Courtesy of Duininck Golf
Following a successful renovation of the Oaks course, TPC San Antonio and the TPC Network are shifting their attention to executing a bunker renovation on the Canyons course.
“Restoring the bunkers on the Canyons course will restore strategy, playability, maintainability and elevate the course even more as we look to provide optimal playing conditions for Tour players, our club members and resort guests,” TPC San Antonio general manager Matt Flory said.
Chris Kleinsmith, Duininck’s project manager for the Oaks renovation and now the Canyons renovation, has embraced the opportunity to return to San Antonio to work with Rich Brogan and the TPC Network.
“Communication and continuity are key on these projects, and familiar faces create quick and open lines between the team, builder, superintendents, and various managers,” Kleinsmith said. “Rich is always easy to work with and our collective cohesion makes progress easier and outcomes more predictable.”
While the Oaks project focused on overall infrastructure, the work on the Canyons is solely a bunker enhancement project. The existing sand, drainage and surrounding turf will be removed with the faces and floors of the bunkers reshaped to match the original course design.
“Most of the work on the Oaks was not visible,” Kleinsmith said. “The overall functionality of the course was improved, but artistically, our revisions were not nearly as visible as the enhancements on The Canyons will be.”
“Projects like this are all about creating consistently high-quality conditions across all areas of the golf course,” Duininck Golf general manager Judd Duininck said. “Golfers appreciate that consistency and project managers like Chris are laser focused on the details that matter. Players notice and care about the subtleties. Whether it’s the speed of the greens, the lies in the fairway or the firmness of sand, we want all facets of the experience to be equally and noticeably great. The current conditions of the bunkers do not afford the maintenance staff the opportunity to provide that critical consistency, and that’s the change we need to make here.”
“This restoration project will provide the maintenance team with bunkers that are much easier to maintain, while also yielding more visually pleasing shapes and definitions to the sand features,” Duininck Golf director of business development Sam Duininck added. “Duininck Golf’s expectations are to leave every property better off than it was, whether visible or not.”