Dear Members,

You may have noticed the greenkeeping team working on the chipping area this week—removing turf and landscape plants, filling in a pot bunker, adding drainage, and more. If you haven’t seen the progress yet, there’s plenty happening! I wanted to share a quick update on what we’re doing and why:

With the new putting green set to open this spring, the current combination of putting and chipping greens will transition into a dedicated chipping area. While there are long-term plans to completely redesign the space, we wanted to explore improvements that could be made now with minimal disruption.

The biggest limitation has been the lack of fine turf space for chipping, particularly at the putting green end. By removing the landscape plants and expanding the fine turf, we can create more room for players—an easy win. Chipping will now be possible toward both the former putting green and the existing chipping green.

Additionally, the pot bunker closest to the range building has been removed. This not only eliminates a poorly performing bunker but also allows us to introduce some much-needed contour and interest to the area, which is currently quite flat.

We anticipate the project will take about two weeks to complete. While this adds to the ongoing disruption from the road-lowering work near Garden’s first tee, we’re confident the improvements will be highly beneficial for members and well worth the effort.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we enhance this important part of our practice facilities.

John Lockyer
Director of Greens