California golf club shows off redesign with exhibition from LPGA legend Juli Inkster
Larry Bohannan- The Springs Club in Rancho Mirage recently completed a $16 million renovation of its 50-year-old golf course.
- Architect Cary Bickler redesigned the course, aiming to restore the artistic vision of original designer Desmond Muirhead.
- Renovations included a new irrigation system, rebuilt greens, and the removal of 13 greenside bunkers to make the course more playable.
- The course reopening featured an exhibition with LPGA Hall of Famer Juli Inkster.
- New, shorter tees were added to accommodate older or novice golfers and enhance enjoyment of the game.
Cary Bickler says he had a specific purpose for his redesign of the bunkers at The Springs Club in Rancho Mirage, which sits just east of Palm Springs, California.
“I wanted to bring the artistry back to them,” Bickler said. “Desmond Muirhead was an artist.”
Muirhead, the famed English golf architect, was the original designer of The Springs Club, along with other desert courses like the Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage and the original course at Ironwood Country Club in Palm Desert.
Bickler, a noted Southern California architect himself who worked with Muirhead, oversaw the renovation of The Springs this summer, from bunkers to greens to tees. The golf course was unveiled officially at a grand opening week at The Springs, the kind of opening seen at Coachella Valley private golf courses across the first two weeks of November.
The opening week featured parties as well as a discussion for members with Bickler about his work. The highlight was a ribbon cutting followed by a three-hole exhibition on the first three holes of the course featuring LPGA and World Golf Hall of Famer and part-time desert resident Juli Inkster and The Springs director of golf Scott Frisch. Inkster played the holes and stopped at times to give quick lessons to the members following the exhibition, while Bickler talked about some changes he made to the course, including eliminating some bunkers around some greens.
“I like to call it a catcher’s mitt,” Bickler said. “It’s an area to one side of the green where a ball can roll and still give the player a chance to get up and down rather than trying to get out of a bunker.”
All of that was followed the next day by the first full day of golf for members, many returning to the desert from their primary homes to enjoy their winter home and course.
The changes in the bunkers, from reshaping the bunkers to moving some bunkers away from landing areas, are all part of a $16 million renovation and refreshing of the 50-year-old golf course this summer. Much of the work was for a new irrigation system.
All 18 greens of the course were rebuilt, starting 16 inches below the old greens, and TifTuf Bermuda grass planted for the putting surfaces. Bickler also removed 13 greenside bunkers that had been added to the course after Muirhead’s original design.
"The golf course had become an aerial golf course, and most club members are high handicappers and struggle with that kind of shot into a green,” Bickler said.
The changes, including the irrigation system, were all about improving the experience for members at The Springs, Bickler said.
“We want golfers to enjoy the game,” Bickler said. “They should have fun on the golf course. I know these changes will help golfers have more fun here.”
Other changes at The Springs, which Bickler said had to be grassed with Bermuda by July 15 in order to have a proper overseeding for the season, included returning some bunkers to fairways that had been take out through the years. In addition, the course has added a short set of tees at 4,500 yards. Those tees should help keep older golfers or novice golfers playing the game rather than having those players turn away from a golf that is too demanding for their skills levels.
"I'm delighted with the way things have turned out, and I think the members will be happy, too," Bickler said.