That same year, Jack Nicklaus, the original architect at Sherwood, returned to carry out a $10.5 million renovation, a project meant to accommodate not only changes in the modern game but also the effects of a changing climate.
Among the modifications were agronomic improvements designed to cut back dramatically on water use.
“It’s the old form follows function,” says Chris Cochran, senior design associate at Nicklaus Design, in which GOLF.com’s parent company has an ownership stake. “Our first job is to get the course to be sustainable and playable for the long term. After that, we get to have fun with the aesthetics.”
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Along with rebuilding greens, renovating and reposition bunkers, and sharpening sight-lines, Nicklaus and his team sand-capped the course to improve drainage and planted new drought-tolerant grasses that weren’t available when Sherwood was first constructed. In native areas dotted with California oak and sycamore trees, invasive grasses had encroached over the years. Those were removed, and replaced with California fescue. A more targeted irrigation system now ensures that the course gets water only where and when it really needs a drink.
The cumulative effect at Sherwood has been a 25 percent reduction in water use.
Timely when they were implemented, the changes seem especially prescient in 2020, a year that has seen California ravaged by wildfires while drought conditions intensify around the West. Though the environmental implications extend far beyond golf, few issues are more pressing for the future of the game.
“Best practices are always front and center of everything we do,” Cochran says. “It’s especially important in a place like Southern California, where water is so precious and water quality is so poor. You need growing conditions that can handle it. The goal is to be a responsible steward, even as you’re working to create a wonderful place to play.”
