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| The Highlands Course at Prestonwood Country Club |
The Highlands Course, third 18 of Prestonwood's 54 holes redesigned by resident golf course architect Rick Robbins, set to reopen.
(CARY, N.C.) — When Prestonwood Country Club contracted Rick Robbins to renovate the Club's trio of 18-hole golf courses three years ago, the golf course architect knew he faced an enviable challenge.
A variety of competitive tour events have been played at Prestonwood during the past 18 years, including the Champions Tour's annual SAS Championship for more than a decade. Given that nine holes of the Highlands Course and nine from the Meadows are combined to test SAS Championship participants, careful consideration would be required to keep the courses compatible in style of play for both the world's best — and everyday Prestonwood member play.
"I couldn't get too radically different with the design styles," said Robbins. "The greens designs were done in such a way as to give both open and accessible hole locations for typical play and to also provide more protected spots for tournament play. Prestonwood's superintendent, David Dalton, and I worked closely with the PGA TOUR on the project and their agronomist, Bland Cooper, had a great deal to say."
The third and final piece of Robbins' handiwork at Prestonwood will be unveiled Labor Day weekend, when the freshly renovated Highlands Course is reopened including rebuilt green complexes featuring A-1 Bentgrass, select bunkers replaced by collection areas and grass hollows, and numerous additional playability enhancements. An added benefit: With play spread out over three courses versus two for the first time in three years, Prestonwood's overall playing conditions will be consistently immaculate.
Now, with the club's brand-new, state-of-the-art Golf Learning Center having also recently opened, Prestonwood CC General Manager Matt Massei said three years of patient anticipation shown by its members is ready to be repaid.
"Our membership has been without one course for three years, so we are thrilled to have all three back open," said Massei. "The entire golf experience at Prestonwood has been enhanced. We are celebrating three great golf courses that we have brought up to current standards. They were great before, now they are even better."
For Robbins, who honed his design craft under the tutelage of Bob vonHagge and Bruce Devlin, and later Jack Nicklaus, before starting his own company in 1991, there was an additional interest in the final result. Robbins lives with his family on the 14th fairway of Prestonwood's Fairways Course and plays a regular Saturday morning game with his men's group.
"I knew if I didn't do the renovation really nice," said Robbins, "I was going to hear about it."
Robbins said that by the time he and the Shapemasters construction crew renovated Prestonwood's third course, the team had established a seamless, efficiently productive working relationship, making the Highlands the easiest and smoothest of the three Prestonwood jobs in regard to construction and schedule.
"Highlands has more elevation change in the course than Fairways and Meadows and the housing along the holes seems to fit the site without intruding on the golf play," said Robbins. "As with the other renovations, the primary focus was to make the greens have more useable pin spots, reduce bunker maintenance and to have a consistent style of design that blended with the other courses while still offering a distinctive style to this course."
Other Highlands changes include an approach shot on the opening hole that will now feel significantly more comfortable for the golfer after Robbins lowered the green, removed bunkers left and behind the green, made the approach wider, and generally gave the golfer a much larger target area. Water must still be carried to reach the green, but the approach shot now offers the feeling is that there is far more room to hit the shot without requiring such a high degree of precision to avoid all the hazards.
"We couldn't do anything about the fact that the lake was there, but now the fear factor on that second shot approach for the average player is much less," said Robbins. "By adding some low mounding along the area between the water and the fairway at the landing area, we were able to better define the edge of the lake."
Another notable change took place on No. 8, where Robbins cleared an area along the creek that runs down the left side of the hole and crosses in front of the green so the hole can be played as a drivable par 4. The green has been designed to accept an approach from both the long tee shot and the traditional landing area on the right side of the creek, meaning there will now be two very different strategies of play for No. 8 that will offer some interesting choices on the tee shot.
Meanwhile, No. 11, a wonderful, short par-4, has seen its green complex moved to higher ground on the right side and raised by several feet. Retaining its same strategic feel, where the pond protects the left side pin placements, a deep hollow and bunker now guard a narrow, elevated green that falls steeply off the back side. No. 11 still requires a very precise second shot when the flag is located on the left half of the green as it was before, but the water does not come into play as significantly.
"We are blessed with three terrific golf courses that offer not only our members but also the world's best players a high-quality playing experience," said Prestonwood Director of Golf Operations Larry Conner. "Now that we have all 54 holes back open, we are eager for all our golfers to enjoy the finished product. Everyone at Prestonwood is thrilled."
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