Bell" look similar to Riviera's bunkering post-Coore and Crenshaw and pre-Fazio, combining elements of the lacey look with the larger capes and bays evident in the historic photos at La Cumbre. It was decided that sod stacking would employed to create a thicker three-dimensional lip on the bunkers with random fingers and other shapes crafted in the surrounding to create the shapes, while also preserving those shapes.
As you will see, some bunkers came out better than others. In several instances there was very little to work due to the construction style or constraints on impacting member play. Nonetheless, the goal of a more dramatic and eye-catching look, combined with improved access and a slight reduction in size, has been met with positive feedback by a majority of the club's membership.
Reader Comments