Catching Up on the Poppy Hills Renovation in One Post (Updated)
March 3, 2014
Note: The Poppy Hills Renovation Blog is tracking the entire project, from when the course closed March 11, 2013 until when it opens April 4, 2014.
Trying to catch up on the 13-month Poppy Hills Renovation? Here is your tutorial:
Why was Poppy Hills renovated?
Water Conservation. When the project was conceived in 2008, Poppy Hills needed to replace a dilapidated drainage and irrigation system. And architecturally, the artificial mounding throughout the fairways at Poppy Hills trapped water, preventing it from draining naturally. Throw in the wet and foggy conditions Pebble Beach can experience, and you have the recipe for a soft and wet course.
Since Poppy Hills needed to be dug up to replace the drainage and irrigation, it was appropriate to consider how else Poppy Hills could be improved.
How else was Poppy Hills improved?
Robert Trent Jones Jr. brought his design firm back to study the course he originally built in 1986. After an extensive audit, the NCGA and Jones decided to:
Sand cap the entire golf course to improve drainage and foster firm, fast and fun conditions year-round
Eradicate rough, promoting imaginative shot making both through the air and on the ground
Renovate all teeing areas and relocate bunkers
Re-design, rebuild and reseed all green complexes with bentgrass and softer contours
Widen fairways and reduce angles of doglegs
Soften contours to help the course sit more naturally into the site
Add naturalized waste areas and pine straw throughout the course, bringing the forest more into focus while reducing irrigated turf from 82 acres to 62
Reveal a natural creek that was buried during original construction
Alter the yardages of par 3s to create more flexibility for setup
So there’s no rough at the new Poppy Hills?
The rough is gone. It no longer lines the fairways or surrounds the greens. The course will play firm and fast, and the architecture around the greens was designed with the ground game in mind. The only other course where RTJ II has incorporated this philosophy is Chambers Bay, site of the 2015 U.S. Open:
“I’m hoping that everyone will spend a lot of time looking at these greens and studying these green complexes,” said Bruce Charlton, president of RTJ II. “There are great shots to be had where you don’t necessarily hit it on the green here. You hit it outside the green and let the slopes do the work. We did that at Chambers Bay a lot.”
These firm and fast conditions were achieved primarily through sand capping, which is the practice of topping the entire golf course with a 5 1/2-inch layer of sand to enhance drainage.
“It’s going to be a completely different playing experience,” said Mike Gorman, project architect for RTJ II. “It’s definitely a cornerstone for the entire project.”
Water on the golf course will also be managed much more efficiently through Toro’s state-of-the-art irrigation system. There are 56 sensors on the course that measure climatic, soil and other evolving site conditions. The new sprinkler system is 20% more efficient that the previous version at Poppy Hills, and it will have 25% less turf to irrigate — thanks to the introduction of native waste areas along the forest floor.
Learn about sand capping in the summer issue of the 2013 NCGA Golf magazine
Find out more about the evolution of Robert Trent Jones Jr. in the winter issue of the 2014 NCGA Golf magazine
Read the Water Conservation Case Study of the Poppy Hills Renovation
Was every hole changed?
Yes. Not only was every fairway plowed under, every tee and bunker rebuilt, and every green redesigned, but each hole was also rethought from a strategic standpoint.
Some of the more notable changes include:
A lake fronting the fifth green was transformed into a fescue-filled native waste area
A seasonal creek that cuts in front of the ninth green was revitalized, creating exciting risk-reward choices and shots
A brand-new 11th hole was built, creating the shortest and most precise hole at Poppy Hills
The sharp dog-leg left par 5 12th hole was converted into a spectacular straightaway par 4 with a stunning vista of the Monterey Bay and Santa Cruz Mountains
See our comprehensive course tour of Poppy Hills for an extensive look at every hole.
You can also check out a great collection of before and afters of every hole at Poppy Hills.
(Update) What exactly was done to every hole at Poppy Hills?
You can read an overall synopsis of the seven key points of focus for the renovation here. They are:
Sand capping
Rough eliminated
New bentgrass greens
Wider fairways and softer doglegs
Natural course elevation
Native waste areas
Course setup flexibility
For a rundown of specific changes and more great before and after photos from Poppy Hills, you can read our hole-by-hole breakdown and architect thoughts from Charlton here.
Are the greens really bentgrass?
Yep. Get ready for the purest bentgrass greens on the Monterey Peninsula. Not only have the greens been upgraded from poa annua, but the undulations have been softened, making them more fun to putt.
“We wanted to have at least 10 pin positions on every hole,” Charlton said. “When you do that, you create greens that don’t have those huge slopes, or else you lose a lot of green for hole locations. One of the key green strategies on No. 9 was to march hole locations all the way along that left edge, so it could feel like the flag was hanging onto the edge of the earth.
Below is an early sketch of the ninth green:
How does the yardage, rating and slope compare to the old Poppy Hills?
Some notes about the new setup:
The new Poppy Hills gained 139 yards from the back tees, despite dropping from a par 72 to 71. The new 12th hole dropped 110 yards and a stroke to par while converting from a sharp 531-yard dogleg left to a downhill 421-yard straightaway par 4.
So where did Poppy Hills pick up the extra yardage? Check out the extra 235 yards on the first five holes:
No. 1: 443-yard par 4 (30 more yards)
No. 2: 202-yard par 3 (30 more yards)
No. 3: 447-yard par 4 (41 more yards)
No. 4: 629-yard par 5 (79 more yards)
No. 5: 478-yard par 4 (50 more yards)
The front nine gained 266 yards (from 3,482 to 3,748), while the back nine lost 127 yards (3,381 to 3,254).
But in a rare occurrence, the rating and slope went down at Poppy Hills, even though the yardage went up. The rating slipped from 74.4 to 73.5, and the slope from 140 to 135. Ratings and slopes dropped for tees from all yardages.
This is primarily due to the elimination of rough (and widening of fairways) at Poppy Hills, as well as the simplification of bunkers. The greens are expected to play firm because they are new. The course will be re-rated in a year, once data from rounds is collected.
The No. 1 handicap is now the 629-yard fourth hole, replacing the first hole, which now ranks at No. 7. The fourth hole previously played as the No. 3 handicap. The No. 2 handicap also switched, as that distinction now belongs to No. 16 instead of No. 13 (pictured below):
-Kevin Merfeld