Dunedin Golf Club, a Donald Ross course near Tampa, has reopened following a restoration that corrected what the restoring architect called the course’s “neutering” by the removal of 75 bunkers over the years.
The 1927 design has also had its greens returned to their original size. Also restored to putting surfaces were Ross’s original swales, spines, plateaus, terraces, humps and roll offs, said architect Kris Spence of Kris Spence and Stantec, an engineering company that did the work.
Renovation work began in March 2024 with the main aim of restoring the course to its original intent but with modifications to accommodate for advances in club and ball technology, according to a piece in Golf Course Architecture magazine.
With new back tees, the course still plays under 7,000 yards.
“I visited Dunedin in the spring of 2021,” Spence wrote in a post on Golf Club Atlas. “The course has been neutered by the removal of 75 original bunkers and a couple attempts to resurface the greens.”
In a piece on the restoration published on March 4 in Golf Course Architecture, Laura Hyde wrote:
“The upper layers were carefully removed from the greens in order to expose the original surfaces. ‘We have used historic-like construction methods – such as mini excavators and skid loaders – to reconstruct the original green shapes and slopes to modern modified USGA green standards,’ said Lorrie Viola, senior planner at Stantec. ‘The greens have been restored, and lost pin placements have been reclaimed, which enhances the approach strategy and interest of the holes.’
The fairways were tilled, levelled and replanted with TifTuf bermuda, which requires 35 per cent less water from the new irrigation system, Hyde wrote.
“In order to restore the original Ross design, any new bunkers that had been added throughout the years were removed,” Hyde wrote. “‘We renovated 57 greenside bunkers and 24 fairway bunkers, as well as grading out 32 fairway bunker forms, which are where Ross bunkers were in locations that are no longer strategic to play due to the increase in length of players’ shots,” Viola said. ‘The restored bunkers now reflect those of the original Ross design, directing the preferred line of play and defining the target area, separating holes for protection and adding variety to the players strategy.’”
Trees that crowded fairways were removed and the fairways were tilled and leveled and then reshaped to Ross’s original specifications, she wrote.
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Featured image of Donald Ross courtesy of Inverness Golf Club
